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Design Fundamentals

These are some common design principles that help create cohesive, visually interesting landscapes. Use what makes sense for your space and style– these are tools to guide your thinking, not rules you must follow.

  • Repetition and rhythm
    • Plant in odd number groups (3, 5, 7) which look more balanced, natural, and dynamic.
    • Repeat key plants throughout the space to create visual connections.
    • Echo colors from one area in another, which will create continuity even with different plant species. 
    • Use the same hardscape materials in multiple places, like the same hardwood throughout.
    • Create rhythm with evenly-spaced elements like stepping stones or a row of columnar junipers, which give the eye a pattern to make sense of and follow through the space.
  • Visual Weight and balance
    • Match plantings to your house: foundation plantings should have enough visual weight to anchor your home in the landscape without overwhelming it. A traditional guideline is to use shrubs that reach about two thirds of the way up first-floor windows, but focus on overall balance– large homes benefit from more substantial plantings to avoid looking like they’re just plopped onsite.
    • Match plant scale to their surroundings: large plantings like tall grasses or wide shrub masses can make large spaces feel dynamic and grand, while fine textures and smaller plants make tight spaces feel intricate rather than cramped.
    • Create smooth transitions: ease between different areas with middle-height, bridging layers rather than abrupt changes.
    • Break the rules for impact: an oversized urn sitting among low groundcovers or a dramatically tall grass surrounded by shorter plants can be focal points.
  • Layering
    • Build vertical layers with different plant heights, using trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers.
    • Place taller plants in back, and shorter in front.
    • Use shrubs as the “bones” of the landscape.
    • Layer bloom-times so something is always flowering.
    • Mix evergreens with deciduous plants for year-round structure.
  • Sight lines and focal points
    • Use pathways to draw the eye through the space.
    • Frame views by planting on either side of sightlines.
    • Place focal points where sightlines end, like a small tree, bench, fountain, or specimen plant.
    • Give the eye places to rest, like a large stone, reflecting pool, or swath of ornamental grass.
  • Color principles
    • Complementary colors (opposites like purple/yellow) create vibrancy through their high contrast. Use them when you want to create an energizing, active, environment.
    • Analogous colors (neighbors like blue/purple/pink) create harmony.
    • Monochromatic schemes use different shades of one color for sophisticated, calming effects.
    • Warm colors (reds, yellows, oranges) are energizing and draw attention.
    • Cool colors (blues, purples) are calming and recede into the background.
    • Neutral colors (whites, creams, silvers, and– in gardens– greens) help bridge between other colors and provide rest for the eye.
    • Borrow from the 60-30-10 rule: 60% dominant color (usually green), 30% secondary color, 10% accent color
  • Texture contrast
    • Mix fine and coarse textures for visual interest, such as fine-textured ornamental grass with chunky-textured echinacea, or wispy Sunset hyssop with broad-leaved yucca or agave.

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