Three Simple Yet Important Landscape Design Tips

After a long, drawn out winter, spring is officially here — finally — which means it’s the perfect time to get cracking on planning out your landscape design process if you haven’t started already. The spring and summer months are especially busy for landscape designers and other landscaping professionals, so it’s important to schedule any appointments or consultations early. However, regardless of whether you’re using professional landscaping services or you’re tackling this project yourself, it’s important to have a plan.

Budget

The U.S. landscaping industry generates an estimated $74 billion each year and it’s easy to see why: landscaping projects can be expensive. However, they’re well worth the cost. Not only can properly selected, placed, and maintained landscaping protect your home from the elements, but it can also help to reduce heating and cooling costs. In addition, Money Magazine wrote that landscaping can bring a recovery value of 100-200% for a home at selling time. While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of planning a landscaping project, it’s equally — if not more — important to create a comfortable, realistic budget and stick to it.

Purpose

This may seem self-explanatory, but identifying the end-goal or purpose of your landscaping project not only makes it easier to stick to your budget, but it also creates a clearer vision for the landscaping professional doing the work. Even if you decide to do part or all of the project yourself, having a clear purpose will ensure that things go smoothly. For example, many people may choose to incorporate eco-friendly elements into their modern or contemporary garden designs such as native plant species or rain water collecting systems, while others may want an aesthetically-pleasing flower garden.

Research

Unlike most interior home improvement projects, landscape design can be affected by sun and wind patterns. Some contemporary garden designs have plant species that require more shade or sunlight than others, so it’s important to get a feel for where the sun rises and sets on your home. Or wind can easily extinguish a poorly placed fire pit. In order to get the most enjoyment from your landscape design, you should account for the changing sun and wind patterns throughout the year.