How to Plan a Custom Landscape Design

Landscape design says a lot about a home; it is one of the first things visitors see and serves as the best way to tie both your home and property together into one cohesive unit. However, contrary to popular belief, landscaping is not independent of your home's design. Therefore, you want to make sure you have a well-thought-out plan before starting. Reach out to Valley Landscaping to learn how to plan a custom landscape design so the outside of your home can feel as welcoming as the inside by calling 410.983.6261.

What Are Your Goals for Your Home's Landscape Design?

The first thing you need to do when planning a custom landscape design is figuring out what you are trying to achieve. This is best done by thinking about what you will be using your lawn for in the future. For example, if you plan to host friends and family, you will want to incorporate a deck or a patio. If you're going to grow your own food, you will need to plan a spot for a garden. If you are trying to increase privacy, then your goals may include shrubs or fencing. Figuring this stuff out now instead of as you go will reduce the amount of work you have to do in the future and will allow you to draft a more cohesive and unified plan where everything flows together.

Draft a Landscape Plan

After you have your list of goals, you need to visualize them on a plan. Projecting the ideas in your head onto paper allows you to see how your lawn will look when the job is completed. Moving around your landscape elements is much easier to do on paper than in actuality, and that's what this step allows you to do.Drafting an outline of your lawn can be done in many different ways, but we find that the easiest way to do it is by drawing your property to scale on graph paper or taking an aerial shot with satellite imaging services like Google Maps. The latter is the fastest of the two methods and takes a lot less calculating.

Landscape Design Process

Now that you have your goals laid out on your plans, you can start the actual landscaping process. The best way to implement your custom landscape design plan is to start with the most prominent aspects and work your way down. 

Building Structures

Structures will be the most significant parts of your landscaping plan, and therefore you should start implementing your project by building them first. This can be anything from a deck, pergola, gazebo, fence, or even a pool. Once you make these, you can move onto the next step, which is connecting them all.

Landscape Design: Connect Points of Interest

Now that all of your structures are built, the next thing you need to do is connect them. Do you want straight and direct paths or winding ones that snake around all the things your lawn has to offer? Drawing an updated map of the current state of your property is an excellent way to experiment with pathway designs before getting started. Then, once your pathway pavers are installed, you can move on to the final step, planting.

Planting

Planting is arguably the most essential part of landscape design and has the most significant effect on your lawn's overall look and feel. The two main things you need to know before planting is how you want to layout your flower beds and which plants you want to use. Straight-edged flower beds allow you to draw attention to points of interest, while curved flower beds deliver a more natural-looking landscape design. Having a map to conceptualize your planting plan is a great idea and may prevent you from going back and doing more work. 

Learn More About Landscape Services at Valley Landscaping

At Valley Landscaping, we specialize in bringing your landscape designs to life. Contact us today at 410.983.6261 for all of your landscape services!