Diana Alfuth, Horticulture Educator UW-Extension, Pierce County Garden Design Designing Gardens as Part of a Sustainable Landscape Diana Alfuth, Horticulture Educator UW-Extension, Pierce County

Sustainable Landscape Design Functional Maintainable Environmentally Friendly Cost Effective Visually Pleasing

Sustainable Landscape Design Consider the function of each portion of the landscape Note problems/attributes in the existing landscape Evaluate the site characteristics, including soil type, pH, light, wind, etc. Decide on your goal and landscape style

Garden Design Garden Design Formal = straight lines, plants in rows, symmetrical, globes and columns Informal = curvilinear patterns, plants in intertwined masses, asymmetrical, natural plant forms

Sustainable Landscape Design Locate gardens as part of your overall landscape design Create a good turf area, with functional spaces and gardens behind the concept lines that form the turf shape

Garden Design Consider each individual viewpoint when designing the gardens and planting beds

Sustainable Landscape Design The most beautiful landscapes are “designed”, not decorated. They create unity by incorporating Principles of Design, including:

BALANCE

SCALE

REPETITION

SEQUENCE

SIMPLICITY

VARIETY

Garden Design Design beds to keep maintenance to a minimum

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design What makes it look good? Human eyes need a place to start: FOCAL POINT A focal point is the first thing we see when we look at a landscape.

Sustainable Landscape Design Examples of things that create focal points are: Artwork A plant that is different than those around it Structures Birdbaths, birdhouses, birdfeeders Boulders Bare spots Diseased/dying plants Debris FOCAL POINTS CAN CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE SEASONS!

Sustainable Landscape Design Focal Point

Sustainable Landscape Design Focal point

Sustainable Landscape Design Locating Focal Points Any given view of the landscape should have one major focal point, and maybe one or two secondary focal points. Too many focal points creates a “busy” landscape. Locate focal points 1/3 of the way from one side .

Sustainable Landscape Design Focal Point??

Sustainable Landscape Design After our eyes find a focal point, they need to go somewhere, and look for lines to follow. Lines can be formed by edging, paths, structures, plant masses, plant form, shadows, etc.

Sustainable Landscape Design Focal point

Sustainable Landscape Design Lines

Sustainable Landscape Design Lines

Sustainable Landscape Design Lines

Sustainable Landscape Design Lines

Sustainable Landscape Design Too many lines, or no lines, create a confusing, busy landscape. Lines should take the eye where you want it to go—and keep it in the landscape. Avoid lines that take the eye into the sky, or into the neighbor’s yard!

Sustainable Landscape Design Before you start thinking about specific plant species, to get a good design, you must first plan for each plant’s characteristics, or “Elements of Design”

Sustainable Landscape Design Elements of Design Primary (visual) Plant type Plant form Plant height/width Plant Texture Plant Season of Interest (including color)

Sustainable Landscape Design Consider both foliage form and flower form Plant Form: Arching Upright Creeping/spreading Drooping/weeping Mounded Horizontal branching Columnar

Sustainable Landscape Design Plant Size (height and width) Consider the plant’s MATURE, NATURAL size!

Sustainable Landscape Design Plant texture Visual coarseness/fineness of foliage, branching, flowers. A plant’s texture is relative to what’s around it, and it may change throughout the season. Plant texture is EXTREMELY important in design, and can make or break a landscape

Sustainable Landscape Design Texture

Sustainable Landscape Design Texture

Sustainable Landscape Design Texture

Sustainable Landscape Design The finer the texture, the more of it you need. Lawn grass is our finest textured plant. Consider textural changes to create a focal point, repetition, and variety.

Sustainable Landscape Design Season of Interest This is how you get a landscape that is interesting all year—by planning it out on paper! For each plant, group or mass, think about when it will have significant interest, and make that work with what’s around it, creating focal points, repetition, unity.

Sustainable Landscape Design Season of Interest

Sustainable Landscape Design COLOR! What’s the easiest way to choose a color scheme? STEAL AND COPY ONE!!!!

Sustainable Landscape Design Color

Sustainable Landscape Design Color * Warm colors appear closer, so are good for viewing from a distance. * Cool colors recede, so are better up close.

Sustainable Landscape Design Color

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design Elements of Design Secondary: Soil/fertility preferences (non-visual) Moisture requirements Light requirements Hardiness Disease & Insect resistance

Sustainable Landscape Design On a scale drawing, locate plants in slightly intertwined groups and masses, using single plants only when a focal point is desired. These groups and masses will help move the eye through the landscape.

Sustainable Landscape Design Next, keeping in mind the Principles of Design (Balance, Scale, Variety, Emphasis, Simplicity, Sequence, Repetition), assign Elements of Design characteristics to each plant, plant group or plant mass.

Sustainable Landscape Design “Key” plants soften a hard feature in the landscape On vertical corners or structures, they break the visual vertical line and keeps the eye in the landscape They soften large areas of hard surface, such as retaining walls or fences

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design “Accent” plants are a focal point—they draw attention to themselves Could be all year, or only certain times, such as when in bloom Accent plants can be a single plant, a group, or a mass

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design Plant “groups” are 3 or more of a species, where each individual plant is discernable Often serve as accent plants at some point during the year

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design “Mass” plants – when many plants of a particular species are planted close enough together so that you can’t see the individual plants Masses serve to move the eye between more important components and to tie a landscape together

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design Start with a backdrop! Everything looks better with a backdrop! Create one if one doesn’t exist yet. Then, locate any non-plant focal points. Then, start with your biggest plant or your focal point plants. Using your available space as a guideline, your tallest plant should be 1/3 or 2/3 the height of the backdrop (unless the backdrop is more than 18-20 feet tall).

Sustainable Landscape Design

Flower Garden Design How big should your garden be? The width of a border planting should be 1/3 the width of the total area. Each “height” should have an equal amount of space within the bed.

Sustainable Landscape Design In small areas where other rules don’t apply, a 4-8 foot wide border allows for an attractive variety of plants.

Sustainable Landscape Design For island beds, be sure they fit into the overall concept plan. A good standard size is 8 feet wide, 15 feet long, with maximum plant height of 5 feet, but it should be in scale to the site! The tallest plant should be as tall as ½ the width of the bed.

Garden Design For beds viewed from a distance, hold your hands out in front of you at shoulder width. Where your hands meet the backdrop is a good length for your flower bed.

Sustainable Landscape Design

Sustainable Landscape Design

Know what plants look like all year

Intertwine plant groups to avoid lines that act as inadvertent focal points

Sustainable Landscape Design Deciduous shrub, 6’ X6’, upright, medium texture, fall interest Evergreen shrub, 4” X 4’, mounded, coarse texture, winter interest Deciduous shrub, 2 ½ ’ X 5’, creeping, medium texture, spring interest Ornamental grass, 40” tall, upright, medium texture, fall interest Herbaceous perennial, 18” tall, mounded, fine texture, summer interest (red flowers)

Sustainable Landscape Design Finally, choose specific plant species that match the assigned characteristics for each plant, group or mass.

Sustainable Landscape Design MATCHING PLANTS Emerald Elf Amur Maple Regent Serviceberry Glossy Black Chokecherry Spreading Cotoneaster Beach Plum Compact American Cranberrybush Emerald Triumph Viburnum Diablo Ninebark Deciduous shrub, 6’ X6’, upright, medium texture, fall interest

Sustainable Landscape Design MATCHING PLANTS Birdsnest Spruce Dwarf Norway Spruce Dwarf Balsam Fir Aglo Rhododendron Dwarf Yew Evergreen shrub, 4” X 4’, mounded, coarse texture, winter interest

Sustainable Landscape Design MATCHING PLANTS Rosy Glow Barberry Evita Weigela Snowmound Spirea Fritschiana Spirea Cutleaf Stephenandra Deciduous shrub, 2 ½ ’ X 5’, creeping, medium texture, spring interest

Sustainable Landscape Design MATCHING PLANTS Big Bluestem Red Switchgrass Overdam Feather Reed Grass Red Flame Grass Tufted Hairgrass Fountain Grass Windspiel Purple Moorgrass Strawberries & Cream Ribbon Grass Ornamental grass, 40” tall, upright, medium texture, fall interest

Sustainable Landscape Design MATCHING PLANTS Paprika Yarrow Red Beauty Yarrow Fanal Astilbe Luxuriant Bleeding Heart Sweet William Daylillies Coral Bells Herbaceous perennial, 18” tall, mounded, fine texture, summer interest (red flowers)

Sustainable Landscape Design Enjoy your landscapes!