As you plan a landscape layout, consider these tried and true design principles. They’ll help you to create a cohesive, visually interesting planting.
Focal Point
Do you want your landscape to show off a striking group of flowers? Maybe you love foliage and want to punctuate your landscape with gorgeous grasses. Deciding on a point of focus is like coming up with a thesis statement. It will help center your design and make decisions on complementary plants or hardscape elements easier going forward.
Plant Size
Generally, you’ll want to place taller plants against a building or in the back of a flowerbed, and shorter, mounding plants towards the front of your planting or along a path. This will create an attractive tiered effect that leads the eye and ensures that all the plants are visible.
Color
Consider how the colors of the plants in each of your landscape rows will play with one another. Complementary colors like purple and yellow can create striking contrasts. Groupings of hot or cool colors (think yellow and orange, or purple and blue) can also make a bold, unified statement.
Texture
Imagine an inviting pillowy row of low mounding sedum, or wispy stalks of fountain grass as they sway gently in the breeze, or the vibrant burst of solid color from a large bed of bright pink petunias. Every plant shows off different textures, and those textures become even more pronounced when used en masse in a landscape. And similar to using complementary or contrasting colors, playing with contrasting textures can yield beautiful results!
