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Posts Tagged ‘Design’

Using plants in your landscaping design can help add color and texture to any area that you choose. Choosing the right plants will help them to stay healthy and beautiful.

One important landscaping material that you can use to make your landscape beautiful and relaxing is plants. There is a great variety of plants that you can use that are both beautiful and easy to take care of. The plants that you choose are determined by the area that you are landscaping and planting them in. There are other things that you need to consider before choosing your plants to ensure that they grow and thrive in your landscaping area. Landscaping plants are widely available at your local garden center or home improvement store.

Types of Plants To Use
When you begin to decide what kind of plants to use in your landscaping design, you will need to consider the area in which you are planting them so that you can find the best plants for that particular area. Evaluate what the makeup of the soil is, whether the area is sunny or shady, and whether the land is well-drained. Also, determine whether the plants fit in well with your particular design for the area. Keeping those things in mind will allow you to choose plants that will grow and thrive in your area.

The Foundation of Your Garden
If you have trees in mind for your landscaping, then you may want to consider using oak trees. These trees can adapt to almost any conditions and they are pest resistant. The beauty in the leaves of oak trees is unmatched and they can give you ample shade. Whatever part of the country that you live in, there is assuredly an oak tree that will work for both your landscaping design and your climate.

Another tree that you may want to consider is the maple tree. They also adapt well to any conditions and location. They also have beautiful colored leaves and will look great in just about any landscaping design. Trees are a great idea for a border or for a foundation for your garden. If you are not interested in trees for you landscaping, then plants and flowers may be more what you are looking for.

Using Shrubs in Landscaping
Shrubs are a wonderful choice to use in your creative landscaping design. They can help bring your landscaping design together and make it more cohesive. There is quite a large variety of shrubs for you to choose from, but you still need to take into consideration the planting area to make sure that your shrubs will flourish and stay beautiful. In most areas, hydrangeas are a wonderful choice. The vibrant colored flowers and green leaves will keep your yard looking great in the summer and in the fall.

Gap Fillers
When you are planning your landscaping design, you need to make sure that you have planned every detail. Accent the areas that you are working around. To accent your focal points, you can use perennials or annuals. They can also be used to fill in any empty spaces or to decorate your landscaping area with bright, vibrant color. There is a wide variety of different colored and sized flowers for you to find exactly the right plant for your particular area. Just think about the other colors in your landscaping design so that you can help enhance the area, rather than detract from it.

Whatever plants or trees that you choose for your landscaping design, you need to keep them healthy and beautiful. By watering and taking care of your plants, then you will have major benefits in the end.

For too many homeowners busy elsewhere during daylight hours, their landscape investment can only be enjoyed on weekends when they are at home during the day. That loss of daily enjoyment is solvable by transforming darkened grounds into a welcome fantasy of light. Landscapes emerge at dark under subtle outdoor landscape lighting to create wonderful shapes in hauntingly beautiful sculptured drama. Whether glowing with an Inner Light or outlined in elegant tracery against the night sky, landscape lighting paints the beauty of natural and cultivated forms, a pool, fountains and pathways with subtle shade, shadow and color.

While visitors appreciate delicate landscapes, the homeowner will gain extraordinary appreciation to find outdoor living enhanced luxuriously by countless nuances of “chiaroscuro”, that dramatic play between light and shadow. Well-placed outdoor landscape lighting along walkways and near hazards shows thoughtful concern for guests and adds safety to your garden of light. But to achieve this carefree beauty created at the flick of a toggle switch, it takes more than moon spots in trees. Illuminations Lighting Design brings unparalleled knowledge by master lighting designers to perfectly enhance the beauty of your surroundings with elegant outdoor garden lights.

Our experienced team of landscape lighting professionals are experts in selecting the right landscape lighting equipment for your home or office. Special consideration is given to the the size, type and wattage of the lights, as well as mounting techniques to protect trees and shrubs. We use only tree friendly landscape lighting equipment and take great pride in concealing the lights, wires and junction boxes visually, while allowing for tree growth and expansion.

When you work with Illuminations Lighting Design on a landscape lighting project here is what you can expect to receive from concept to completion:

* A qualified landscape lighting designer will meet with you to discuss your needs. Options will be presented and discussed to establish a design path and a master plan for the property.

* A site plan is developed showing all structures, trees, flower beds and electrical requirements relevant to the design.

* A formal rendering or CAD drawing is developed showing all landscape lighting fixtures, locations by type, wattage and by numbered for easy identification.

* A detailed proposal, typically broken down into phases, will be presented for approval. Any additional work requested by the client will be incorporated into the design and resubmitted. Work will commence within 10-14 business days after receipt of contract.

* A crew chief is assigned the work and walks the job with the landscape lighting designer to flag locations for the lights and discuss his or her vision of the completed work.

* The first phase of the work typically involves installation of underground conduits for 120 volt systems and direct burial wire for 12 volt systems in accordance with local and national electrical codes. Unless this is a construction site or discussed with the owner prior to starting the work, all trenching will be done by hand. We are tree, sod and plant friendly!

* Landscape lighting equipment is installed on the ground and in the trees. All Illuminations Lighting Design climbers use ladders, ropes and safety equipment to climb and rappel trees. Stainless steel bolts are used to mount the lights to prevent harm to the tree and allow for future growth.

* Once the work is completed and the lighting designer is satisfied with the fixture placement and electrical installation, a nighttime adjustment is scheduled and performed to fine tune the design.

* Upon the completion of the night set, the work is presented to the customer for approval.

Our landscape lighting crews are some of the best in the business. They understand how light works and where the light should go to maximize your visual nighttime enjoyment. No tree is too high for our professional tree climbers! We are experienced in all forms of outdoor landscape lighting from simple low voltage systems to more complicated high voltage mercury vapor lighting systems. We stock a full range of landscape lighting materials such as fixtures, lamps and replacement parts. We not only service what we sell, but we can assist you with repairs or maintenance to existing outdoor landscape lighting systems installed by our competitors. All of our technicians are experienced licensed professionals and we subcontract no work to outside vendors. The results will be spectacular!

Where does one begin when selecting plants for landscaping? There are a few main factors that should be considered to not only attain a beautiful planting design, but also one that has plant material that will flourish over time.

Here are some important things to consider:

Sun and Shade Conditions

I list this first, because a plant must be located in an area where it receives the required amount of sun or shade. If not, at the least it won’t perform well and at the worst, it won’t survive at all. We have all seen plants that look dried out and even burnt as well as those that are spindly looking and weak.

When a plant’s requirement states that it needs sun, typically that means four hours or more. If a plant is a shade lover, then it should get no more than four hours of shade. The amount of hours of sun or shade does not have to be continuous; it can be filtered throughout the day.

Plant Sizes

Understand and know how tall and wide a landscape plant will get. That lovely plant that you are considering as a purchase will most likely not be its mature size.

Take this seriously. Whether you want it to or not, the plant will grow! If you are selecting shrubs for along the front foundation of your home, note your window heights. How many times have you seen overgrown landscapes, particularly comprised of huge plants in front of windows? This can be avoided. In addition, by choosing a plant that will be the correct mature size, you will be attaining a more maintenance free landscape. Maintenance free….those magic words!

Trees planted near the house are fine. In fact, they give a sense of scale and can frame the house. Once again, choose carefully. If you want to plant an ornamental tree near a house corner, plant it one half the mature width from the house. For example, a tree that will get twenty feet wide should be located ten feet (at least) away from the house or building.

Plant Features

Think about what the landscape will look like in the winter and if evergreen shrubs would be desirable. Often they are, particularly at the front of the house. Greenery in the bleak days of winter is welcoming.

At the same time, it’s exciting to have flowers in the spring and summer, along with berries and foliage color in the fall and winter. An attractive planting design normally has a mix of both deciduous and evergreen plants.

Speaking of color, a landscape designed for all season color will provide color and interest throughout the entire year. This requires you to know when shrubs, perennials and trees bloom. If there are some blooming at the same time, make sure the colors complement each other and that there is a variety, even if it is shades of one color.

There is more that goes into planting design, but those discussed above are some of the first steps and most simple. By thinking about these concepts, it will put you way ahead of the game and enable you to have a nice design.

One more thing…don’t forget to plant in groups so that the design flows and plant features stand out.