A gazebo is something which can brighten up your day (literally if you’re sat in it!) by adding a touch of elegance to your surroundings.
Gazebos have gained popularity in recent years as a trend for wining and dining outside has become more and more trendy. A gazebo then is the prefect way to enjoy a family meal or a chat with friends while being surrounded by the gardens of your home. On a balmy summer’s night, whiling away the hours in your own gazebo is a great way to spend your time.
There are many, many gazebo designs to choose from so how do you go about choosing which is right for you? This article will endeavour to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different gazebo designs.
First of all where are you going to put your gazebo? Do you want it to be the centrepiece of your garden or hidden away in a serene corner of your grounds? You should also be aware of other buildings on your property and the positioning of your gazebo in relation to these other structures.
You should also think about how you’re going to cultivate the surroundings of your gazebo. Will it be swamped with foliage to make it seem part of the garden? Flowers and shrubs are a nice touch to give your gazebo the appearance that it “belongs” in your garden. You could even lay down a stone pathway leading up to the gazebo’s entrance.
There are many types of gazebo materials to choose from ranging from wood to vinyl and even aluminum. The most tasteful of these is reckoned to be the cedar or pine options. You can also go for a vinyl look, it all depends on the surroundings and your predicted use for the gazebo.
Once you’ve chosen the material you need to decide on the shape of your gazebo. Will it be octagonal, rectangular or oval. You could also go for a double or a single roof style, the double gives the roof a layered and more impressive look. Of course the simplicity of the single roof is no bad thing.
All in all, a gazebo is a great add-on to your home environment purely because of the customisation that you can apply to it. Buying a garden shed for instance is a little limited, you just have to pick one which you hope will fit in the most with your garden. There are so many features, sizes, colours and materials with the good old gazebo however that choosing one simply becomes a pleasure. Go ahead and enjoy poring over the designs for your garden gazebo.
Tag-Archive for ◊ Design ◊
In the first millennium, a wealthy Roman family would most likely have had a garden surrounding their home. In it, you might find an open-air palazzo, pergola-style structures dripping with vines and blooming flowers, a dining area with couches for relaxation, water features such as an outdoor water fountain or wall fountain, and walkways that led out into the garden proper, perhaps to a prized rosebush or into an olive grove. These are some of the elements characterizing what is now called classical landscape design, also known as traditional landscape design.
Classical landscape design is a subset of formal landscape design that uses linear, clean lines to develop an uncluttered look. These lines can be drawn with rows of trees and well-trimmed hedges, perfect plantings for the classical landscape design. Or perhaps a seat wall made of regimented terra cotta tiles can do double-duty. Here and there, vines, such as ivy or wisteria, can soften any harshness. In this regard, this style is similar to the Mediterranean landscape design with its Roman and Greek influences.
The History of Classical Landscape Design
Borrowing influences from previous civilizations, classical landscape design solidified in Rome and the surrounding countryside. Villas were built with comfortable courtyards, sparkling with the sound of water, shaded by large trees, fragrant with rosemary and citrus fruits. It was from this setting that we got the term “pleasure garden.”
In England of the late 1700s, property owners started looking backwards, past the Baroque period and the Renaissance, to the beginnings of western civilization. There, they found classical landscapes making use of woods, water, indigenous plants and small temples. These elements were incorporated into the gardens of that day, further defining the principles of traditional landscape design.
By the way, when Rome fell to the barbarians, the gardens had become so exquisite that the barbarians chose not to ransack them. Instead they kept them up and learned from them. This development is one of the early examples of how we, as humans, learned that beauty can change the world: it can stop violence. This principle is now being used to good effect in gardens started as rehabilitation projects in prisons, inner cities and ghettos.
Choices in Classical Landscape Design
As with all landscape design, the architecture of the house needs to be considered when using a traditional landscape design. For this style, the home and landscape can be tied together through the subtle placement of a hardscape feature, such as the use of tumbled travertine for the courtyard flooring.
Because of the formal principles inherent in this style, you want to strike a balance when choosing materials between boring blandness and baroque lavishness. Think instead in terms of interesting variety. For instance, well-contained decorative gravel can provide color and texture. Courtyards, pool decking and patios should use materials that are symmetrical, in keeping with the formal style. Stone, terra cotta tiles and flagstone are appropriate choices. Granite benches, concrete grottoes and marble urns add sturdiness and reference antiquities.
Your preference for classical landscape design can also be demonstrated in the plants you choose. Your residential garden will be enhanced by fruit trees and other dwarf trees-or perhaps a stand of cypress, mulberry or fig trees. The cheery colors of marigolds, hyacinths and roses are well suited for the classical landscape design. Herbs planted in terra cotta pots scent the air and provide fresh flavor in your outdoor kitchen cooking.
Hardscapes in Classical Landscape Design
Color, form, line, scale, and texture are your means of expressing classical landscape design preferences just as they are with modern landscape design.
Hardscapes to include:
Outdoor rooms for outdoor living. These living areas, in effect, make your home bigger. They also serve to create transition areas that connect the indoor and outdoor spaces. Plus, they further the notion that a garden is a place of rejuvenation. In particular, outdoor kitchens are important to the traditional landscape design.
Outdoor water fountains. If you remember your ancient world history classes, you know that the Romans perfected the aqueduct. So water is prized within classical landscape design and nothing showcases it like a picture-perfect outdoor water fountain. Look for fountains in formal, Romanesque, Italianate, Mediterranean and rustic styles. Those made of tile, cast stone, cast iron and concrete work particularly well with this style.
Swimming pools. When placed within a classical landscape design, the shape of your swimming pool should tend towards basic geometric shapes like rectangles and ovals. Thus, the shape of the pool frames the water and turns it into a classical design element of the landscape. It is often efficient to combine the pool with an outdoor water fountain to eliminate some maintenance redundancies.
Landscape lighting. Landscape lighting is another important element of traditional landscape design as it creates ambiance and lets you enjoy the outdoors, night and day.
Classical Landscape Design: A Houston Setting
“We implemented a classical landscape design for one of our Houston clients, whose home was French Country. For the garden, we chose a design that closely resembles a famous garden in Florence,” says Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds. “The landscape design makes good use of gravel and limestone, which looks very natural in a Houston garden. And we planted boxwoods, which we trim and shape regularly as part of a well-thought-out residential landscape maintenance plan. It is a lovely and relaxing space.”
Have you cut out and collected pictures of great landscaping ideas, but now wonder how to actually put them onto your own property? Have you wanted to capture the vision of a stately French mansion on your property in Houston, Texas? Would you like to know whether the plants you’ve admired in European and New England countryside estates will grow on the Texas coastal plains?
If so, you need the services of an experienced residential landscape design professional. A competent landscape designer or landscape architect takes you through the entire design development process, which includes: consultation and program development, analysis of the existing site, conceptual landscaping design, construction documentation and permitting. And then on towards turning the vision in your mind from virtual reality to actual reality.
Landscape design and Analysis of the Site
An essential part of the initial consultation with your landscape designer or landscape architect is a walk around your property. Here is where you get to share your overall vision, detail your wants and needs and desires. It should be a free-flowing discussion about aesthetics, which includes your likes and dislikes of materials, preferences on arrangements-all the “wouldn’t it be nice if…” things you’ve been considering.
Try to be as specific as you can. For example, you may want a deck to seat a party of ten people or a large lawn area on which your three- and five-year-old can play with your Labrador retriever. This detailed information will be brought together by your residential landscape designer or landscape architect to create a program of uses. The program organizes uses by their relationship to one another, much like the inside flow of your home. In fact, the architecture and flow of your home should relate to the architecture and flow of your landscaping. Understanding these relationships and interpreting them well separates the artist-architectural designer from a landscape horticulturalist-contractor.
Residential Landscaping Design
The next step in the design process develops out of the meeting notes, site analysis, program of uses, and the design professional’s experience. At this conceptual level, the landscape designer or landscape architect conveys the overall design intent, such as the general use areas and their sizes, swimming pools and other hardscapes, outdoor kitchens and outdoor fountains, lawn areas, and plantings. This phase will also be the time when it is determined which wish list items are possible on the site and which are not. An overall cost study is developed from the conceptual landscaping design as well.
Moving Forward with you Landscape Design:
Once you have agreed on the overall design intent, sizes of use areas, general material selections and their applications, you are ready to begin the landscaping design development and construction phase. The documentation for this phase can be broken down into three groups: 1) landscaping design drawings for permitting. 2) landscaping design drawings to convey final design intent and material selections for you and the installation contractor 3) landscaping design drawings, called construction documents, with specifications for materials, specifications for their installation and installation methods.
These drawings may be accompanied by a full package of additional drawings to include an existing site survey, tree disposition and elevation plan, tree preservation plan, demolition plan, swimming pool plan, landscape drainage systems, irrigation systems, hardscape plan including outdoor kitchen and outdoor water fountains, landscape planting plan, landscape lighting plan, and construction details for the above plans.
As for permits, each city has its own unique requirements for landscape plan approvals. The norm is a submittal of the entire permitting package to be approved or rejected by a committee board. For this reason, it is important to hire a landscaping company that is fluent in these areas, one who knows what vital information to include, such as lot coverage ratios, engineered drainage plans, pool fencing layout and specifications. It is equally important to omit unnecessary information that could create confusion or send up a red flag that would keep the project from getting approved. A knowledgeable residential landscape designer or landscape architect helps win approval as quickly as possible.
Garden Design and the End Results
Whether your project is a simple landscaping design that only encompasses landscape planting or is a complex construction package, it is vital that you hire a landscape designer or landscape architect that is competent in the skill sets detailed here. For your satisfaction, it is also important to distinguish between off-the-shelf landscaping design and a designer who can reflect your unique style. Always ask to see a portfolio and visit the website to determine if the landscaping company under consideration has the sense of style you appreciate and is one who can design a landscape that complements your home and lifestyle.
Additionally, it is highly recommended that you utilize a landscaping design company that not only does the design work, but also performs project management and landscaping installation. There is a world of difference between someone who has great ideas and another person with great ideas who also knows the availability and best use of local materials, local contractors and their methods of construction, overall cost and budget development, and can then maintain the finished product. In short, you want a landscape designer or landscape architect who can deliver a landscape design solution that flourishes in the Houston climate over the long term.
Most homeowners already have one or more Most homeowners already have one or more landscaping design ideas fixed firmly in their mind when they contact Exterior Worlds. They may have seen visited our landscaping design portfolio and seen the work we have done for other homeowners in neighborhoods like West University, Bellaire, River Oaks, and Tanglewood. They may have seen photographs of properties in a reputable publication that inspired certain landscape design ideas based on several motifs that caught their eye, or they may be have had a passion for a certain cultural style such as French, Italian, or Japanese that they have always wanted to develop on their own personal homestead.
Regardless of the origin of such inspiration, it is important that you work with a Houston Landscaping Service that can help you more fully develop your landscaping design ideas in a manner that compliments the appearance of your home and helps extend its living space outdoors in a way that fully expresses the core values and subjective sentiments of your own personal lifestyle.
Make your landscape a virtual, organic extension of your home’s structure and aesthetic.
When you meet with your landscaping architect for the first time, try to develop landscaping design ideas that will compliment the architecture of your house. No matter how small or large your home actually is, it represents the most dominant feature of your landscape, and as such, cannot be ignored. Any outdoor structures such as an arbor, fire pit, outdoor kitchen, patio fireplace, or special walkway needs to reflect the basic design principles that distinguish your house from surrounding structures.
The swimming pool in particular is something you should pay very close attention to. Most swimming pool construction that is done independently from a landscaping plan tends to focus only on making the pool itself functional and aesthetically pleasing. We see this all the time when we work on older homes that were build in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The pool looks fantastic in and of itself, but it clashes severely with surrounding terrain and home architectural features. We commonly have to remodel swimming pools significantly, or rebuild them all together, to harmonize the poll with the surrounding landscape.
Garden design is another area that you should really rely upon professional expertise to help develop. While you may already have dozens of landscaping design ideas in mind about what types of flowers, shrubs, and trees will look best in your yard, please keep in mind that vegetation groupings constitute forms in and of themselves that either work with or against the appearance of your house. A good example would be some of the contemporary landscapes we have done in our landscaping portfolio section which required us to plant some very unique vegetation patterns to truly do justice to the unique elements that constituted a particular home’s appearance.
Think form follows function when developing a landscaping plan.
The best landscaping design ideas will develop forms around practical use of open areas. After all, the more beautiful your landscape, the more you are going to want to go outside and experience it firsthand. Activities will naturally follow, so coming up with a clear picture of what you intend to ultimately do when you are outdoors will help you more fully develop a plan for development of key areas of your yard. If your ultimate goal is to create entertainment space, then outdoor structures and special environments will need to be built that support the many activities that you and your guests particularly enjoy. If you have children, and you are looking to create special play areas and sports facilities, Houston professional landscapers can help you by subcontracting specialists who can design these facilities (such as courts and practice fields) safely and effectively while still remaining ultimately true to the overall landscaping design idea envisioned in the master plan.
Ornament the landscape to create special space in addition to simply decorating it.
Even something that normally conveys a purely artistic sentiment can play a functional role in the development of your landscaping design idea. Your Houston landscaping company can help develop special patio and seating areas that are aside just for you. Here, you can reflect, meditate, read the paper, and enjoy the morning over conversation and coffee. Fountains and sculptures, though typically categorized as purely decorative, can take on a new, more subtle role as boundary markers between public space, children space, and special, private space. Landscape lighting can then be installed around these areas to maintain these boundaries during the night as well as the day. In this sense, one single landscape can be turned into many smaller landscapes; each represented by its own unique features, forms, purposes, and carefully designed ideas.
fixed firmly in their mind when they contact Exterior Worlds. They may have seen visited our landscaping design portfolio and seen the work we have done for other homeowners in neighborhoods like West University, Bellaire, River Oaks, and Tanglewood. They may have seen photographs of properties in a reputable publication that inspired certain landscape design ideas based on several motifs that caught their eye, or they may be have had a passion for a certain cultural style such as French, Italian, or Japanese that they have always wanted to develop on their own personal homestead.
Regardless of the origin of such inspiration, it is important that you work with a Houston Landscaping Service that can help you more fully develop your landscaping design ideas in a manner that compliments the appearance of your home and helps extend its living space outdoors in a way that fully expresses the core values and subjective sentiments of your own personal lifestyle.
Make your landscape a virtual, organic extension of your home’s structure and aesthetic.
When you meet with your landscaping architect for the first time, try to develop landscaping design ideas that will compliment the architecture of your house. No matter how small or large your home actually is, it represents the most dominant feature of your landscape, and as such, cannot be ignored. Any outdoor structures such as an arbor, fire pit, outdoor kitchen, patio fireplace, or special walkway needs to reflect the basic design principles that distinguish your house from surrounding structures.
The swimming pool in particular is something you should pay very close attention to. Most swimming pool construction that is done independently from a landscaping plan tends to focus only on making the pool itself functional and aesthetically pleasing. We see this all the time when we work on older homes that were build in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The pool looks fantastic in and of itself, but it clashes severely with surrounding terrain and home architectural features. We commonly have to remodel swimming pools significantly, or rebuild them all together, to harmonize the poll with the surrounding landscape.
Garden design is another area that you should really rely upon professional expertise to help develop. While you may already have dozens of landscaping design ideas in mind about what types of flowers, shrubs, and trees will look best in your yard, please keep in mind that vegetation groupings constitute forms in and of themselves that either work with or against the appearance of your house. A good example would be some of the contemporary landscapes we have done in our landscaping portfolio section which required us to plant some very unique vegetation patterns to truly do justice to the unique elements that constituted a particular home’s appearance.
Think form follows function when developing a landscaping plan.
The best landscaping design ideas will develop forms around practical use of open areas. After all, the more beautiful your landscape, the more you are going to want to go outside and experience it firsthand. Activities will naturally follow, so coming up with a clear picture of what you intend to ultimately do when you are outdoors will help you more fully develop a plan for development of key areas of your yard. If your ultimate goal is to create entertainment space, then outdoor structures and special environments will need to be built that support the many activities that you and your guests particularly enjoy. If you have children, and you are looking to create special play areas and sports facilities, Houston professional landscapers can help you by subcontracting specialists who can design these facilities (such as courts and practice fields) safely and effectively while still remaining ultimately true to the overall landscaping design idea envisioned in the master plan.
Ornament the landscape to create special space in addition to simply decorating it.
Even something that normally conveys a purely artistic sentiment can play a functional role in the development of your landscaping design idea. Your Houston landscaping company can help develop special patio and seating areas that are aside just for you. Here, you can reflect, meditate, read the paper, and enjoy the morning over conversation and coffee. Fountains and sculptures, though typically categorized as purely decorative, can take on a new, more subtle role as boundary markers between public space, children space, and special, private space. Landscape lighting can then be installed around these areas to maintain these boundaries during the night as well as the day. In this sense, one single landscape can be turned into many smaller landscapes; each represented by its own unique features, forms, purposes, and carefully designed ideas.
About Goodway Landscape : Goodway Landscape will meet with you during the design process to ensure that you are comfortable with the direction the design is going in. We will meet with you once more before the design is finalized and provide you with an estimated cost. While the design doesn’t typically change much at this point, we can determine how much of the project will be installed during the first phase. Because financial considerations are given at the outset, Goodway Landscape is often able to accommodate your budget and therefore install the design in one phase. For every pest in nature there is a predator bug that will leave the plant alone while dining on the bad bugs. These are called beneficials and include ladybugs, praying mantis and lacewings. Protecting beneficials takes advantage of nature’s control mechanisms. Chemical pesticides kill both pests and beneficials, which leads to pest population explosions once the predators are gone. The new approach to pest control is through least toxic measures designed to protect beneficials while controlling pests.
To lower pH, ferrous sulfate and aluminum sulfate are often recommended. Ferrous sulfate, which also adds iron to the soil, is of the most help to plants that show yellow leaves as well as overall poor health. You’ll also lower the pH of alkaline soil over time by regularly applying organic amendments such as compost. * You may have noticed that soluble fertilizers – like the liquid mixes – must be applied every week or two. The reason is that plants are only able to utilize seven or eight percent of the nutrients per application. So they need to be reapplied quite frequently which can be costly and tedious. Conversely, organic and natural fertilizers only need to be applied a couple times a year, because as they break down, they continue to feed the roots. Goodway Landscape News Most projects begin with tearing out the existing landscape unless there’s already nothing there. Be sure to let your design consultant know if there are any items you wish to remain so that we can incorporate it into your design. Before the tear out takes place we ask you to tie bright colored ribbons or tape on the plants that are going to stay. Plant more trees. Many newer neighborhoods in this country just don’t have enough trees. Recent suburbs and developments are built on former farm fields with no trees. If possible, homeowners should plant trees. Trees, just like all plants, breathe oxygen back in to the atmosphere. They create shade which can cut air-conditioning costs for your home and they add all-season beauty. Goodway Landscape Caring for a pond takes less effort than maintaining a lawn. The ecosystem you have helped to create by having Goodway Landscape install an Aquascape™ pond does most of the work for you. So aside from stepping out of the way and allowing nature to take its course, there are a few basic things you need to know. Purchases to Make and Tools You Need * Mail in your warranty card for your Aquascape™ pump that came with your pond. * Purchase a digital thermometer for your pond. * Pond and waterfall lights won’t last forever. Simply remove the bulbs and take them to your local hardware store. Easy to replace! * Aquatic plants are necessary for taking up sludge and excess nutrients. Goodway Landscape installs plants for 90 percent of our customers; however, many of you enjoy adding plants after we have gone, as well you should. When adding plants take them out of their containers. * Algea are a natural part of any ecosystem and should never be thought of as something you want to completely do away with. however, string algea is best taken care of with a product call Algae Fix® . (Coming soon to our Products page.) * Pond Salt only gets added once per pond filling and is optional. Add 1 cup of Pond Salt for every 100 gallons of pond water for healthier fish. Using more than this application will hurt your plants and is not recommended. Less is more, in this case. A good formula for figuring out pond gallons: Length x Width x Despth x 7.48 = Gallons. (Example: for an 11′ x 16′ pond the formula would be: 11 x 16 x 2 x 7.48 = 2,633 gallons or 25 cups of Pond Salt.) * Test your pond water with an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Test Kit. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals sells a kit that provides a chart for aquarium solition / PH Balance / Pond Salt for Ponds with plants.
Whether you plan on “borrowing ideas” or plan on creating your own landscaping design, you should have at the very least a basic understanding of the principles of landscape design.This doesn’t mean that you have to apply every principle to every part of your plan. But just having an understanding of these principles will help you generate ideas and increase your creativity.Great landscaping lies in the eyes of the its creator. So, while the principles of landscape design are great guidelines to follow, don’t feel like they’re the “have to rules” of landscaping. Abstract and creativity are allowed.Unity should be one of your main goals in your design. It may be better understood and applied as consistency and repetition. Repetition creates unity by repeating alike elements like plants, plant groups, or decor throughout the landscape. Consistency creates unity in the sense that some or all of the different elements of the landscape fit together to create a whole.Unity can be achieved by the consistency of character of elements in the design. By character, I mean the height, size, texture, color schemes, etc. of different elements.A good example would be in the use of accent boulders. If you’ve ever seen a landscape design that had one large white round boulder here and another large red square granite boulder there and so on, then you’ve seen that unity wasn’t created by this specific element.This is just one example but the principle applies to all other elements such as groups of plants and materials.A simple way to create unity in your landscape is by creating themes. And one of the simplest ways to create themes is by using a little garden decor or garden statues. Creating a theme garden is easier when it’s related to something you’re interested in or have a passion for.If you’re into butterflies for instance, you could create a theme using plants that attract butterflies as well as using statues, ornaments, and other decor that are related to butterflies.Unity should be expressed through at least one element in your landscape and preferably more. Using elements to express a main idea through consistent style and a specific theme is what creates harmony.Simplicity is actually one of the principles in design and art. It’s one of the best guidelines you can follow as a beginner or do it yourselfer. Just keep things simple to begin with. You can do more later.Simplicity in planting, for instance, would be to pick two or three colors and repeat them throughout the garden or landscape. Keeping decor to a minimum and within a specific theme as well as keeping hardscapes such as boulders consistent is also practicing simplicity.Balance in design is just as the word implies. Equality. There are basically two types of balance in landscape design. Symmetrical and Asymmetrical.Symmetrical balance is where there are more or less equally spaced matching elements of the garden design. With a garden equally divided, both sides could share the same shape, form, plant height, plant groupings, colors, bed shapes, theme, etc.You may remember creating something like this when you were a kid in art class at school. Where you take a piece of paper, splash paint on it, fold it in half, unfold it, and then it magically creates an interesting symmetrical design. So symmetrical balance or design is somewhat of a mirror image or reflection.Asymmetrical balance on the other hand is one of the principles of landscape design that’s a little more complex. While textures, forms, colors, etc. may remain constant to create some unity, shapes and hardscapes may be more random. This form of balance often has separate or different themes with each having an equal but different type of attraction.A good example of this would be where bed shapes or paths differ on both sides of the dividing line. One side could be curvy with a sense of flow while the other side is straight, direct, and hard.This can also create a neat contrast. Flowing lines are pleasing to the eye but the bold contrast of a curve with a straight line can be very interesting.Asymmetrical balance isn’t necessarily limited to just the shape of your garden.An example might be where one side of the garden is mostly large shade trees while the other side is predominately a lower growing flower garden or even a mix of both examples. This is only limited to your imagination.Contrast and harmony can also be achieved using plants. Fine foliage verses coarser foliage, round leaves verses spiked leaves as well as color compliments and contrasts.Plant height, color, and texture may be varied from one area to the next but each area should stay consistent within its own theme.You’ll hear me talk about “themes” a lot. Many successful do it yourself designs follow a basic theme to achieve most of the principles of landscape design described on this page. The proper use of plants and garden decor or a mix of both is a simple way to achieve themes.
Color adds the dimension of real life and interest to the landscape. Bright colors like reds, yellows and oranges seem to advance toward you and can actually make an object seem closer to you. Cool colors like greens, blues, and pastels seem to move away from you and can make an object seem farther from you.Grays, blacks, and whites are considered neutral colors and are best used in the background with bright colors in the foreground. However, to increase depth in a landscape, you can use dark and coarse textured plants in the foreground and use fine textured and light colored plants in the background.Colors can also be used to direct your attention to a specific area of the garden. A bright display among cooler colors would naturally catch the eye.
Natural transition can be applied to avoid radical or abrupt changes in your landscape design. Transition is basically gradual change. It can best be illustrated in terms of plant height or color but can also be applied to all elements in the landscape including but not limited to textures, foliage shape or size, and the size and shape of different elements.In other words transition can be achieved by the gradual, ascending or descending, arrangement of different elements with varying textures, forms, colors, or sizes.An example of a good transition would be a stair step effect from large trees to medium trees to shrubs to bedding plants. This example is where a little knowledge of proper plant selection would come in handy.Transition is one of the principles of landscape design that can be used to “create illusions” in the landscape. For example a transition from taller to shorter plants can give a sense of depth and distance (like in a painting), making the garden seem larger than it really is. A transition from shorter to taller plants could be used to frame a focal point to make it stand out and seem closer than it really is.Line is of the more structural principles of landscape design. It can mostly be related to the way beds, walkways, and entryways move and flow.Straight lines are forceful and direct while curvy lines have a more natural, gentle, flowing effect.Proportion simply refers to the size of elements in relation to each other. Of all the principles of landscape design, this one is quite obvious but still requires a little thought and planning. Most of the elements in landscape design can be intentionally planned to meet the proper proportions.For instance if you are creating a small courtyard garden, an enormous seven foot garden statue placed in the center would be way out of proportion and a little tacky to say the least. Or a small four foot waterfall and pond placed in the center of a large open yard would get lost in the expanse.Don’t misunderstand this to mean that if you have a large yard you can’t have smaller features or garden decor. Proportion is relative and elements can be scaled to fit by creating different rooms in the garden. The goal is to create a pleasing relationship among the three dimensions of length, breadth, and depth or height.A small water feature can be proportionate if placed in a corner or on the edge of a large area and becomes a focal point of the larger area while creating its own distinct atmosphere. An entire room, sitting area, or theme can be created around it. Other rooms and themes can be created as well. See small gardens for ideas on creating rooms and creating illusions.Also, special consideration and study should be given to proper plant selection to avoid using plants that are out of proportion.Repetition is directly related to unity. Its good to have a variety of elements and forms in the garden but repeating these elements gives variety expression. Unity is achieved by repeating objects or elements that are alike. Too many unrelated objects can make the garden look cluttered and unplanned.There’s a fine line here. It’s possible that too much of one element can make a garden or landscape feel uninteresting, boring and monotonous.However, unity can still be created by using several different elements repeatedly. This in turn keeps the garden interesting.
Tattoos are becoming more and more popular in our society and have become an accepted part of Western culture. Flower tattoos are one of the most common types of tattoos in the world. This article will discuss flower tattoo designs and how to find the best ones so that your tattoo will look amazing.
Click Here to Find Flower Tattoo DesignsA flower tattoo is a permanent marking on the skin made by inserting ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorative reasons in the form of a flower. The art of tattooing is centuries old and has been popular among indigenous people in New Zealand, Japan, South America and Africa. Flower tattoos might not be centuries old, but they have become a popular part of European and North American culture.
Click Here to Learn More About Professional Tattoo Designs
Flower tattoos can be done in both full color or black styles. Black designs are more common, but a great tattoo artist can make colorful flower tattoo designs come alive on your skin. When you are looking for your flower design, make sure that the image is very high resolution. This will help the tattoo artist see it in perfect detail and will translate into a beautiful flower tattoo. Also, take your time when browsing through different designs – the tattoo will stay with you for life, so finding the perfect tattoo design is critical.Flower tattoo designs also come in different sizes. Some are meant for small tattoos on the wrist or ankle while others are intended for larger applications on the back or upper arm. Wherever you want your flower tattoo on your body, make sure that your chosen design works in that size. With a little research, you can make sure that your flower tattoo looks awesome for years to come.
The floral industry uses specific techniques and skills to create extremely appealing fresh cut, hand tied flower arrangements, bunches and flower bouquets using the intricate art of floral design. This involves the use of bowls, baskets, vases, paper and other decorative objects to complete a floral design.There are various styles of design that are popular and each type of style has different characteristics. Flower design originates from many different cultures all over the world. Floral design techniques are usually taught in a school, special college or academy for students to receive the best quality training. The skill is reasonably in demand and there is a shortage of trained professionals in the field, especially with the rising need for professionally arranged flower bouquets.A flower designer will require training in specific skills and techniques. Use of the correct combination of flowers (aesthetically and practically), cutting, treating and selling flowers are all skills a flower designer should have.Bouquet or BunchesBlooms gathered in a hand tied flower arrangement using a creative style are called bouquets. Large varieties of bouquets make attractive arrangements and are used at weddings, given as gifts on special occasions and are a favourite romantic gesture.This type of arrangement is extremely popular and widely available in many different flower combinations, according to flowers that are in season . Bouquets are available from shops, petrol stations, florists and online retailers as they are so enduringly popular. Small flower bouquets have more specific names and traditions associated with their use.BoutonnièreThis small, flower arrangement is an accessory for a man’s jacket lapel. The flower used is generally a carnation or a red rose and the arrangement is a very simple decoration using one flower. These are used at formal events such as weddings where the groom, his groomsmen and best man will wear them. The word “boutonnière” is French for “button hole” and is a reference to the traditional positioning of the flower on a man’s lapel, through the buttonhole. Today, the boutonnière is attached with a pin, as many jackets do not have the traditional straight buttonhole on their lapels, yet this can be considered a faux pas to some due to traditional associations.CorsagesA corsage is a single flower or a small flower arrangement, larger than a boutonnière. The arrangement is extremely popular in America for formal dances and special occasions and was previously favoured as a fashion accessory. The corsage can be pinned to an outfit but generally the corsage is tied around the wearer’s wrist to avoid damage to their outfit.Posey, nosegay and tussie-mussieA Posey is a small collection of flowers. Also known as a nosegay or tussie-mussie, these small bouquets are generally presented as gifts and were very popular in history.The name ‘nosegay’ stems from the use of a small flower bouquet to eliminate foul odours such as bad breath and bad hygiene, from as early as the Medieval Period. Worn attached to the bodice or tied around a person’s head, they were a widespread solution for disguising bad smells and keeping the nose ‘happy’ (gay).Tussie-mussies were popular during Queen Victoria’s reign in England. The small flower bouquets were favoured as a fashion accessory and were often comprised of flowers with symbolic meanings. Tussie-Mussies were used to convey messages and meanings to those they were presented to as a gift.WreathsA wreath is an arrangement of flowers in the shape of a ring. These are purely for decoration or to be worn as a head dress or festive crown during a celebration. Wreaths are extremely symbolic according to the flowers used in the arrangement. For example, evergreens symbolised strength, whilst wreaths of red poppies laid at memorials on Remembrance Day represent the poppies which grew on the battlefields and trenches after the war and the blood spilled during battle. The Romans used wreaths as a female headdress and winning Olympians were crowned with a special wreath.In South Africa wreaths are often used for sympathy arrangements at funerals.Different styles of arrangement: Ikebana Ikebana is Japanese for “the art of giving life to flowers” and uses oriental styles to create minimalistic, pure and uncluttered arrangements aimed at exploring nature and man’s relationship. The arranging of flowers in this method is a highly skilled and very disciplined art.The arrangements often focus on the areas of the plant alternative to the customary Western-World tradition. The stems and leaves are extremely important in this style of flower arranging. The colours used are simple and the style of arrangement emphasises the clean-cut shape. Ikebana uses only organic plants which are arranged in a scalene triangle shape to represent elements such as humanity, heaven and earth or the earth, moon and sun.English GardenThis English variation of floral design is structured in a radial arrangement in a tall vase or shorter bowl. The style uses flowers which are in season, especially garden blooms.High StyleThe High Style variation of flower arrangements uses tropical or exotic flowers predominantly such as the Bird of Paradise flower and is not limited to any symmetrical formations. Contemporary and up-to-date designs are generally classified as High Style and the unique floral arrangements are emphasised by the linear structure of the arrangements.Hand tied flower arrangements and flower bouquets made from fresh cut flowers in the Ikebana, English Garden and High Style fashion are responsible for providing aesthetic and emotive décor for many situations and settings. Gifts made of beautiful hand tied flower arrangements are highly regarded in all societies, making the art of flower design a welcome necessity.
Many people feel flowers are not something within their reach because they see them as an expensive extravagance. While there are many flowers that may outside of your budget because they are more rare or out of season, if you choose flowers that are readily available and fairly common, you will find them an affordable luxury and one that will brighten your day and your home. To keep costs to a minimum, you will want to talk to a florist about what flowers meet your needs without breaking the bank. They will know plenty about seasonal and more affordable flowers and arrangements and how best to care for them.
Locally-grown flowers currently in season will generally prove to be the most cost effective for you. If you have your eye on some rare flower only available for a few weeks each year from the Mediterranean, you will pay considerably more than those farm-fresh roses or daisies. With that in mind, there are several flowers that are always in season and a fabulous bet for the floral bargain hunter. These include roses, daisies and carnations. While these may seem a bit “mainstream” for your tastes, you may be surprised when you start investigating the design and color possibilities that will turn these flowers from common to chic. For instance, a tightly-packed, single-color carnation centerpiece makes a striking and elegant statement for your cocktail or dinner party. Or, choose some boldly-colored roses and cut the stems short to place in a bud vase to add style and grace to your tables.
Gerbera daisies are a wonderful choice for adding whimsy and fun to a shower or birthday party. These sweet, festive stems come in every color imaginable from primary to pastel and cost very little compared with many other flowers. They are also almost always in season and a favorite with many local growers. Talk about a great look for a great price! And, if you can only afford a few of the flowers you love, why not choose to fill things in a bit with lush greens, baby’s breath or carnations in the same color? You’ll achieve the look you want at a fraction of the cost.
Flowers can have a transformational affect on almost any room or event. They create cohesion and visual interest and should not be abandoned because of cost. There is something for every budget and there are more flower choices than ever before so don’t stifle your creativity!
What to do next? visit Toronto Florists site to check out our flowers.
