1. The Elegant Sweep of a Curve
The sweep of a curve lends an amiable air to a landscape. Your eye cannot help but follow it around. By placing out a plant bed or even a walkway in a lively line you invite people to explore your superior plant selection. A curved flower bed combines color and shape to make a garden more enticing.
2. A Beautiful Way to Catch a Run-Off
A dry creek-bed brings a rural rustic charm to your yard. Who doesn’t remember digging through pebbles to find the best shapes or skipping stones? This dry river stream look can help catch runoff and prevent drainage problems, while also helping direct the eye throughout your garden. Plus, this dry creek bed landscaping requires absolutely no maintenance. For a more realistic stream-look, add some green and blue glass stones to give that sparkle and glisten of water in the dry months. What better place to showcase all those sea-shells you brought home from your beach vacations??
3. Capture the View Beyond
In Japan, they use a design method called ‘borrowed scenery’ to make a small outdoor space more interesting. They integrate a view of a feature, large or small, that sits beyond the garden to carry the eye out. You can ‘borrow’ a view of a distant building, or Vancouver’s spectacular mountain views.
To borrow scenery, you may have to keep a fence lower or have a hedge trimmed to a certain height so you can see over it. Or you might have to trim back the branches of a wide-spreading tree to reveal something beyond that, like the beautiful snow-capped Mt. Baker!
4. Fooling the Eye
From a distance, the curves of a walk seem to meet, the farther away they travel, the closer they become. This visual cue creates a sense of depth in any outdoor space. You can use this trick in a small outdoor space by slightly angling the lines of a walk inward, making it appear longer than it is. You can do this also with a plant bed. The key is to angle it in very marginally so it appears natural and not off-kilter.
5. The Long View
Long, straight views inevitably lead the eye and you cannot help but follow its line to the end. Therefore, grab the lengthiest straight line you can in an outdoor space and use it to its best advantage. A long view may involve looking diagonally across your yard or down a slope.
6. Irresistible Lookouts
A lookout is one of the most exciting areas in a landscape. Elevated locations such as the top of a slope, a rock, or a bridge, can serve as a prospect where we can stop and enjoy a view. It seems to be a widespread urge to climb a hill and look out from a high point.
Lookouts and overlooks all share one thing in common – elevation.
You may have to clear an opening to reveal a panorama, build a bridge over your dry-creek bed, or you may need to level-off a small area at a high point on a slope to create a place for a bench or picnic table. According to our Landscape Architect, Ying, it’s worth it because a lovely view offers up a commanding presence and connects us to nature. This is what makes a lookout so appealing.
If you’ve always dreamt of being that person who gets cars slowing for a better look and pedestrians oohing and ahhing over your yard, VictorEric’s team of designers, including a landscape architect, Ying, can help you make that dream a reality.
Call Ashley today to set up a consultation! 604-677-0021
