Landscape Design Tips

What is the Best Way to Incorporate Water Into My Landscape?

February 25, 2015

There’s a reason why water features have been included in gardens and dwellings for centuries. In early Pompeian, Greek and Roman times, water features were considered a necessity for pleasurable living. We know this not only because of actual remains but because of depictions on frescoed walls. Today, the most popular ways to incorporate water into your landscape are with a fountain, stream or waterfall feature.

Archaeology findings have revealed the lavish designs of ornamental fountains in early Pompeian gardens and European estates. These magnificent fountains served as both a glamorous status symbol as well as a therapeutic tool for healthier, happier lives. Today, the design possibilities with fountains are endless, and they can be customized to suit your personal aesthetic and lifestyle.

If you are going with a stand-alone fountain design, the considerations you would need to make would be related to height and position within your landscape. It can include a low retaining wall that provides seating or it can be flush with grade. When choosing materials, you can take cues from your home’s style and architecture. If you are looking for your fountain to be bursting with greenery, just remember that there should be 70 percent water surface coverage above or below. Use plants with a diversity of heights to create a beautiful frame for the fountain.

If you are looking for more of an auditory experience with your water feature, consider a waterfall that cascades into a stream and collects in a serene pond. You’ll want to work with a professional who understands how to design a waterfall that will produce the most pleasing sounds. With a series of falls, consider installing separate pumps for each waterfall for easier management and repair. One piece of equipment we recommend for your waterfall is a sump pump because it is so reliable and durable as well as incredibly versatile and rather inexpensive. These can be used to create a good, strong flow for your waterfall as well as a babbling brook in a stream.

An existing slope can be the perfect place for a waterfall. Make sure you are working with a designer who is thoughtful about making it look natural rather than man-made. Surround the waterfall with wetland plants like mosses, and add beautiful blooming plants like water lilies to ponds. You can also look into native varieties of plants such as milkweed, which will provide beautiful coloration with cascading flowers during the growing seasons.

We invite you to watch our video on water features which includes a wonderful talk from a waterfall design expert. Contact Dargan Landscape Architects to see how we can help you design and install your own custom fountain or waterfall.

What are the Best Gardening & Landscape Ideas for Empty-Nesters?

February 23, 2015

A new chapter deserves a new space that will enhance your quality of life. If you and your significant other are looking to create an outdoor room, consider a custom design that will provide more than just a treat for the eyes.

Freedom and Mobility: Whether you are downsizing or you are just looking to optimize your home and property, the right design can result in a multi-purpose outdoor space that is cleverly leveraged to take advantage of every square foot and feature.

Nature: Consider a design that will encourage you to spend more time with nature on a daily basis. Include a table and chair for dining al fresco or a comfortable sitting area for reading the newspaper while you drink your morning coffee or tea. Bring your landscape to life and create ways to interact with nature by incorporating a bird feeder and plants that attract butterflies.

Therapeutic: You’ll enjoy incredible benefits with a landscape design that allows you to slow down, quiet your mind and find peace and tranquility. Tending to a garden, touching plants or simply just being outside can promote a healthier lifestyle as it reduces stress and reignites the senses.

Social: Designing an outdoor room that lends itself to social gatherings can also significantly enhance your quality of life. In addition to dining areas, consider other ways to encourage social engagement such as outdoor games or a fire pit or fireplace with plenty of extra seating.

Active Use: Get yourself moving outdoors with a personalized design. Whether you like to practice meditation or tai chi, or you would rather go for an invigorating swim in a lap pool, consider a home spa unit or fitness space to provide a way to enjoy a different level of activity or exercise at home.

Passive Use: You don’t have to work up a sweat. Simply creating an outdoor space for enjoying downtime and quiet “me time” for reflecting and clearing the mind can do wonders for your health and happiness.

Contact Dargan Landscape Architects to learn how we can help you achieve a custom multi-purpose landscape design.

How Can I Create a Healthy & Sustainable Garden?

February 20, 2015

Establishing a garden that is healthy for both you and mother nature requires careful consideration of the complex and intricate web of life. Here at Dargan Landscape Architects, we follow six tenets of sustainability in order to achieve lifelong landscape designs that are holistically sound.

Tenet #1: Leave Nature Alone

Mature trees can be gravely affected by construction, losing their vitality and dying over a period of four or five years. Because this process is so slow, many don’t realize just how fragile trees are. Simple practices like laying down six inches of mulch and defining traffic pathways can save the lives of trees.

Tenet #2: Restore the Balance of Nature

Everything we do and build has an impact on the environment. Even the smallest of acts can have a massive ripple effect that negatively effects an ecosystem. Creating healthy soil layers with organic components for gardens and planting baby trees can help to prevent erosion, preserve habitats, and rebuild damaged ecosystems.

Tenet #3: Sculpt Your Niche Using Sustainable Building Materials

When designing and constructing a landscape, the materials you use can be just as harmful to the environment as construction. Natural gravel driveway is a green alternative to asphalt, which has a high carbon footprint. As opposed to concrete, previous paving options prevent stormwater runoff.

Tenet #4: Harvest & Conserve Water

Think of your property as its own watershed, which can be harvested to meet all of your water needs. Cisterns and temporary storage systems such as rain barrels, rain gardens, underground tanks, pumps, and irrigation systems can all be employed to gather your own water.

Tenet #5: Let Nature Rest

Harsh, bright lights glaring night after night can slowly damage vegetation. Make an effort to use minimal low lighting. This will not only be better for your garden but will create a nice, warm, glowing ambiance.

Tenet #6: Keep Up the Good Work

The work doesn’t end once the garden is built. Keep up with mowing, chopping, composting, mulching and spreading. Learn about organic pest control practices. Create a calendar and set up a system for disciplined nurturing.

At Dargan Landscape Architects, we’re eager to assist our clients with their landscape designs and dreams. For further assistance and information, contact us today.

How Can I Design a Seamless Landscape? The Four Part Master Plan

February 18, 2015

A seamless landscape design ensures beautiful and comfortable experiences for your household members and any visitors to your property. This type of design is not only aesthetically pleasing but is intuitive for easy and safe navigation.

Approach & Arrival Sequence: Usually at the front of your property, it’s the welcome mat you put out for your friends and family. A thoughtful approach and arrival sequence seamlessly shows visitors how they can enter your property and where they can park cars. It also leads them gracefully to the landing of your front door where they can be greeted. And finally, it may also include starting points for garden experiences or pathways to outdoor rooms. This is where sustainable building materials can be employed such as gravel and other permeable pavers.

Hub: The middle portion of your property, known as the hub, is – of course – the house. It’s the epicenter around which all parts of your property revolve. The style of the house often inspires and dictates the aesthetics and layout of the landscape. Taking cues from the home’s colors, textures and architectural details is essential when designing a seamless landscape design.

Perimeter: This part of your property is situated outside, behind or on the sides of the house. It can be designed to be a multi-purpose environment for relaxing in and entertaining. It can include a sun pocket, an outdoor kitchen, an outdoor dining area or an expansive lawn. An outdoor social environment should be safe and accessible for both people and pets.

Passages & Destinations: These are the pathways and gardens of the property. The passages are the steps and walkways that allow us to get to and from different garden areas. The destinations can be a koi pond, a fountain, a bench beneath a willow tree or a series of garden statues.

Whether you are looking to add onto your landscape, make it more sustainable or give it a whole new look and feel with a complete renovation, our experienced and passionate team here at Dargan Landscape Architects would love to help. Contact us to learn about our landscaping services.

How Can a Waterfall Environment Enhance my Landscape?

February 12, 2015

As the essence of life, water can become the heart and soul of your landscape with a well-designed waterfall feature. Bringing your landscape to life with movement and sound, a waterfall environment can stimulate more than just your sense of sight. You’ll quickly find how a waterfall goes far beyond beautifying. The personal benefits of a waterfall feature can actually far exceed the aesthetic impact it has on your landscape.

There’s nothing quite like the sound of a waterfall. It is nature’s symphony. Creating a beautiful sounding waterfall, however – just like creating a beautiful sounding symphony – is more complicated than you might think. When water separates and hits different surfaces, it creates different tones. The acoustics of a waterfall feature, therefore, must be properly tuned to optimize the positive impact it has on your senses and emotions.

A thoughtfully-designed waterfall can also stimulate your sense of touch. It often goes overlooked, but interacting with waterfalls can be just as enjoyable as the experience of seeing and hearing them. Close your eyes and imagine the soothing feeling of the liquid moving around your hand after a stressful day of work, or imagine the refreshing feeling of the mist subtly hitting and cooling your skin on a hot summer’s day.

The movement of a waterfall certainly brings landscapes to life, but it also draws wildlife to your landscape. Birds, butterflies, and other majestic creatures and beings will grace your landscape and your life when there’s water flowing. Water features additionally open up your landscape to a diverse world of plants that you would otherwise not be able to include in your landscape. A waterfall can coalesce into a pond featuring spectacular water lilies, lotus plants and other blooming plants that require water.

No need to worry about wasting water or energy. A self-contained water feature can consistently and sustainably run 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.

Let us help you achieve a landscape design that stimulates all of your senses. Contact Dargan Landscape Architects in Atlanta to set up a consultation for a water feature installation or other landscape architecture project.

Landscape Design Tips

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