Landscape Design Tips

Using Evocative Color & Design to Transform a Garden

March 30, 2015

We all know how color can affect our moods and emotions, which is why we are so particular about the hues we bring into our home. Similarly, gardens can be designed with color palettes that create a certain feel or mood. One of the most appealing parts about flowers is their colorful blossoms and petals. Since perennials can be found in almost any color on the spectrum, gardens can be designed with color combinations that make them feel as beautiful as they look.

Plants with evocative tones can have a powerful affect on gardens. Racy reds, sunny yellow, vibrant magenta and bright orange, for instance, can bring gardens to life with invigorating energy. An attractive scheme can be created by combining colors that are complementary or opposite on the color wheel to ensure strong, aesthetically-pleasing contrasts for added vitality and creative energy. Harmonious hues – which are adjacent on the color wheel – can round out palettes with balance and cohesiveness.

Flowers and plants, as well as accessories for outdoor living spaces, can be used to add color to gardens. Command attention with a patch of assertive red lilies or create a dynamic look through smaller pops, like a piece of red outdoor furniture. Orange poppy flowers can add warmth with a vivid tone that inherently makes you smile. Yellow accent pillows can brighten an outdoor living space while a big bed of yellow rudbeckia can make a garden appear larger.

Blue blossoms are rare, but some planters with blue and violet delphinium, or a patio finished with turquoise tiles, can make for an environment that is both stunning and serene. A touch of purple can always be used to infuse a little nostalgia or help to finish a modern scene with its complex blend of calming blue and energizing red.

To go bold in the garden, don’t limit yourself to bedding plants. Shrubbery with an animating hue can add a little drama as they bring color to eye-level. Container plantings can bring color where soil can’t in areas including decks, porches, walkways, and steps. Gardens can also be carefully planned with containers, beds, trees, and shrubs in a way that ensures a captivating landscape all year long with different colors for every season.

For a steady source of garden design and landscape architecture inspiration, like Dargan Landscape Architects on Facebook and follow co-owner Mary Palmer Dargan on Twitter.

Create a Garden Corner to Energize & Invoke Nature

March 27, 2015

A well-designed garden is aesthetically interesting from every angle, even corners. Too often, corner areas of the garden get overlooked or underrated as a space that can enhance landscapes and outdoor living. No matter what the size of your garden, it can be designed to make the most of each corner, so no inch of beautiful outdoor space goes to waste. Such spatial planning in the garden can add value to your property and quality of life. A smart garden designed to optimize space can leave you with better views to enjoy from inside your home as well as more ways to connect with nature and expand living space beyond the walls of the home.

Here are some of the garden design ideas we are finding inspiration from right now as we begin planning for the spring growing season:

Convert a corner into a focal point: Turning a corner of the garden into an intriguing focal point will direct the eyes to this area, highlighting the spaciousness or making the garden feel larger. An ornamental tree, sculpture, or fountain that compliments the style of your home and landscape can make for a fabulous focal point. Blend it into the rest of the landscape with a border garden. Position a light fixture on this focal point to create a more dynamic lighting scheme and allow this corner to shine even at nighttime.
Create a corner seating area: A built-in garden bench, sectional sofa, or patio area with table and chairs can be a great use of a corner space. This layout will allow you to entertain and relax outdoors as you enjoy your garden from a new and unique vantage point. A pergola, fire pit, or full outdoor fireplace can anchor and define this corner seating area and allow its use more seasons out of the year.
Tuck in a pavilion, gazebo, or other structure: An outbuilding nestled in the corner can turn this space of your garden into your own backyard retreat. A more significant corner structure can also give you the opportunity to establish the style of your garden, whether it’s inspired by modern, Asian design or an enchanting and picturesque cottage scene.

Are the corners of your garden working as hard as they could be for you and your landscape?

We’d love to help you make the most of your landscape with a custom garden. Whether you are looking to entertain outside or simply achieve a space to inspire and encourage a stronger relationship with nature, Dargan Landscape Architects would love to help build and design the garden of your dreams. Contact us by calling me (Mary Palmer Dargan) at 404.354.1715 or Hugh Dargan at 404.354.1714.

How Do I Incorporate Walls & Design Features Around My Yard?

February 27, 2015

Masonry walls and backdrops give three-dimensionality to landscapes. Built structures compliment anything with footing. These include fences, gates, retaining walls, steps, arbors, treillage, pavilions and pergolas. They can showcase your style while highlighting the best aspects of the landscape and the home’s architecture.

A treillage is a staple of the French-inspired garden. It’s any type of trellis that can stand alone or be attached to a wall or side of the home to add architectural interest and detail as well as greenery. Creeping vines covering a trellis always creates a romantic and picturesque look and feel.

Fences can be custom designed to add character, charm and personality to landscapes. A tall fence that encloses a garden can become a fabulous backdrop to a sitting area with an ironwork canopy. A front gate can feature elegant balusters, arches and keystones or even arbors to make a stunning impact and memorable first impression.

Pavilions provide a distinct area for relaxing and entertaining in a gorgeous outdoor setting. We’ve custom-designed several site-specific pavilions that make for an incredible and one-of-a-kind outdoor room. The types of plantings used on and around the pavilion can solidify the style of the landscape, whether traditional, contemporary or modern.

Balustrades can create a Mediterranean, resort-style look and feel while adding a beautiful patina to the landscape design. Traditional balustrades constructed with cast stone form negative and positive spaces that add wonderful shape.

If you are looking for a larger built structure, you can have a tall wall custom designed with built-in niches, planters, arches, columns, ironwork and even a fountain. The bricks or stones can be arranged, painted or aged to create the exact look that blends and enhances the landscape. One of our favorite, and most complicated, projects was a tall statuary wall complete with natural grotto design. Rocks were used throughout the design to integrate it into the natural surroundings while niches provide places for plantings that add color and interest.

If you are looking to add beautiful backdrops to your landscape, contact Dargan Landscape Architects in Atlanta to learn more about our landscape services.

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.

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.

Landscape Design Tips

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