Lights! Camera! Paint That Theme!

Whether you are in the process of beginning a new landscaping project, or are just amidst adding the finishing touches, one of the most important details is maintaining consistencies in your theme. The relationship between textures, colors, styles and shapes are what give your landscape a unifying aesthetic. How your setting should appeal to you visually is the same pleasing senses you receive from a well balanced photograph or postcard. When mapping and designing your area with key components, a helpful technique to aid you in balancing your placement is to take snapshots with your camera. Constricting your landscape view to a frame, allows your eyes to see how the key elements in your area flow and interact with each other.

A common question when it comes to designing any area is, does one have to stick to one theme? A theme is generally defined as “a unifying or dominant idea, or motif.” With this, you can have varying elements that all correlate with each other in establishing a theme. Designing your backyard is similar to painting, you can use different textures and colors, but the end result is one established picture.

Below we will show you how to create an Asian inspired landscape.

Establishing your place of Zen

The essence in an Asian themed landscape is creating a place where the visual dynamics allow your energy to be in a place of peace and relaxation. Unlike typical landscapes, Asian gardens can be viewed as a composition or series of smaller landscapes, with sections in which you can move through, experience and view.

One of the first things to consider when planning this type of landscape is the size of your area. Although Asian gardens have varying elements, this does not mean you need a large space, but just a carefully planned out one. One inexpensive and effective way of establishing the tone to your Asian garden is by using bamboo as part of your landscape. You can plant bamboo to be a part of your vegetation or use it for fencing, area borders, or even using bamboo poles as wall or structure accents.

Once you establish a tone, the rest is up to you, the painter of your landscape, to brush in the details. With Asian gardens, details generally mean to reflect the physical elements such as water, wind, earth (stone) and fire. It is a good idea to section off parts of your landscape that will reflect your desired element. You can use bamboo borders to separate different foliage, elements and areas. For example, to one side of your yard you can have a rock garden encompassed by sand, to compliment a nearby Buddha statue as the main visual focal point. As you move through areas and dimensions of your yard, it is important again to remember that creating that free, open space is what will set the relaxing Zen feeling. Another relaxing element is water. Placing a water fountain will not only visually stimulate the senses, but also add the sound dynamic to your landscape.

Simple details such as stone statues, bamboo accents, water fountains, and rock gardens can help establish a welcoming flow of energy to your back yard.

In designing any landscape, it’s important to maintain a common interest between your elements and have a unifying theme. Most importantly though is to have fun, after all this area will be the place you escape to from your every day life, so enjoy the creative process and let your imagination take you to where you want to be.