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Are Your Houseplants Safe?
There is nothing more attractive and cheerful than a room filled with healthy green houseplants. They offer aesthetics to the interior of our homes, improve indoor air quality, and often provide emotional satisfaction to the caregiver in getting the...
Blue Wild Flowers for Your Garden
Planting wild flowers in your garden, or simply scattering wild flower seeds around an area of your yard are both ways to take advantage of Mother Nature's treasured gifts. Wild flowers are carefree, colorful, and tend to attract bees, butterflys...
How to Grow Flowering Dogwood Trees from Seed
You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link,...
Landscape Design - Creating Balance In Home Landscaping
Balance is a principle of all art forms, design, and even
landscape design. It implies a sense of equality. And while
there may be just a little more to it, this is how I explain it
to make it easier for first timers and do it yourselfers...
Viburnums - Landcape and Garden Wonders
Viburnums are plant that I can't imagine a landscpe being
without. If I had to eliminate all varieties from my gardens
except for one I would be hard pressed to decide which to keep.
All varieties of viburnums are attractive, versatile,...
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Layer Your Plantings
Part three in a series
In our last article, we helped you layout your new landscape. In this article we’ll explore which plants to put where and what makes an effective landscape.
If you think of your landscape as a stage, you can easily imagine the basics of layout. On a stage, you have a nice background or backdrop in the back. The backdrop is usually large and fills your entire view. In front of the backdrop, you have some smaller items that set the scene. These may be small pieces of furniture. And then in the very front you have your actors…your stars. They take the front and center to get the most attention. So, looking from back to front, you have your backdrop, your accent pieces, and finally your stars.
Laying out a good landscape uses the same principles: we start with a backdrop in the very back, then we add some accents, then finally, our stars!
The Backdrop
The backdrop can be any number of things but the basic principle is that the backdrop simply serves to show off the items in front of it, and can also be used to hide things behind it. A good backdrop could be something as simple as a wall or fence, or something as elaborate as a planting of evergreens. As long as the evergreens have one common element (perhaps they have the same color or same texture), they will serve as a good backdrop.
The
Accents
Your accent pieces are plants that help to dress the set. These work well if planted in groupings of at least three. For example, a clump of bushes off to the left of your “set” and a clump or flowering plants on the right. Or perhaps some clumps of grasses would serve as a good accent.
The Stars
Now for the stars! Taking center stage are your accents. And they don’t have to be centered! As long as they are different from your backdrop and accents plants, they will become your stars. For example, an evergreen backdrop with some grasses used as an accent set up a nice monochromatic green image. Place some white flowering plants in front and they become the stars of your landscape. Because of their different color from the rest of your “set”, they will stand out.
You can create multiple “sets” in your landscape. Just break up your landscape into smaller mini-scapes. As long as each area is separated by backdrops and accents, you can easily achieve a beautiful look.
About the Author
Dean Novosat is an avid gardener and landscaper. He has transformed many boring yards into beautiful landscapes. He has several websites including http://www.the-garden-doctor.com and http://www.dr-landscape.com.
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| Landscaping for Energy Efficiency |
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| Edible Landscaping Online |
| Only the most productive disease resistant varieties make it onto the approved list here at Edible Landscaping. Our plants are guaranteed to arrive healthy ... |
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| Free Landscaping Ideas, Landscapes, Front Yard, Garden Landscaping |
| Landscaping ideas that transform your boring, unattractive yard into the picture perfect oasis you've always dreamed of. Find out h... |
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