Online Landscaping
Online landscaping lets you combine the design skills of an established landscaping professional with the option of implementing all or part of it as a do-it-yourself landscaping project.
Online landscaping begins with a consultation where the designer gains a thorough understanding of your home architecture.
Your home’s architecture is composed of a myriad number of geometric motifs. It is these motifs we will then follow when we create your landscape master plan. All we require from you is 10-15 pictures of your house taken from all vantage points. We also need approximately the same number of pictures of your yard to get started.
This will help us recommend a style of residential landscaping design that is most suitable to the curb appeal of your residence.
There are scores of landscaping designs we can develop for you. Historical and cultural designs are very popular. There are French landscapes for French homes, Italian landscapes for Italian homes, and Mediterranean landscapes for Mediterranean homes.
There are an equally diverse number of online landscaping plans in custom, contemporary, modern, and minimalist landscape styles. These are becoming increasingly popular in the the high-end custom home market
Once you have authorized a landscaping style, we will create landscape master plan in accordance with the major principles and elements of landscaping.
The first task is to create zones of special interest.
The size of your property determines the number of zones. The larger your lot, the more you will need to subdivide it into different aesthetic and activity zones. This will avoid monotony and prevent your guests from feeling overwhelmed by too much space.
All manner of forms can be indicated in your online landscape plans that will allow you to establish these zones of interest without destroying the unity of your landscape design. Masonry walls made of brick or stone can fully or partially encircle gardens.
Retaining walls can adorn the landscape while holding backfills in place.
Iron and wood fencing can add ornamental touches. or surround the entire perimeter of your entire yard.
Then next step in online landscaping is to plan out your hardscape design.
Hardscape can occupy up to 80 percent of a yard and must serve as much a decorative role as it serves a functional one. For example, no yard looks quite complete without an attractive patio of some sort. It can be something as simple as a morning garden, or it can be something grand like a full-scale pavilion where wedding showers and birthdays are celebrated.
Many patios are also planned with courtyards around them. Courtyards create intimate settings for special moments of conversation and reflection. Walkways help connect these islands of décor to other points of interest on the landscape. This maintains unity and theme without destroying the pristine isolation of the courtyard itself.
Another very important, and very often neglected, form of hardscape is driveway design. Driveways constructed out of decorative concrete or stone enhance the curb appeal of the residence by adding an attraction factor to a structure that is otherwise mundane and notoriously taken for granted.
Your online landscaping expert will plan the softscape elements of your front and back yard.
Softscape is any deliberately planted vegetation. The most common softscape is the garden. There are all kinds of gardens we can plan for you, ranging from the formal, the historical, and the cultural; on to the custom, the minimal, the modern, and the highly contemporary.
Water Features are also included in your online landscaping plan.
Any yard benefits from some type of water feature. Swimming pools have never lost their popularity. Custom fountains work with even the most avant garde and contemporary of landscapes, and streams and natural ponds are ideal for families looking to create a natural getaway just a few steps from their backdoor.
Finally, drainage and irrigation networks are two of the most critical components of online landscaping.
All retaining walls must be designed with a drainage system. This has to be done in order to keep rain-laden topsoil from becoming so heavy that it collapses the wall. Pool patios also have to be drained in order to maintain their aesthetic and safe operability. Gardens need both irrigation and drainage because some plants need precise amounts of water that only professionally engineered water control systems can ensure.