Landscaping basics PART 2

Dave Robson

There are no magic rules or formulas for landscaping success. Give the same space layout to hundreds of landscapers and watch all the different combinations that result.

Last month's column dealt with the landscaping principles and elements, with some emphasis on how they relate. All the landscape elements have a bearing on the principles. Colors affect dominance, rhythm, proportion, scale, contrast and balance. The same with line, texture, size and space.

Landscape principles are easier to discuss than elements, but they're harder to visualize. Color, pattern, texture, size, shape and space are all tangible; well, the last one may not be, but we do recognize each of them.

Ask anyone to talk about proportion, scale and balance. They might be able to tell you that something looks balanced, but maybe not why. Something may be dominant in the landscape, though it's the smallest item.

Of all the landscape principles, some may think balance is the easiest to achieve. Dig a hole, set the plant in, and it's balanced. Even if you tip the plant, eventually gravity and the plant hormones will produce vertical growth on trees and shrubs.

Some people think of balance as a teeter-totter, a tight-rope walker or an egg standing up. We tend to think of balance as equal parts — divide something down the middle and both sides will look the same.

That can be classified as symmetrical balance. It's perfect for formal gardens like the Gardens of Versailles, France, or Williamsburg, Virginia. For this type of balance, homes need to be rigid and formal looking, built of stone or brick.

Most of the gardens were surrounded by clipped hedges. Knot gardens were common. Plants were rigidly pruned. Colors were equal; if you had a 10-foot square of red roses on one side of a path, you'd expect to find a similar plot on the other side.

Most of our homes, these days, aren't symmetrical. Achieving symmetry was easier when garages weren't on the front of the house. Homes today are a combination of brick, stone, wood and siding.

Balance, though, is more than "Will the plant tip over?", "Is it tied to the ground?" or equality.

Asymmetrical balance is more common. Amounts look equal when divided, but actually aren't. For example, a large flowering shrub Viburnum may have as much mass or visual weight as a flowering crabapple tree. The solid mass of the shrub counters the trunk and canopy of the crabapple. Each placed at opposite corners of the house will achieve similar "balancing" effects.

Don't look at balance as a one-on-one problem. Two, three, four or more smaller plants can balance a larger one. A group of two or three trees clumped together, such as river birches or sassafras, can do the same thing as a red maple.

One of the key aspects of balance is to balance the house to the landscape, not just to the plants. Split level, or tri-level, homes sit in the landscape differently. One side tends to be heavier or taller than another. So, when landscaping, you need to counterbalance the heavier side with more plant material, or bolder materials, on the other side.

Newer homes with visible garages on the front or side can pose landscaping problems. While the main emphasis on landscaping is to soften the edges of the house and draw attention to the front door (next month's topic), this is difficult when the mass of the garage, garage door and driveway say "Hey, look at me." Most of us would probably say we're not trying to call attention to the garage.

Balance can be achieved by placing plants in front of other plants or the house. Placing trees or large plantings in front of the house on the opposite side of the garage counteracts the garage effect.

Closely related to balance is dominance, another principle. The garage door, in the above example, dominates the landscape. Adding plants tends to shift the dominance, and thus the balance.

Color can play a key role in balance. The right colors can make a landscape look balanced and pleasing to the eye. Poor color use can lead to visual instability, and the sense that something just isn't right. And when something isn't right, the landscape isn't pleasing.

A good way to use color to achieve balance is to limit the way color is used. All too often, we have a frantic desire in the spring to plant at least one of every single colored annual, and appropriate, through friends, at least one of every type of perennial. Soon we end up with a circus-like flower garden, with splotches of reds, oranges, pinks, yellows, purples and blues everywhere.

A better bet is to create masses of similar colors. Make one annual flower bed all reds this year. Next year, choose yellows. Blues can go in the next year, though you'll have to look harder for lots of blue flowers.

Make your flower beds something important. A good flower bed three feet wide by a minimum of six feet long (a total of 18 square feet) is dynamic. Making it all one color is even more forceful.

It's harder to achieve a one-color perennial bed. Perennials tend to bloom for a short period and be done, leaving you with green foliage which can be interesting, but usually isn't eye catching.

Mix some of your perennials with annuals. Instead of going for one color throughout the growing season, aim for one color blooming at one time.

Remember, in general, denser and bolder forms appear heavier. So do darker colors and coarser looking plants (evergreens). Solid forms are heavier than open ones. Tree canopies (the leaves and branches) will look heavier up in the air than a similar mass of shrub on the ground.

David Robson is an Extension Educator, Horticulture, at the Springfield Extension Center, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Illinois. You can write to Robson in care of Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708. Telephone: 217-782-6515. E-Mail: robsond@idea.ag.uiuc.edu

12 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • MARCH 1996