Monday 20 May 2013

The Principles Of Landscaping

Principles of Landscaping.


Humankind has always sought to alter the landscape to suit our purposes. Whether that be for agriculture, construction, mining or even beautification of our surroundings. Landscaping has been a part of civilization since man began the agrarian path ten thousand years ago. From clearing fields and creating common grounds for community gatherings we have always sought to alter our environment to suit our means. As society has become more sophisticated has meant that the ways in which we interact with our environment has also become more sophisticated.  Through our observation of natural phenomena and the rules of the universe such as the golden mean and the rule of three means that we have begun to see the way in which nature arranges itself and that which is pleasing to the human senses. Today we will have a brief look at some of the elements of Landscape design.

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects have released statements about some principles of Landscape design. They are:

 

Protect


Where possible Landscape design seeks to protect the naturally occurring features and ecosystem of a location. This serves to create a contiguous landscape, where the local flora is represented with the design plan. Often ecosystems develop a harmonious relationship between flora and fauna, where only particular plants. For example, most of us at least know that koalas eat gum leaves, some know that it is only specific gum leaves and fewer still would know that in particular regions koalas prefer differing gum leaves, still fewer folk would know that Koalas will also eat paperbark, tea tree, wattle and even pine.
So if you were a landscape designer and there was a Koalao colony in the locality you would have to find out which species of local gum the koalas preferred and include those plants in a design brief.

Enhance


The preservation of local resources, highlighting the natural beauty of an area, mitigating deleterious impacts of human interaction all serve to enhance the sustainability and natural beauty of an area. The tenets of this principle are creativity and sustainability. The highlighting of naturally occurring beauty to be more attractive to the human eye may be done by planting natural species according to design principle of threes i.e planting species in groups of three will make these installations more noticeable and attractive.

Sustainability ensures that the design is long lasting, that the plants are companionable, in that the presence of that plant does not negatively impact the environment. For example the use of Lantana is common in Perth gardens, where as Lantana in the northern rivers region of N.S.W. is a virulent pest and would never be included in a plan for that area.

Regenerate


A design should include any regeneration of natural ecosystems and environment if they were damaged due to natural, or human means. This may mean that the Landscape designer researches the composition of the flora prior to the damage and plants the area according to the naturally occurring ecosystem.

For all of your local Landscaping Brisbane  please contact us at  http://www.mylandscapedesign.com.au

Thanks for reading

Written by Jamie Grant for A&R Evergreen Landscaping Brisbane. Landscapes Of Distinction.

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