Basic elements of landscape designs

Question 1

Elements of Landscape Design

Answer 1

1. Colour
2. Form
3. Texture
4. Line

Question 2

Colour

Answer 2

From several parts of plant (flower, foliage, fruit and branching).
Colour can have impact on human emotion, powerful in creating mood and feeling.

color wheel
The Colour theory is often used in landscape design by dividing the colour spectrum into four categories:
Primary: Red, yellow and blue
Secondary: Green, violets and orange
Tertiary: Mixture of primary and secondary
Neutral: White, grey and silver

Complementary colors are opposite to each other.
Complementary colors go well with each other.
Selecting complementary colors makes the colors stand out more vibrant

Warm and cool color- orange,red, white- excitement brings towards the observer
cool colour- calming effect moves away from the observer

fruit colour, branch color, foliage colour

Question 3

Forms

Answer 3

Form is basically the shape and structure of a plant or mass of plants.
Plant forms include upright, oval, columnar, spreading, broad spreading, weeping, etc.

Tall plants create a vertical look, drawing the eye upward.
Low spreading plants draw the eye to the horizon.
Use individual specimen plants to break monotony and create interest.
There are also rounded or globular forms that are useful in creating large masses. The majority of shrubs fall into this category.
A mixture of a variety of form becomes confusing.

shrub forms
tree forms
topiary- artificial shaping

Question 4

Texture

Answer 4

Refers to how coarse or fine the surface of the plant or hardscape material feels and/or looks.
Provides variety, interest and contrast.
Buildings, groundcovers and plants foliage, flowers, bark and branching pattern all have texture.
The texture of a plant’s foliage or bloom can be viewed as coarse, medium or fine.
Large leaves are normally considered coarse texture and small leaves as fine textured

Coarse texture
Coarse textured is more dominant than fine textured.
Coarse textured can be used to accent an area.
Coarse texture tends to make a space feel smaller and can be used to make wide spaces feel more enclosed

Fine Texture
Fine texture is often used in formal designs.
Less dominant than coarse texture and is used as a unifying effect.
Has distant quality that creates a larger, more open feeling so can be used to ‘expand’ small spaces such as courtyard.

Question 5

Line

Answer 5

The line or line of sight is the viewer’s eye movement or flow being influenced by the arrangement of plants and their borders.
Hedges or rows of plants direct the attention to a focal point or specific area.
Line can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal and curved.
Straight lines tend to be forceful, structural and stable and direct the observer’s eye to a point faster than curved lines.
Curved or free-flowing lines slows movement and create a natural undisturbed feeling.

primary line types:
Bed lines: edge of the plant bed meets another surface material (turf, ground, garvel).
Hardscape line: edge of the hardscape.
Plant line: plants are used to create different shapes of lines.