Landscaping is about more than just making a yard beautiful. After all, a well-cared-for lawn can make even a bare yard look appealing. Landscape design is about transforming your yard into beautiful retreat while minimizing the impact human activities have on the plants and the environment in your yard. While adding a few potted plants significantly help improve the look of your yard, the true value of landscape design lies beyond aesthetic improvements.
Prevent Erosion on Your Property
Erosion is a risk in every yard. As wind and rain move across your property, the soil can shift away from the plants and garden beds. In steep areas, rocks can become dislodged, posing a risk to your family’s safety. A good landscape design plan will work to prevent erosion, especially in steep areas, with the use of retaining walls. These retaining walls can be both attractive and functional, keeping the soil where it belongs, while also providing a nice framework for plants and sculptures.
Break Up Large Spaces into Inviting Nooks
When you have a large property, it can be difficult to create private areas where your neighbors cannot see in. Landscape design makes it possible to break up even a large yard into secluded, yet inviting, areas.
The right design can create an outdoor living room framed by trees or shrubs to block out the noise of the neighborhood and foster a feeling of being out in nature. The design will take into consideration how you plan to use the space and create the perfect environment and backdrop for your needs. The options are only limited by your imagination.
Prevent Flooding in Your Yard
Without a solid landscaping plan, your yard may turn into a mud pit when the rains come in the spring and fall. If your yard floods, it can damage the plants and existing landscape design in your yard while also making the space unusable. The right design will direct stormwater and runoff to a designated drainage area while also diverting the water away from your plants.
Should your existing design be damaged by a storm, Architectural Landscape Design can help restore its appearance and make any necessary modifications to prevent flooding in the future.
Reduce Air Pollutants
Landscape design allows you to embrace nature in a manicured and predictable way, but the plants themselves have other benefits. Adding rich amounts of foliage may improve the air quality around your home. Plants absorb harmful pollutants and chemicals, purifying the air without the use of electricity or machinery. Landscape designs can be as feature-rich as you wish, but the more plants you have, the more pollutants they’ll absorb.
Propagate Local Ecosystems
Landscape designs don’t have to be high-maintenance. In fact, many plans utilize local plants and grasses to create a beautiful environment that will thrive from season to season. When a design uses plants that are native to the area, the landscaping will be better equipped to handle the average seasonal changes without extra care and attention from you or the landscaping crew. Soil, average rainfall, and changes in temperatures can all pose a challenge to non-native plants, but varieties native to Minnesota receive all the nutrients they need from the local topsoil without additional chemical fertilizer. Furthermore, when the design mimics the natural environment, birds, squirrels, and other small critters are tempted to make a home there.
Treat Your Space as an Eco-System
Your yard is more than just a place to retreat at the end of a long and hectic day; it’s an eco-system in and of itself. The changing slope of the land, shaded areas, and sunny spots all have different needs that must be evaluated before they can be accommodated. A proper landscape design will take these factors into consideration and treat your yard as an eco-system, placing the right plants in the right spot. The result is a design that plans for drainage, erosion, and sustainable plant-life.
Reduces Impact on Environment
When you’re planting a flowerbed yourself, you may add flowers and plants that are not well-suited to the conditions in Minnesota. To counteract the effects of weather conditions, soil type, and humidity, you may need to add fertilizer to the soil. Most commercially available fertilizers are made of chemicals that damage the environment, although they help your tropical flowers flourish in the summer months.
When rain falls, the fertilizer left in the soil makes its way into the water supply, posing a risk to local wildlife and native plants. Landscape design takes sustainability into account with every project. While those favored tropical plants may be used in one area of the design, they won’t be used everywhere. Limiting the use of exotic or non-native plants reduces the impact the landscaping has on the environment.
Though improving your home’s curb appeal or resale value is a benefit of a good landscape design, the true benefit lies in the integrity of your landscaping, the way your yard is transformed, and the enjoyment you receive from spending time in the yard. At Architectural Landscape Design, we’ll work with you to make your landscaping dreams into reality. No matter how large or small your yard is, we’ll make sure your space suits your needs without relying on simple potted plants to create a distinct look.