Landscape Design Minnesota Guide
The Ultimate Guide
Landscaping is experiencing a resurgence. Families are enjoying greater time together and that includes every aspect of communing with Nature, including relaxation, play, entertainment, even work.
Vacations are a treasured aspect of family life that may be on hold for a while. Whereas landscaping is right outside the windows and doors of our homes. It’s safe to reason that the role of landscapes and outdoor living will be expanding in our lives.
Of course, it’s up to you to determine what that looks like if you expect to make it happen.
Do you love your landscape, really love it as it is today? One way to know for sure is by evaluating how your landscaping loves you back by enhancing your lifestyle.
This will clarify your vision for it. It will spark ideas for refreshing, preserving, or completely redoing it. Most people get to this point and then wonder what to do next and where to start.
The most vital step in bringing great landscapes into being is the landscape design process. How it works can vary greatly depending on the scope of your project and the professionals you hire. You may even wish to do some or all of the work yourself.
Rest assured that there is a proven path to a beautifully completed project. That may not be apparent at first because there are numberless variables. However, once you have been through it a few times everything becomes clear.
That’s the purpose of The Ultimate Guide To Landscape Design In Minnesota. It will remove the mystery and guesswork from the landscape design process to give you a template for making your best choices.
Are you ready to get started? Let’s go!
The Landscape Design Process
Choosing the best entree at a restaurant is not easy when they all sound so delicious!
Consider that there are thousands of plant cultivars and landscape elements to choose from. This means there are potentially millions of plant color, texture, and fragrance combinations.
Now factor into the equation the many hardscape possibilities: Pools, spas, fountains, fire pits, benches, patios, terraces, screened porches, walkways, paths, gates, arbors, trellises, and pergolas. Many of them are designed and handcrafted specifically for your home, which means the possible outcomes are numberless.
This is why it would be criminal to start the landscape design conversation with a budget — although some companies do. That may be appropriate if you are buying an automobile because you are choosing from the existing inventory or at least a limited menu of features.
What many of us want is the experience that those features give us. Taking that further, what we want is how that experience makes us feel when we get it right.
Beginning the landscape design process with the budget is like throwing a bucket of ice water on those feelings and emotions. There’s a better approach.
What do you want to experience when immersed in your outdoor environment?
The answer to that question will put your landscape design on solid footing. It will give your plan direction. When you have that and understand how the landscape design process works best you are set up for success.
Designing Landscape Gardens, Spaces, and Rooms
The concept of outdoor living here in the United States can be traced back to landscape architect Thomas Church. Inspired by Classical and Renaissance garden traditions, Thomas Church observed they worked well in the Mediterranean climate of California.
It was not long before this California Style of outdoor living spaces influenced landscapes across the United States. Church outlined his design process in the book, Gardens Are For People. One of the key principles of this style is the integration of and flow between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Church is credited with what we know today as outdoor rooms, areas for outdoor living as distinct spaces within the whole landscape. The popularity of outdoor rooms for regularly connecting with natural environments is backed by science. Health and wee-being benefits accrue to people that spend time outdoors.
Nowadays architectural landscape design and functional outdoor spaces are considered essential for Minnesota home buyers. Explore these articles to gain insights into balancing the nice to have with what’s necessary to enhance your lifestyle.
Landscape Design Ideas, Tips, and Trends
Most homeowners accept less than they want from their landscape design because they don’t understand how the process should work.
Don’t worry about your needs and wants too much. They will evolve as you progress through the landscape design process and magically come together if you understand one thing.
Landscape design is a collaboration between a professional and his or her client. This is the foundation upon which your project is built. For this reason, your success is dependent on the quality of your relationship with the designer.
A designer is not designing for you as much as he or she is with you. When you have this give and take creative energy flows and fuels the process.
Successful Construction and Care of Landscapes
The final step to getting everything you want from your landscape design is thoroughly understanding how to make the transition from design to construction.
Landscape designers sometimes tell their clients that the pre-construction walk-through is to show them what they think they bought. It’s an inside joke but there is a degree of truth to it despite the detailed drawings and software design models.
For this reason, before signing on the line that is dotted you should have the designer walk you through the entire design on-site before agreeing to commence construction. This is especially true if there are significant elements involved such as swimming pools.
It’s advisable to mark key landscape elements with stakes and set finish elevations with string lines.
It’s not uncommon to have a swimming pool installed either too shallow or too deep. This can be a costly mistake that requires significant rework.
The perfect compliment to every landscape designer is a competent builder. They interpret those creative visions and bring them to life. More than builders, they are problem solvers that marry designs to the property.