Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

This is a well-noted adage and is often one of the principles of landscaping designing.

Landscaping designs are not constrained to the premise that what is beautiful is magnificent. It is more than just beautification and enhancing of a garden to fit to an individual's taste and preference. It dwells more on the aspects of placing plantings in the proper places.

The basic concept of landscaping design is considered more as a work of art. Despite the obvious technical competence, there is a pleasing quality and movement of every landscape designer to his or her masterpiece.

The creation of landscape designs are not just mere formation of ideas and visions, they show respect for the uniqueness of the area and should always be given careful consideration. The personality of the area is determined by the size and availability of the resources.

Landscape designs generally add value to the worth of the property. In fact, experts say that through these landscape designs, the total value of a particular property is increased as much as 25%. No wonder almost 20 million American households utilize landscaping services for their properties.

The Concept

Landscape designs are actually subdivided into two categories. These are the softscape and the hardscape.

The softscape part of a landscape design is the different green vegetation to be used in the area, and includes grass, shrubs, and trees.

On the other hand, the hardscape portion refers to the "architectural elements of the design, and may refer to the benches, fountains, poles, or other materials, not including plants.

These two main categories of a landscape design are significant to the overall outcome. Landscape designs also employ five additional elements that are considered the foundation of good design. These are the line, color, texture, form, and scale.

The point here is that all of these elements should constitute the design, and the design is vital to the total personality of a landscape. This is why it is important for a landscaper to incorporate all of the necessary elements when landscaping. In this way, the landscape designer will be able to create a design that is not just artistic but also dynamic and will speak for itself.