Do you ever wonder how gardens in landscaping magazines look so amazing? Besides having a professional landscaping team designing them, they likely use focal points.
Focal points are design elements that attract the observer’s eye.
You don’t necessarily need to hire a professional to curate focal points in your yard. Follow this guide on focal point design and landscaping.
What Are Focal Points?
As mentioned, focal points are design elements that draw attention from the viewer.
If you don’t work in landscaping, you likely haven’t been aware of focal points in the past. You may have seen a gorgeous garden and admired it without understanding the design intricacies.
Focal points can vary from plants, trees, décor, and seating. It’s not limited to one type of yard accessory or plant.
When you look at your yard, decide if there are spots you want to draw attention to. Or, spots you want to distract from.
Perhaps you have a large AC unit you don’t want observers to notice. Creating a focal point elsewhere on the property can make the AC unit disappear.
How Do You Create Focal Points?
Once you know where you want to attract attention to, you must decide how. One key rule is that focal points never consist of just one element.
Use surrounding elements to help the focal point look cohesive with the landscaping. Simply dropping a stone angel on an empty yard won’t look very sophisticated.
One way to create cohesion is to surround your main focal point item with smaller plants. You could create a brick or stone pathway around the item.
To make one area stand out, you can’t neglect other areas on your yard. A streamlined layer of bushes against the house looks appealing but not distracting.
The Don’ts of Focal Point Landscaping
To make your yard look as amazing as possible, here are some things to avoid.
Avoid using too many focal points. Depending on the size of your property, you could have a handful or more focal points. But, for small yards especially, overdoing it negates the purpose of a focal point.
You may want to choose the most detailed and magnificent shrubbery you see at the garden centre. But, it’s important not to buy design elements bigger than your britches.
Only add elements that you’re confident you know how to plant, prune, and maintain.
When to Hire a Professional Landscaping Company
Incorporating focal points in your landscaping requires more thought than you likely assumed. It will also take a decent amount of your time to plan, buy, install, and maintain. Not to mention making the rest of your property also look amazing.
If you’re realizing that landscaping will be more work than you’re willing to do, hire us, Scott’s Landscaping. We’re experienced in focal point design and property maintenance.
Contact us to learn more about how we can transform your yard into the outdoor space of your dreams.
