Soft Landscaping

Soft Landscaping is the provision of all things to the garden that are plant material; they can provide garden structure, frame views, enliven or calm the senses and set the ambience. Soft Landscaping is not static it will change with the seasons and can be a very personal thing. Many plants can be linked to symbolism, fashion trends, health and superstition.

 

When designing your garden for soft landscaping the designer, Eileen, will take many things into consideration and is not governed by her personal preferences in plant selection or rules regarding colour combinations. The one rule Eileen will follow is to match the correct plant to the given garden conditions. This helps to reduce maintenance and provides a happy healthy plant.

 

Plant material can be selected from herbaceous, shrubs, and trees to name a few. Design Outside will use its extensive plant knowledge to make the plant selection. There is a huge array of plant material for every size of garden and there are even plants for those particularly difficult areas. As well as matching plant material to garden conditions, plant material will be selected for its contribution to the overall scheme. Consideration will be given to all year round interest, the flowers, the foliage, and the seasons.

 

Some clients are looking for the perfect garden; one can ask is there such a thing as the perfect garden? It may be for that perfection is caught for a split second as the light just hits that certain plant at that one particular moment, can it be recaptured? Gardens require flexibility and plants are fantastic at providing that flexibility. They can provide the framework to the garden and more importantly whilst working with that framework provide the material to alter the ambience of the garden by allowing the designer or owner to experiment and have fun with the supporting planting. This can be achieved relatively inexpensively. A good example would be Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter who certainly pushed the boundaries with his many planting combinations.