In landscape architecture, when designing a garden or park, it is customary to take into account four components: space, relief, reservoirs, vegetation. Relief plastic is an important element of the composition. Reservoirs, combined with the environment, visually enlarge the space. In a variety of vegetation, the color and texture of trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns play an important role. Of particular importance are road surfaces, stones, sculptures, gazebos combined with water, light and shadow.
Most of the gardens are composed of evergreen trees combined with groups of stones, water surfaces and lawns, decorated with fancy bridges, lanterns and various park structures.
For greater contrast, several dissimilar trees are usually planted together, planting in rows is avoided. Homogeneous trees are used only when it is necessary to create the impression of a grove or forest. Deciduous tree species, with the exception of cherries, are avoided to bring the composition to the fore. Pine, on the other hand, enjoys the well-deserved love of designers: cutting of roots and branches, their artificial garter creates the look of old, twisted trees, which usually attracts attention. The same bizarre shapes can be given to willow. Contrasts in color, shape of leaves, crowns are the subject of special attention.
The varieties of cryptomeria, maples, plum and cherry trees are very popular in landscape architecture. Among flowers, lilies, lotuses, irises, peonies and chrysanthemums are widespread.
Different types of trees are distributed in certain places: oaks and maples are used for the slopes of hills and mountains, pines, willows, bamboo, plums, etc. are used near water bodies.
Experts identify five types of gardens:
1. Rocky, oceanic - sea stones are used, the islands on the lake are high, rocky with large ledges for cascades; white sand is used for coastal areas, twisted pines are planted.
2. River - river boulders are used, the waterfall is made low. The river can be an artificial or natural channel that comes out from behind the hill; the lake is like a river flood, the central part of which is occupied by a wide sandbank with thickets of aquatic plants.
3. Mountain stream - a wild mountain stream and and a small channel; in the stream, where the speed and shallowness of the channel are combined, there is a significant number of river boulders and stones for the passage.
4. Ozerny - an extensive river bed that turns into a lake without islands, with a small amount of stones and numerous aquatic plants and grasses along the banks .; this type of garden does not have a waterfall. The source is hidden by hills or trees.
5. Sedge bog - all hills are low and rounded, stones are used only flat; on one side of the water there is a swamp with sedges, marsh grasses or bamboo, aquatic plants near the shore, from trees - plum, willow.
In addition, another type is known - "dry landscape", where stones are selected for a reservoir, a channel is developed, forms, however, instead of water, the channel is covered with gravel and sand.
Depending on the topography of the territory, 2 types of gardens can be distinguished - hilly (with artificial hills) and flat (flat). The first type of garden consists of hills and ponds. In a garden of the second type, a flat piece of land is transformed into a valley. Often one kind contains elements of another.
Lawn landscaping
The lawn is a very important part of any garden. Even the most spectacular flowers look good only against the background of a lawn or at least a fragment of it. A beautiful lawn is a magnificent backdrop that favorably sets off perennial plantings of flowers, shrubs and trees.
Of course, creating a lawn requires a lot of effort, but any area will look beautiful and well-groomed if there is at least a small lawn on it.
A good lawn requires careful preparation of the site and soil. For a lawn, it is advisable to select an open place with well-drained soil. It is very important to properly prepare the area, carefully level it, so that further mowing will be uniform and the lawn will have a beautiful, even color.
Lawns are sown with cereal grasses with small delicate leaves. The composition of lawn mixtures varies depending on the lawn: for slightly shaded areas, for areas with trampling (sports and playgrounds), etc.
Flower lawn decoration
There are many types of lawn flower arrangements. Each of them has its own purpose and characteristics.
A flower bed is a small to medium-sized flower garden that has a different geometric shape. The flower bed can be round, square, triangular or polygonal. Small flower beds are usually made flush with the lawn. For flower beds of a larger area, the center is raised. Flowers look very good on such convex flower beds and there is no stagnation of water. However, it is not necessary to raise the flowerbeds very high, since in dry weather they will dry out, and in rainy weather the soil will be washed off.
Flower beds are either carpet or floral. Low plants of various colors are planted on carpet beds. To maintain the clarity of the pattern, such plants are periodically sheared. In flower beds, annual, biennial or perennial flowering plants are used. Flower beds can be permanent or changeable. In small flower beds, the pattern is usually simple. To create it, 1-3 types of plants are used. If the flower bed is large, its drawing is more complicated, the number of plant species is greater. Such a flower bed requires careful maintenance, without which it quickly loses its appearance.
Color spots are a very beautiful, easy-to-use version of the color design of the lawn. They are created mainly from miniature or low-growing plants, which are sometimes supplemented by tall plants. The main requirements for the plants that make up a color spot are color brightness and varietal uniformity. There are 2 types of color spots - one-plane and three-dimensional.
Uniform spots are obtained using plants of the same height. In this case, the stain stands out against the background of the lawn only by its color.
Volumetric color spots are obtained through the use of plants of different height. In this case, low plants are the background, and higher plants rise above them in the form of blotches. It is very important to find plants that bloom at the same time.
A modular flower garden is based on a module, i.e. item of a specific size The entire area of the landscaped object is divided into squares, after which several modular squares are selected in the places designated for planting flowers, placing them in an arbitrary order: in the form of rectangles, corners, etc. Flowers are planted in the selected squares, and the rest of the area is sown with lawn grass, covered with gravel, pebbles, laid out with tiles, etc. In modular flower beds, low annuals with a clear bush shape that do not creep beyond the squares look especially beautiful.
In the decorative design of the lawn, single plantings or tapeworms also look very impressive. In this case, one plant is planted on the lawn. It can be an ornamental shrub, perennial or annual flowering plant. Choosing a plant in this case requires good taste, because a lonely plant catches the eye. Therefore, everything should be beautiful for him: flowers, leaves, stems, shape. In addition, it should be decorative from early spring to late autumn. The lawn should be beautiful and well-groomed, as well as the background on which the plant is planted. A group of trees, bushes, a wall of a building can serve as a background.
The most common methods of planting flowers are group planting. Groups can consist of any plants: perennial, biennial, annual. Group plantings from one culture or even one variety are very decorative. The number of plants to be planted depends on the size of the lawn or lawn. Planting density - on what kind of plants they are and for how many years they are planted. Groups can also be mixed, consisting of 2-3 species of plants in spring, summer and autumn flowering periods.
As an element of flower decoration for large areas of lawns, a rabatka can be used - a flower strip cut into the lawn. Its width is usually from 0.5 to 3 meters, its length is arbitrary. The rabatka can be single-color or multi-color (in this case, a simple or complex pattern is created), one-sided or two-sided for viewing, single-tiered - when all plants are of the same size, or multi-tiered, when tall plants are placed in the middle or in the background, and low ones along the edges. Also, the bed can be continuous, or broken into segments, when after a certain interval it is interrupted by a small flower bed or a large plant.
For bordering flower beds, groups, ridges, as well as for planting along paths, borders can be used. These are narrow one-, two- or multi-row stripes of flowers. Usually these are low, creeping plants with a dense bush. For the border, plants are selected so that it differs in color from the flower garden and creates a beautiful border for the entire composition. The main requirement for border plants is a compact bush, uniformity in height, and for flowering plants - friendly flowering.
One of the most beautiful mixed flower beds is the mixborder. However, it is quite complex and sophisticated and requires artistic taste. A mixborder cannot be created in one season - it “unfolds” in full force 3-4 years after planting, but with good care it lasts for many years. A mixborder is a fairly wide bed of irregular shape and of any size, which consists of a variety of plants planted in groups in the form of picturesque spots. Its peculiarity is that it must remain decorative throughout the season - from early spring to late autumn. Decorativeness is achieved primarily due to flowering plants, and secondly, due to a combination of crops, when the flowering of some is complemented by the ornament of the leaves of others, the silhouette of others, and all together forms a living picture.