Start with a rough drawing of your property
Orient the view so the top of the plan is north. Include the house, of course, and its windows, doors, driveways or patios.

It doesn't have to be to exact scale, but try to get the spaces as accurate as you can. We'll be doing a precise scale drawing with dimensions later in the series.

Now, walk around the property at different times during the day

Note where the yard is always sunny, always shady and how the sun moves across the area. This will help in putting the right plants in the right light conditions, and deciding where you may want to do certain activities.

If you live in an area with cool summers, for example, you might want to take advantage of the sunny, warm west and south sides of the house.

In the hotter areas of the country, these may be the places to install some nice shade trees or a pergola covered with vines.

From which direction does the wind blow

You may need to have a windbreaking line of trees, shrubs or a fence to shelter your areas. Which areas will lend themselves to public view, and which will give you some separation from the outside world?

FASHION VERSUS STYLE

Fashion changes with the wind. What's popular now may be so 2006 before you know it.
For example, I saw a disturbing amount of jade plant, bird of paradise, cannas and pampas grass at a recent garden trends fashion show. It gave me a chill and I flashed back to my mother's southern California housing tract garden of the 1960's. At least there weren't any plastic flamingos....

And while that may be trendy and very kisch among the black and pink block walls and Jetsons-style kidney-shaped tables, it isn't going to be easy to take care of or last very long in, say, Des Moines, Iowa or Portland, Maine.

Style, on the other hand, is intentionally developed and consciously harmonious with both the place and the person developing it.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of garden style is a blending of informality versus formality. After all that's what we've been talking about here: Organizing a natural setting.

A totally organized, formal garden takes every natural form and element and reduces it to geometric shapes of absolute precision and perfection. Nothing is untouched by the hand of man.

A totally informal garden, on the other hand, would be completely natural and have no trace of human order or intervention. And by our definition, that wouldn't be agarden at all.

Style has got to fall somewhere in the middle. But that middle ground is pretty wide. Remembering that our landscape has to have cohesion and intent, the best style is one that balances formality and informality- intervening and ignoring. Your successful style will evolve out of how you balance your choices of one over the other- while staying appropriate to the conditions and environment of the area.

This charming turn of the century Midwest house features old maple trees, natural stone and many native wildflowers in its garden. The hardscapes, plants and architectural forms harmonize in a coherent style. Yet this landscape is completely unique and reflects its designer's personal taste.

SYMMETRY AND ASYMMETRY
When you think of formal gardens, most people think "symmetrical". Neat rows, mirrored images, geometric shapes. These things never appear in nature, but they're perfectly valid in a landscape. Humans like to see things balanced. It gives a feeling of stability to the world. Just remember that they don't occur by chance, so their use should be as deliberate as their look.

Use mirror image shrubs or big containers to mark the beginning or end of a path...align hedges with property lines, the walls of the house or some other prominent, important feature. And be ready for high maintenance. Formal landscapes fall apart if they lose their symmetry because of differences in growing conditions, the loss of a plant or even less that perfect pruning or a slight difference in colors.

On the other hand, don't be afraid of elements like straight lines in your landscape. Straight doesn't necessarily mean inflexible. One of the beauties of landscape design is the combination of plant material and hardscapes, like the straight path along the front of the house, or the edge of the deck. Plants can grow to cover or obscure these hard edges and soften the rigid look.

This impressive watercourse has been laid out to absolute symmetrical perfection on a grand scale. It also takes a staff of 3 working 6 days a week to keep it this way.

Spoiled symmetry. There are just enough variations in the shape and density of these highly manicured shrubs to ruin the balance. High formality and rigid symmetry mean constant maintenance to keep the style.

Asymmetry in a garden is a little more difficult to perceive, and that's the point. In a traditional Japanese garden, for example, the stones and trees, paths and shrubs all seem to be rather randomly arranged. In fact they're very carefully placed to be visually balanced when seen from any position in the garden.

This asymmetrical style uses plants' and objects' real mass and their visual weight to create balance without rigid symmetry.

For example, the highly textured, intricately shaped lantern in the photo is much smaller than the huge stands of more or less grey stones lining the lake. But it has more visual weight and power to draw the eye because of its complexity and proximity to the viewer.

It stands on a path around the lake where you can't help but come across it. From other vantage points in the garden, where it would be too small, it's cleverly hidden by stands of trees.

The real power of an asymmetrically balanced landscape style is it's feeling of stability. The apparently random arrangement of the elements makes them look like they have been there for years.

The "natural" setting of this beautifully designed Japanese garden is just steps from the heart of downtown St.Paul, Minnesota. Yet it appears to be a totally organic site with minimal intrusion from man.

Photo 2 has a completely different theme going on- the desert southwest. And while there are all kinds of agaves, lavenders and sages, rock rose and sedums, they all share the feeling of a warm, dry environment. The large stones and crushed rock mulch also tie the whole thing together.

Photo 3 is clearly a well ordered, efficient and hard working vegetable garden. But it still has a thematic integrity.

Everything hangs together, from the individual raised beds to vertical stakes supporting tomatoes, cucumbers and squash to the arrangement of tall plants on the outside and lower plants inside, so everyone gets full sun all day long.

Photos 4 and 5 show symmetrical balance in a long alley of trees, benches, a brick patio area and the raised beds, pergola and hanging plants around it. Everything on one side of the center line down the alley is duplicated on the other side.

A very formal and controlled look, by the way. This theme runs toward the very formal looking gardens of the 18th century, doesn't it. But balance isn't always about perfect equals on each side of a line.

Asymmetrical balance uses different forms, textures and colors to get this visual balance without rigid reflections. Photo 6 shows the asymmetrical balance of the heavy foreground boulders against the smaller and more distant, but visually more complex and moving waterfall.

Also the bright, textured trees on the left counterbalance the group of boulders on the right. The visually balanced elements are shown in the colored triangles in photo 7.

Transition is often used to mark changes in use, such as in photo 8. The open, airy landscape blends into highly ordered, formal flower beds and from there to stairs down into an amphitheater. There's our intention again: A clear signal that the landscape has changed uses. But transitions also move the eye along the paths we want it to take.

In photo 9 the transition from pines and apple trees to miscanthus grass, cleomes and rudbeckia to petunias, marigolds and other low edging plants moves our eye into the grassy area inside the wall. "Here's where you can stroll and picnic. The other side of the wall is off limits."

See the bench in photo 10? It's the bright blue, man made element in a sea of pink and green plants. The stone path leads to it and the clematis and apple tree surround it. How inviting a place to sit and take a rest in the shade!

You can also use one focal point to start the eye moving to another. The bright blue ceramic container in photo 11 pulls the eye to the pathways, contrasting concrete with the green of the lawn. They lead the eye to the distant gazebo. Maybe we can get a cool drink there?

In photo 12 the huge stand of miscanthus grass behind the bluegreen euphorbias shatters the impression the stream is receding into the distance. As do the spikey vertical irises that appear to get taller as they get closer to the waterfall. A little care to the proportions would have given this composition a huge feeling of depth.

The white picket fence in photo 13 is a strong part of this landscape theme. It's full of details and the designer clearly wants it shown off. The low, consistent height of the day lilies is in proper proportion to the fence- showing off the details, not obscuring them, from both sides.

In photo 14 the yellow marigolds and white vincas, for example, are evenly spaced and repeat all down the line of the border. Your eye moves from one to the next like a smooth stroll.

In photo 15, the violas are repeated, boy how they're repeated! Blues and oranges and yellows, but in a random arrangement that keeps you jumping. The energy in this landscape is tremendous. You're almost grateful for the resting places made up by the grasses. They may be spiky and sharp, but at least they're calm!

Compare that with photos 16 and 17:
The simplicity of the border of Black-eyed Susans and sweet potato vine, or the container of variegated coleus and impatiens, is calming. And it makes each of the few elements more important.

Simplicity is the reduction of a landscape design to the most functional form that still gets the job done. The Simple landscapes are also the most inexpensive and easiest to maintain!

Photo 18. The chartreuse structure and foliage of the shrubs is complimented by the ruddy violet red of the Red Star Cordyline and is tertiary to the pinks of the roses and impatiens.

Colors can be used to create differences in space.

Cool colors like blue, green and black recede. Warm colors also tend to be stimulating while cool colors are restful.

Warm reds and oranges, for example, or tints and whites seem to come forward.

But a line can also be created by changes in plants' heights or the shapes and directions of their branches. Straight lines are powerful and direct. Like the shortest distance between two points, they direct the eye right to the next focus. They get down to business like the straight line of the steps in photo 21. This way out!

Curved lines tend to be more smooth and free flowing and create a more relaxed, natural movement.

But the right balance and combination of forms can create an almost subliminal response in people. Forms are also rich in symbolism. Vertical forms tend to inspire awe and reverence, reaching to the sky like a church spire or a majestic redwood.

Tiny, intricate forms like miniature gardens or the details of a complex brick pathway inspire curiosity.

Horizontal forms promote a feeling of quiet, stability and peacefulness, like the still waters of a quiet lake.

The gardens of the 18th century were so precise and controlled and filled with straight lines and geometric shapes because their designers felt these forms expressed the newly awakened sciences and the age of reason.

Circles give a feeling of self sufficiency and completeness, like islands in the stream.

Curves, as we mentioned, are symbols of organic harmony.

Texture talks about the surfaces of objects, either man made like the bricks of a walkway or the boards of a fence, or the leaves and branches of plant materials. It can be its appearance or how it feels to the touch.

Coarse, smooth, glossy, dull or fine or soft all describe texture. When you are planning textures in a landscape, be clear about your intentions for it. If you're going to be planting a backdrop of plants along a far off boundary of our property you don't want fine textures that will simply disappear into a blob of shapes.

By the same token, highly textured plants may be visually overpowering if you see them up too close.

Scale is the relationship of the size of an object to its surroundings.Size is a definite measurement-like the size of a tree being 70 feet tall. The scale, on the other hand, is how the tree relates to its environment.

A 70 foot tall tree would look good next to a large parking garage, but would dwarf the average private home- especially if it was right up next to the house on a small lot.

In the photo at right, this little island bed is a nce mix of plants, but they're all lost in the overpowering sea of turf.

This BASE PLAN is going to become a valuable tool for trying out all the ideas your new design skills are going to give you!

First, get together some drawing materials. You'll need a drafting board, about 24 X 30 inches that you can easily carry into the garden, some circle and ellipse templates for quick circles, a 30/60 degree triangle and a 45 degree triangle (I use the triangle more for a straight edge, to keep from messing up the edges and calibrations of other tools with drawing lead or ink).

You'll also want a set of french curves for lines that aren't perfectly straight, and a compass, because the circle template will, guaranteed, not have the one diameter circle you absolutely need for your drawing...!

Pick up an architect's scale to transfer your design's dimensions to scaled-down measurements on the plan.

Get a few hard- and soft-lead mechanical pencils. These save you the endless frustration of sharpening (and breaking) wood-clad drawing pencils. And the line size stays the same with a mechanical lead, rather than getting softer and wider with use like in a wooden pencil.

Add a firm, white plastic eraser and some drafting paper and tracing paper too, either on rolls or in a big 11-inch by 17-inch pad.

You can also find drafting graph paper with various size light blue grid lines already printed on it. This grid comes in pretty handy for transferring measurements from your yard to the plan, even if you're using the architect's scale.

Measuring Out The Property

Start from the outside in. Invest in one of those 100-foot tape measures they use in track and field sports, or even a big measuring wheel like the city street crews use.

Measure the outer boundaries of your property. A helper to hold the end of the tape and help you move it around the property will make the job go faster.

Yes, it's a pain in the tush, but you'll need accurate measurements for everything from now on if you want to know how much concrete, soil, brick, mulch or even how many plants and ground cover you'll need.

Trust me, don't skip this important step. It will give you the confidence to know your plan will work.

Now measure the distance from one corner of your house to the edge of the property and place it exactly in scale. Use a pencil with a hard lead to make the lines light and easy to correct.

Continue to measure and draw in the rest of the house, always measuring from that common point.

Measure and add in the windows and doors. Your house will be he right size and in the right place on the land so you'll know how much room is all around it for your new landscape.

You'll also have a good idea of what will be seen through the windows of various rooms. Knowing your living room's picture windows face due west might suggest where some nice shade trees could go to block out a blasting afternoon sun. Do the same for out buildings.

Measure from one corner of the building to the outer edge of the property, then measure and draw in the rest of the building from that common anchor point.

Double check the distances between say the detached garage and the side of the house and make sure these relationships are correct.

Measure and draw paving, driveways, walks. And don't assume that they're all perfect right angles and straight lines. The more measurements you make of these elements the more accurate they'll be on the plan.

Measure and draw fences, hedges, big trees, perennial beds or anything else you want to keep in the landscape.

When you're sure the dimensions are right and everything is where it should be, use your straight and curved edge drawing tools, templates and compass to guide a pencil with soft, dark lead and make final scale drawings over your "notes."

If you're confident, you might even use a felt pen to make heavy black lines for the walls of the house and other buildings.

Congratulations. You now have a Base Plan.

Now hit the local copy store and make about a dozen copies of your masterpiece. You'll be using these to make sketches of the new hardscapes and plant materials you want to install.

THE BUBBLE PLAN

With the copy of your base plan to work from, you can now start the dreaming phase of your landscape design. It's called the bubble plan, because you use big, undefined bubbles to rough in how you want your garden to be used.

Sketch in a bubble for all the activities you'll be enjoying- here the bar-b-q, over there a vegetable garden, and a shade garden in the space under the big trees where it will define the furthest corner of the property.

A low water garden in the curbside strips right along the street is a terrific idea, too.

Now double check the relationships between the areas. Oh oh, the vegetable garden is going to get shade from the neighbor's big tree in the afternoon. That will never let your tomatoes and cukes get the full sun they need to ripen.

And the bar B Q area is right in the open, up against the south side of the house, where it will be in full, hot sun. No fun!

This is the time to rethink some of your ideas.

Ah, this is more like it. The veggies are now in full, southern exposure, and there's room for a small utility shed in the corner of the yard, so tools will be easy to get to.

A wider but simpler deck all along the back of the house now has a pergola covering it to provide shade when you're bar-b-queing. And the big, wastful lawn on the right is now more low-water perennials.

If you're a good visualizer, you should be able to picture how this 2 dimensional overhead map of the garden translates into the real world.

But even if you have a vivid imagination, try this little landscaper's trick. Pull out your garden hoses, gather up some chairs, tables, ladders and other odds and ends and play make believe.

Use the hoses to mark out pathways and see if they're as practical as you drew them. Place chairs, buckets, trash cans, whatever, at about the height of shrubs and perennials.

Outline beds with flour or oatmeal and see how they catch the sun or maybe end up in an unexpected low spot in your yard. Live with this mock up for a while. Walk around in it, squint at it, see it in the early morning and late in the afternoon.

You'll be surprised at how intimately you'll get to know your new garden, and all the things you'll want to refine about it, before you ever turn a single shovelful of soil!

Finally, when you're satisfied that you've second guessed all the problems you might find with your design, and you've lived with the mock up for a while, it's time for the final plan.

The Final Plan

This drawing should include all decks, patios, fences, benches, paths and sheds, arbors, all of the hardscape elements.

It also should show all flower beds, vegetable beds, trees, shrubs, ground covers and lawns.

Then go back and neatly add in the dimensions for the entire yard and all the elements in it.

Remember that some of the more complex elements, like a deck or pergola, might require construction plans that will need to be drawn up by a professional.

You'll need bids on the work, permits and other professional services that only an expert should attempt.