The Landscape – About The House And Its Design

In many old homes, or homes that were purchased as such and remodeled in line with modem trends, we find rather awkward architecture. In New England, for example, there are many houses in which the living quarters and certain farm buildings were all included in one unit because of the severe winters experienced there. This resulted in typical step-down construction from a high point at one end to the low point at the far end.

Some people buy such properties, tear off some of the farm sections, and find themselves with a tall, awkward-looking home and the problem of how to improve its appearance. This can be done by various tricks of design, chief among them being the use of horizontal lines in the planting and the concealment of one end of the tall part of the building by the use of large trees, especially evergreens. Vines can also be introduced to make artificial breaks across the tall section, giving strong horizontal lines where they did not exist before. The eye follows horizontal lines more easily and quickly than it does vertical lines. Your head moves easier to look from side to side.

House on a Knoll

A house that appears to be sitting on top of a knoll is, undoubtedly, the most difficult type to landscape. If money, time, and material are available, retaining walls can be constructed to add long horizontal lines extending well beyond the actual building.

The horizontal lines will force attention to themselves, instead of to the high perched house. These retaining walls also permit the development of flat areas for suitable landscape plantings around the house.

If the ground drops away quickly on one or both sides, your objective should be to make long, wide plantings from the corners of the house out as far as possible to each side. Place the usual plants at the outside corners of the house, but as the planting extends farther away from it select plants that grow larger than those close to it. Eventually you will plant small trees, and, if you have enough space, you will finally wind up using large trees at the ends of these wing plantings.

Your goal is to have, when the plants are mature 10 to 15 years hence, a silhouette that will create a funnel effect toward your house. Admittedly it will take quite a few years to realize this, since the plants will have to be rather old before the effect will be seen. However, because you know what you are aiming at, it should not bother you although it may look a little unfinished to the casual observer.

Sometimes we encounter trouble in our landscape planning as a result of worrying about what other people will think while our planting is in its first stages. So we must train ourselves to not be too concerned over their opinions. We must always remember that in working with landscape plans you are dealing with the future, not the immediate present.

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