When you step outside, do you always see the same old yard? Do you long for a change? Do you believe your guests are no longer drawn to it in the same manner they were when it was first constructed a few years ago? Or do you want to boost the market worth of your house without spending a lot of money on enhancing its kerb appeal?
If you find yourself in this predicament, it’s time to think about upgrading your residential landscape with Mark Browning Landscape Design Studio. You should upgrade your landscape with our assistance for the following reasons:
We Can Provide Added Functionality
While spring is in full bloom, upgrading your residential landscape design can produce an entirely different atmosphere for you to enjoy your time outdoors. However, thinking about how you want to use your upgraded space as you plan your project is crucial. Planning a walkway that brings guests inside your house, a parking place big enough for all your cars, and an open area for the kids to play outside are a few examples. Our landscape design services can help you add much-needed functionality to your outdoor space if your current landscaping is more of a showpiece, does not exude a welcoming atmosphere to guests, or prevents your children or dogs from playing freely in your yard.
We Can Increase Your Return on Investment
Residential landscape design enhances your house’s kerb appeal and adds aesthetic value. Compared to all the other houses in the same neighbourhood, a property with professionally landscaped grounds might sell for much more money. Think of outdoor kitchens, stone patios, and fire pits. Thanks to all these features, you may live in your house with greater convenience, comfort, and entertainment. A higher return on investment is also guaranteed if you decide to sell it after spending money to upgrade the landscaping.
We Can Help Improve the Way You See Your Outdoor
While upgrading your residential landscape design undoubtedly makes guests to your home envious, it also significantly enhances how you view your outdoor space from the inside. For instance, a carefully placed bush can easily conceal the view of the trash cans your neighbours have placed outside. You can also list all the other eyesores you don’t want passers-by to view through your windows, and we can help you conceal them using our ability, knowledge and creativity.
We Can Provide an Extra Layer of Privacy
We can build a shelter of plants, lush green trees, or artificial fencing around your property to keep you safe from all these unwelcome outdoor elements if you feel that your outdoor space lacks the privacy you want from your neighbours or their noisy pets.
Is any of these factors made you consider improving your residential landscaping, but you’re not sure which residential landscape design would be best for your home? In that case, our specialists are available to help. At Mark Browning Landscape Design, we have serviced Southeast Melbourne homeowners with our specialised landscaping solutions.
Are you ready to upgrade the landscaping for your Southeast Melbourne home? Contact us today!
Is there a place in the world that you enjoy or would like to visit for a leisurely vacation? What if you made your garden your favourite place so that you could easily reach a portion of that beauty right on your property? The following are excellent suggestions for you to use or use as inspiration if you want a lavish, destination-themed landscape design that is ideal for entertaining.
Beauty and Mystique of Bali
By using features like tropical flora (flowers like bougainvillea and hibiscus, short palm trees, rainforest ferns, and lots of bamboos), giant clay jars, teakwood decks, and Buddha statues, you may replicate the beauty and magic of Bali in your garden. Additionally, you may add stepping stones, Balinese lamps, a pond with live koi, and other traditional Balinese artwork like beautiful wood carvings and weavings. Install a hammock and low daybeds on the terrace to enhance the feeling of a journey vacation. Together, these will provide a rich and peaceful feeling.
A Touch of Tuscany
Add a little bit of Tuscany to your garden for a romantic Italian getaway. Installing courtyards with several growing vines dangling from trellises or windows will accomplish this. Sandstone and limestone are the ideal choices because you’ll be using a mellow colour scheme. If you can, construct a pergola with wisteria or perhaps grapevines. If there is space, include a waterlily-filled pond. A fountain or even a birdbath will do if you don’t have much room. Plant cypress, fig, oak, and pine trees. Lemon trees in pots are another option if space is an issue. Topiary plants, urns overflowing with geraniums in bloom, and a collection of potted herbs are lovely additions. Set up chairs so that you can unwind in a cosy atmosphere while sipping Chianti.
A Taste of California
Go for modern desert design components like SoCal (Southern California) plants like succulents, palms, cacti, and tropical flowers if you want to give your garden a taste of California. Concrete and glass would be the bulk of your highly contemporary materials. Perfect squares would be the only shape for everything. There would be open grassy spaces and a pool. Boulders could be used as accents. However, you may add vibrant pops of blue and yellow to the furniture, which could include awnings, daybeds, chaise lounges, and other items.
Beautiful Spanish Garden
Even though Spain is a highly diversified nation, when we think of a Spanish garden, we frequently picture those in the Andalusian region and the southern islands, which tourists frequently visit. Put in tier-style fountains, Moorish accents, Cantera statues, Saltillo tiles, terracotta pots, wrought iron, and mosaics if you desire such a landscape. Arched entrances, reflecting pools, geometric courtyards, and symmetrical plant beds would also be perfect. Trimmed hedges, cacti and succulents, bougainvillea, hibiscus, yucca, kalanchoe, and lavender are common examples of plants.
Living in The Hamptons
You’ll need a romantic cottage-style tangle of plants in a traditional grey, blue, and white floral palette, white-washed wood outdoor furniture, linens, and outdoor fabrics in nautical colours, as well as provisions for al fresco dining, if you want to recreate a New England beach town in your backyard. You might choose from hydrangeas, decorative grass, and specialised shrubs. As is customary in the Hamptons, think of incorporating a vegetable garden as well.
With Mark Browning Landscape Design, we can help you experience a taste of your dream destination by transforming your backyard garden. Contact us today for a consultation.
Do you stay away from your outside spaces once the sun goes down because there isn’t enough light? Your landscape may appear lifeless, chilly, or even eerie at night or on overcast days. No matter the weather or time of day, outdoor lighting can make a huge difference by illuminating your outdoor areas and enhancing the welcoming atmosphere of your home.
Landscape lighting might be the best option if you want to increase the kerb appeal of your property, make your patio and walkways more visible and safer, or make your outdoor furniture more attractive at night. By reading on, let’s learn how to use outdoor lighting with Mark Browning Landscape Design to create both beauty and functionality for your landscape.
Draw A Picture of Your Idea
Do you want to use landscape lighting to make something wonderful in your backyard? However, you find yourself pondering where to begin when seated on your lawn and evaluating the area. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and try to draw the idea you have in mind. Make a drawing of your ideal backyard. Drawing a rough outline of your yard doesn’t require you to be the next Picasso. Remember to include any existing lighting, decorations, and foliage in your sketch.
Know The Type and How Much Light You Need
Do you reside in a metropolis with nearby neighbours and streetlights or a more rural location with no lights at all? Are you expecting to light up the entire outdoor living space, or are you just interested in lighting a pathway and a few bushes in your front yard? When you first start looking at outdoor lighting options, these are crucial questions to ask yourself. Your unique preferences and objectives will influence the type of lighting you want and the size of your project.
Carefully Plan Your Idea in Mind
Create a plan before deciding anything for sure. The design of the landscape is a crucial part of every project. More lighting may be required for some buildings than others. You might need more lights if your landscape lighting plan incorporates a pathway. Imagine a row of spike lights encircling the walkway. Planning reduces the possibility of unforeseen problems while also enabling you to visualise the end product before installation starts.
Try Different Techniques
Play around with various lighting options once the lights are set up and a broad scheme is in place. You can use various landscape lighting design options to light up your area. Shadowing, area lighting, silhouetting, and uplighting are a few of these methods of outdoor landscape lighting. Lighting an object from above or the front can create a shadow. When you use silhouette lighting, you bury lights in bushes or under trees. Uplighting is the practice of mounting lights near the base of a building or landscape element so that the light is directed upward. To fine-tune your lighting design, it’s a good idea to try out several locations and methods.
Work with Mark Browning Landscape Design
Working with an expert company like Mark Browning Landscape Design is the best way to ensure your project turns out the way you want. While some homeowners choose to plan their design themselves and head to their neighbourhood home improvement store for supplies, this is not always the best option. Complexity exists with outdoor lighting. You need to be conscious of factors like safety, drainage problems, and energy efficiency, in addition to having an eye for design and knowledge of the various types of outdoor lighting and how to choose them. The best method to guarantee your project’s easy and successful completion is to collaborate with our team of experts. Check out our process and call us at 0417 301 824 for consultation.
Now that you have a pool, surround it with lush plants to create a luxury retreat. However, plants around a swimming pool should be chosen with care. Something lovely at 2 feet tall can swiftly grow and drop leaves and debris into your pool in a matter of years. When selecting plants for your pool area, whether for seclusion or adornment, there are three primary factors to consider:
Here are six plant options for pool landscaping that will add colour, texture, and aroma to your backyard pool.
Trees
Choose trees that will grow near a swimming pool with care, keeping in mind maximum height and width. When looking for possible trees, avoid anything with buds because they will make a mess as they lose their leaves, blooms, or fruit. A barren olive tree is an excellent option.
Succulents
Succulents are becoming more popular and are being mixed in with other plants in both front and back yards. That means they can be found poolside as foundation plants that are evergreen (or whatever colour they are), sculptural in form, and hardy. Just make sure that succulents planted near pools don’t have spines (thorns or needles) that could injure children or pool-goers in bathing suits.
Container Gardens
Container gardens can be elegantly designed with plants that require similar care. They can also be moved according to the time of year, unusual weather, and special occasions. Choose tough plants that adhere to the thriller, filler, and spiller design strategy, or a single plant that stands tall in containers.
Ground Covers
Ground covers can provide texture and colour around a pool if you like plantings with a little more pizazz than turf. Most ground coverings aren’t fancy or temperamental, and they’re designed to be trampled. Try the lovely creeping Jenny as a ground cover; it grows quickly and may also be used to climb a nearby trellis. Another ground cover that is comfortable to tread on and looks exquisite between pavers around a pool or path is Scotch moss.
Evergreens and Hedges
Hedges and evergreens aren’t just for the front yard. Using them to beautify a pool area might provide numerous advantages to your backyard experience. Evergreen hedges, such as boxwoods, provide privacy, are low-maintenance, and may be clipped into fun forms. When mature, an evergreen conifer, like a fake cypress, can provide shade from the hot summer heat. Furthermore, most evergreens and hedges will not pollute your pool water, but certain arborvitae may lose needles in the fall before the pool is covered.
Rock Gardens
Consider landscaping with attractive, fragrant, and colourful flowers, such as creeping phlox, which peep out of gaps and cracks, if you have a pool with water features such as boulders, stepping stones, and other complex hardscaping. Succulents like hens and chicks look great in a pool’s rock garden. Because the rocks may become heated if they are placed around the pool and in direct sunlight, look for plants that enjoy the heat and can withstand some drought.
If you are planning to surround a landscape on your pool know that Mark Browning Landscape Design is here to help you. We understand the needs and requirements of our customers and our workmanship is always designed to suit your lifestyle and give you the dream garden that is more than what you have imagined it would be. Contact us for an expert consultation.
The year’s best entertainment months have started. It’s a perfect time to relax in your garden, whether you’re entertaining your extended family for a barbeque or just want to enjoy your outdoor space.
It’s time to complete your landscaping to breathe fresh life into your yard, but where should you begin? Here are some basic garden design tips to get you started!
Know Your Landscape Goals
None of these landscaping design suggestions will be useful if you are unsure of the goals for your newly renovated garden. Before you begin digging, it is time to start planning. What do you hope to accomplish with your upgraded backyard? Do the kids require a place to play? Do you want a quiet place to enjoy your morning coffee? Do you prefer grass for your four-legged family members?
Put pen to paper to begin planning by deciding what is important to you. Rough sketches might help you visualise your objectives and start to understand how everything will look when it’s finished. Consider the gardens you’ve seen and enjoyed. This will give you some design inspiration and a head start.
Start With A Small Project
One of the biggest mistakes that inexperienced landscapers make is rushing a significant project. It’s okay to keep in mind that remodelling your yard will take time. Start with a modest undertaking and progress from there. To avoid messy results, consider each landscaping DIY project carefully.
Make sure you set realistic goals for what you can do in the time you have set aside for gardening to avoid abandoning unfinished tasks and never returning to them.
Determine The Condition of Your Yard
Getting outside is the quickest and most effective approach to discovering what will work in your garden area. Spend time sitting in your yard to learn where the wind comes from, which locations receive the afternoon sun, and what is likely to function effectively there.
Make sure you choose the proper plants for the environment and put them where they will flourish rather than just throwing new plants in and hoping for the best. Once you’ve identified the environmental factors affecting each part of your yard, you’ll feel more secure choosing new plants and including complimentary elements like vegetable gardens, birdbaths, and water features. Always consider the long term when introducing additional plants rather than just what would look great now. Because native cultivars are more likely to thrive in your yard’s surroundings and are a water-wise choice in our environment, think about choosing them.
Consider a Focal Point
Even a small garden ought to have a central feature. You could even have several if you have more room to work with. The surrounding environment should be effortlessly viewed after the focal point, which should provide visual interest and naturally engage the eye, has drawn your attention there.
Think about a striking plant, water feature, fire pit, or huge potted plants to serve as your focal point. Remember that different times of the year will result in varied experiences using flowering plants. Do not be alarmed if your backyard is small. Just choose your plants carefully and ensure they still have a clear focal point; even small gardens may be lovely. You might also consider establishing a vertical garden to add some greenery to your small space.
We at Mark Browning Landscape Design can help you achieve the landscape you dream of. With our team of experts in the field, we can guarantee a well-designed landscape that suits your preferences.