Features of landscape design of a summer cottage

The rhythm of life of a modern person, workload has caused the need for good rest in the fresh air. The priorities for using the dacha have shifted from gardening to communication with friends and family. The owners of suburban areas want to create a comfortable environment for all household members, leave a small vegetable garden, several fruit trees, build a gazebo for a noisy company gathering on a weekend, install a swing and a sandbox for children, assemble a pool for the summer or equip a stationary artificial reservoir.

Not everyone can hire a professional landscape architect. It is much more pleasant to equip the dacha with the whole family, to come up with the look of the future garden and courtyard and to put it into practice. To do everything correctly, you need to get acquainted with the basic rules of landscape design.

Having become the owner of the plot, or deciding to rebuild the old one, we first stock up on a copy of the plan for this allotment of land. It is better to draw it to scale on a piece of Whatman paper. We proceed directly to the design.

If the house and outbuildings already exist, we put them on the plan. If we only have to build some buildings, then we try to place them in the northern part of the site in order to block the garden and courtyard from the cold wind and not shade the territory. The old summer cottages were formed according to a single project into monotonous quarters of typical summer cottages with a vegetable garden, several fruit trees and, in fact, a house. Before redevelopment, you should carefully study the area and decide what can be left and what needs to be removed from the territory. These selected objects need to be included in the new landscape project.

The road from the gate to the porch of the house and the courtyard are a ceremonial area, this area is decorated especially carefully, this is the business card of the owners, the most beautiful flower beds are arranged here, often the main path is decorated with sculptures and small architectural forms.

The houses decorated in the national style are equipped with a spectacular front garden. The selection of flowers is made according to the preferences of the owners and the plant zoning guide, so that the decorative effect manifests itself as much as possible in favorable climatic zones.

Immediately think over the location and shape of the gazebo, summer kitchen or outdoor pavilion. It is not necessary to place the pavilion next to the house, they will block each other, it is better to choose a place at a distance, especially if there is a certain shading or elevation difference that can be beautifully beaten.

This building, although not capital, has an important decorative function, after the house it is the most frequently visited place. The gazebo has various shapes in the form of a canopy, in the form of a solarium, in the form of a hexagon or a rectangle, with equipped benches. The size of the gazebo should not be less than 2x2 meters, otherwise, there will be a feeling of crampedness, and in nature you want to avoid this.

In the design of the gazebo, you can give free rein to your imagination, the structure does not carry a large payload, except for snow in winter, does not require isolation from the cold, therefore, it allows you to dream up with the shape.

The gazebo is the center of the next landscape area - the recreation area. Here, as a rule, they equip a pool or an artificial reservoir. The size of the reservoir can be miniature - 1x1 meter, decorated with one or two water lilies. And it can occupy a significant area from one to several acres, be decorated in a natural style, in accordance with the ecosystem of the climatic zone. In temperate latitudes, the shore of an artificial pond is decorated with cereals, irises, hosts, and various types of willow.

The reservoir itself is populated with suitable freshwater fish, with a sufficient depth of the pond, fish winter in it without problems. The reservoir can be decorative, have a pretentious shape, goldfish will look beautiful in it, but for the winter they will have to be transferred to an aquarium with an appropriate temperature.

Children, teenagers and young people will love the pool equipment with sun loungers. If the territory is large, you can make both a pond and a pool on the site. Or one thing is chosen.

It is necessary to think over the lighting system; for this, the location of the electric cable is drawn on the plan. It should be located in a safe place to avoid damage during planting, the cable is laid before planting. Lighting is needed in the yard, in the utility area and in the recreation area, it is good to light the paths.

Paths are an artistic element of landscape design, they connect the main areas of the site. They can be made both from purchased finishing materials, and, if desired, the surface of the paths is decorated with improvised means: wood cuts, pebbles, sand, bricks - this is much cheaper and much more interesting in execution.

The tracks are laid in special trenches to increase the service life. This type of work is performed before the start of landscaping work.

The gardening of the summer cottage has a number of features. Large trees are planted on the north side so as not to obscure the site. Fruit or beautifully flowering shrubs are located in the middle tier, lawns and flower beds are arranged in the foreground. The plan shows the crowns of trees in an adult state, this helps to correctly distribute the plants so that they have enough space for growth. The size of the crown and the height should be found in special literature.

Then flower beds and flower beds are applied to the plan. When arranging flower beds, you need to remember that plants of the same species are planted in a group of at least three copies. Such compositions look more spectacular and have a sufficient mass in the flower bed.

All the ideas of the owners of the dacha rest on the size of the plot. In order for the backyard territory to look harmonious, the location of the zones and the dimensions of the buildings must match each other.

On a plot of 6 acres, trees and shrubs should be placed around the perimeter, the northern part should be allocated for a house and outbuildings, a lawn should be equipped in the center, a place for a flower bed or a playground is left in front of the house. The beds are located to the left or right of the house.

Today, designers offer to arrange vegetable plantings in high flower beds: beautifully located, they can replace the main flower bed and become a decoration of the site. There is a fresh solution for small spaces: vertical gardening. The beds and flower beds are placed on the structures of a fence or rack, like shelves with plants.

A central lawn surrounded by trees and shrubs will visually enlarge the space due to the invisibility of the fence behind the plantings. A seating area can be arranged in the western corner in the shade of trees.

A plot of 8 acres is planned similarly to a plot of 6 acres, without an explicit delimitation of functional areas. An additional two hundred square meters make it possible to expand the recreation area or supplement the territory with a playground for active games.

For those who like to grow vegetables, it is appropriate to add additional beds or increase the number of fruit trees.

Owners of summer cottages of 10 and 12 acres can afford more variety in the landscape. There is already a little space for a pond, winding paths; in the middle part, you can organize a spectacular reservoir.

The house can be deepened into the territory of the cottage. Make the road to it more scenic. It is convenient to concentrate the vegetable garden at a distance from the house. On such a site, you can divide the decorative front area and the garden and garden.

Ornamental plants planted in the foreground will hide the greenhouse, garden beds and fruit bushes. When decorating fences, it is better to give preference to climbing vines: maiden grapes, clematis, actinidia, grapes.

Having a personal area of ​​20 acres, you can combine different styles of planning. Natural and regular. In the front area, give preference to a park design; in the rest of the area, organize plantings in the English style, allowing the plants to grow freely.

The free layout allows you to arrange flower beds without clear boundaries between trees, secluded corners appear in which benches or sculptures are installed, paths are decorated with pergolas entwined with climbing roses or clematis.

In the shade of trees, a pavilion-gazebo is erected with a pond or stream in visual accessibility. The paths are made of various materials, suitable in design for the landscape of the area. In a coniferous park, these can be paths made from tree cuts or covered with chopped bark.

The front area is decorated with round flower beds, ridges along the paths, and a fountain is often installed in the center. The paths are made of a presentable finishing material of clinker bricks, paving slabs or natural stone.

To design a site of any size, you should follow simple rules:

• the parking area is not located next to the porch;
• the narrow and elongated section is visually corrected with curved paths;
• paths should not rest against the fence, in this place it is worth placing a decorative gate or installing an arch with a bench, framed by beautiful plants;
• every element of the landscape can be played up with small architectural forms, sculptures, waterfalls or beautiful shrubs.

You can decorate your summer cottage in a certain style or select a small fragment and devote it to a specific topic. Landscaping areas made in Japanese or Chinese style can be quite small, but should carry information about one direction or another with the help of plants, buildings, water and relief.

Gazebos with a characteristic roof, traditional red color, a pond with goldfish and moving water, the presence of elements inherent in Chinese philosophy: metal, water, wood and earth - all these attributes form the Chinese style of landscape design.

Do not neglect small architectural forms in the design of the garden. For classic-style plots, sculptures from Greek mythology are suitable.

The ultra-modern design of the dacha is emphasized by the art objects of constructivism.

Rural style implies decoration with peasant household items. A cart entwined with flowers, a log well, a brazier in the form of a white Russian stove will look harmonious in an apple orchard.

Modern trends in garden design prefer minimalist trends. Scandinavian style and minimalism were born in modern Europe. House plots are very limited in size due to the high population density.

Such areas look stylish and impressive even in a very small area. In these exteriors, the number of plants is minimized, priority is given to concrete and wooden structures, which practically replace the terrain. Geometric lines look bold and add luxury with minimal entourage.

The fashion for the traditional design of the personal plot does not pass. Decorating a garden in a natural style requires space, such gardens are typical for Russia. Natural design brings a person closer to natural forms.

In the smallest spaces, you can arrange a Japanese garden. One has only to fill it with the attributes of the Japanese landscape.

See the next video for more on this.