A country home should step lightly on its land. Trees, grasses and water are assets to be preserved. Intelligent landscape planning blends existing greenery with new stock. Done right, the result is landscaping adapted to the environment—from any view it just looks right. It requires little maintenance and gives the homeplace a green appeal not easily or cheaply reproduced in the suburbs.
To flesh out these thoughts, we talked to the best landscape architect we know—Howell F. Beach of Robert Marvin/Howell Beach & Associates in Walterboro, S.C. His portfolio is a land-planning and landscaping how-to for the country dweller. Beach's work reflects his commitment to mixing owner-planted landscaping with natives.
Rural land presents an opportunity to incorporate the ever-changing amenities of the country landscape with more manicured plantings. Using existing plant and water resources has advantages.
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| Rather than breaking up the landscape, the land seems to roll up and over this home—as if it has always been there. Photo: "The Face of Home," Randy O'Rourke | The owners have largely avoided landscaping around this home. The home looks more a part of the scenery of grass and gravel than separate from it. Photo: "The Farmhouse," Ken Gutmaker |
The Long View. A country landscaping plan begins with the land and an eye toward the future. "You need to plan for things that could happen 10 or 20 years from now," Beach says. Use an aerial map. The bird's-eye view identifies locations for your home, for outbuildings and for pastures. The map also pinpoint places where little can be done, such as in flood zones and wetlands.
Beach suggests you ask yourself, "What is the most important feature on the land? Is it a pond or a hill or mountaintop, or just one tree?"
If a pond is the most important land feature and the house is the most important part of your building program, then these two things ought to have some connection—a visual connection, or something more related to your lifestyle.
Landscaping Up Close. Landscaping around the home should complement it, not outshine it. Plantings around the home should be used to create "rooms"—defined outside spaces. As mentioned before, plantings can frame views. That is, landscaping is used to direct your eyes to desirable scenery. Plantings can also screen undesirable views, such as above-ground fuel tanks or livestock.
Landscaping the Woodlot. After clearing brush and vines and thinning the trees in a small woodlot, someone we know stood back and exclaimed, "It's natural, only better!"
Beach suggests using a light hand on woods. "Try to save as much of the existing plant material as possible," he says. "It saves money in the long run."
If you're working toward a natural but cleaner-looking landscape in the woodlands, group plantings and species, but place them in random order. Use more trees than shrubs. Shrubs aren't natural-looking in the woods. Instead, use smaller-growing trees to create a second level or understory of attractive, native vegetation.
E X T R A: Landscaping Tips
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