landscape design transition

Transition

Landscapes encounter transitions in a number of areas. Here are a few examples:

From the interior of the house to the landscape outside

From the driveway or garage area to the landscape

From the patio to the landscape

From plantings to lawn

In other words, anywhere there is an edge created from one space ending and another beginning – this is a transition in landscaping design.

Two Types of Transition

When people wake up in the morning and have to transition from getting out of their nice warm bed to head off to the kitchen to make their coffee, there are two types of transitions: those of us that slowly let our bones wake up before we gently roll out of bed and those that wake up bright-eyed and bushy tailed, throw the covers back and leap up.

There are the same two basic types of transitions in landscaping design:

Sharp

Gradual

Sharp transitions occur most often in formal landscapes and form hard edges. An example of this landscape design idea is putting a brick mowing strip to break the transition from the mulch in your planting bed to your lawn.

However, if you put a slight ditch around your mulched area to separate it from your lawn, you’d have a gradual transition. Most natural landscapes use gradual transitions.

Again, we’ll caution you to not use all gradual or all sharp transitions in your landscaping design. If you have a formal garden, use mostly sharp edges but introduce a couple gradual transitions.

When developing a landscape design idea for natural settings, mostly gradual transitions with a couple of sharp ones will stimulate your gardener’s eye.

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