A well designed landscape is not just about the gardens, in fact some of the nicest landscapes I’ve seen have very little garden in them. to create a harmonious space it must be composed of a balance of hardscaping to softscaping with a ratio of 1:2. My personal preference is 2/3 hardscaping and 1/3 of the yard in gardens and grass. But the other way around is quite acceptable as well, depending on your lifestyle. If you love to garden, and have the time to tend to it, then making the majority of the landscape ratio into garden beds might be the way to go for you.
One of the first things I do when meeting with a new client is have a discussion about their lifestyle and activities. The landscape I design for them must meet the needs of the family to be functional. If there are children in the family then their needs must be met as well and having a fun activity filled back yard is a great way to get them outside. Put in a playground for the young ones, a mini basketball court for your teen age son, maybe a bocci ball court, a giant chess board or a putting green….the possibilities are endless.
Whether your having your landscape designed by a professional or you’re tackling it yourself, I highly recommend having a sit down with the family and brainstorm ideas. Write them all down. Nothing is to be excluded at this point so don’t think about space and budget at this point. Another thought to consider is not to limit your thinking to either the present or the future. Most areas in the landscape can be transposed quite easily for a different use in the future, if it’s planned for in the landscape design.