Building beautiful green spaces is far from a new pursuit - the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the more famous early examples. But the term for the discipline itself only appeared around the 19th-20th century. Before that, people doing this work were mostly called "garden and park builders," and the field itself went by "garden and park art."
Practicality came first, historically. Growing a good harvest mattered far more than how a garden looked, and aesthetics were an afterthought. Decorative flowers entered the picture somewhat later.
Today, the core goal of landscape design is bringing urban space and the natural environment into agreement rather than conflict - creating something that reads as harmony, not dissonance. Some people also use "landscape design" more loosely, to mean any decoration of outdoor space, and that's a fair reading too.
At deZZign specifically, landscape design breaks down into three core components.
1. Planning and Architecture
As with any design discipline, this starts with a concept, beginning with a preliminary sketch. That's followed by developing the actual layout and calculating the details and risks that could come up during execution.
It's not just about placing elements where they fit. A clear understanding of style and composition is required - nothing should read as artificial, and climate zone and maintenance needs have to be factored in from the start.
Beyond the composition itself, planning also covers the technical work that makes a landscape functional, not just attractive - all the utility installations needed to keep the plant life alive.
2. Horticulture and Botany
This is essential for understanding which plants will actually thrive on a given site - work that should never be handed to non-professionals. It involves soil analysis, terrain mapping, and climate assessment, all of which inform which plantings make sense.
3. Cultural History and Philosophy
This one matters most for anyone building a design in a specific style, which is exactly what we specialize in at deZZign. A Japanese garden needs its historical and cultural context understood to be realized down to the smallest detail - staying true to the philosophy of the chosen style is essential in landscape work.
The core idea to remember: landscape design is the art of bringing these three very different disciplines together into one real project.
Core Elements
Landscape design draws on a range of elements, typically grouped into a standard "toolkit" that designers and architects work from:
- Buildings - the anchor of the project and its composition;
- Lawn cover - usually formed from several varieties of decorative grasses;
- Plantings - anything that brings life and greenery to the space: trees, lush shrubs, bright flowers;
- Water - streams, fountains, and in some projects, even mini waterfalls;
- Access paths and walking areas - design always has to work comfortably for people moving through it;
- Architectural structures - gazebos, benches, arches, pergolas, and other built forms meant for rest and taking in the view;
- Decor - the small details that build atmosphere;
- Technical systems - lighting, irrigation, and other essential infrastructure.
Styles and Directions
Landscape design, as it turns out, has roots long predating its modern form. Across its many stages, three clear traditions have emerged:
- Classical. Rejects asymmetry - every element reads as a defined, deliberate shape.
- Landscape (naturalistic). The opposite of classical: correctness here means matching how things actually look in nature. Elements are scattered, each with its own unique form, and it's widely used and actively practiced in the US.
- Thematic. As the name suggests, this tradition centers on a specific theme or style, with every element built to support it.
The thematic category splits further into recognizable styles: the already-familiar Chinese and Japanese approaches, closely followed in popularity by Italian design. Moorish and Mediterranean styles also show up often in landscape work. For clients who can't settle on just one - which describes most of ours - there's the mixed style (best done by pulling from styles within the same broader family, so the composition still reads as coherent). And last on the list but not in importance: country style.
Hopefully this gives you a clearer picture of what landscape design actually involves.
