The document discusses how the principles of art can be applied to landscape design. It begins by having students examine different plant materials and decide which plants would work well together, encouraging them to use art terminology. It then defines key elements of design like line, form, texture, and color. It explains how these elements can be used along with principles of design like unity, repetition, variety, balance, and scale to create an attractive, unified landscape that is pleasing to the eye.

1. Horticulture Science
Applying the Principles of Art
to the Landscape

2. Interest Approach
Begin the lesson by setting out several different plant
materials. Be sure to include a variety of types, shapes,
sizes, and colors in your plant selection. Have
the students describe the plants to you. Tell the students
that they should be as detailed as possible in their
descriptions (e.g., plant no. 1 is low to the ground,
bluish-green in color, with wide leaves).

3. Interest Approach
Then have the students work in groups to decide which
plants would work well together in the landscape. Have
students explain why they put certain plants together.
Try to encourage the students to use the principles of art
terminology in their discussions.

4. Student Learning Objectives
•Examine the elements of design.
•Apply the principles of design to
the landscape.

5. Terms
• balance
• color
• emphasis
• form
• formal balance
• informal balance
• line
• principles of design

6. Terms
• repetition
• scale
• sequence
• texture
• unity
• unity of three
• variety

7. What are the elements of
design?
• Landscape design is primarily
a visual art.
• Plants and other landscape
components are arranged to
produce views pleasing to the
eye.
• Attractive landscapes are
achieved by following basic
principles of art.
• These principles are the same as those
considered by artists who paint and sculpt.

8. What are the elements of
design?
• Plants are the major parts
of a landscape.
• Selection of plants is based
on their ability to grow in
certain situations as well as
on their visual
characteristics.
• The major design qualities
to consider in selecting
plants for the landscape
are line, form, texture, and
color.

9. What are the elements of
design?
• Everything in the
landscape has line.
• The outlines of trees
and shrubs have line.
• Bed patterns separating
the lawn from the
planting beds have line.
• The patterns in patio and deck materials
have line.

10. What are the elements of
design?
• 1. The human eye follows the direction and
movement of lines.
– The eye moves up and down following the line of
upright plants or the corner of a house.
– The eye follows the horizontal lines of spreading
junipers.
– It also follows the outline of an entire mass
planting.
• 2. Line produces emotional and
psychological responses.
– Vertical lines are severe and when used in excess
cause feelings of tension and nervousness.
– Conversely, horizontal lines provide relaxing,
pleasant responses.

11. What are the elements of
design?
• Form is the three-dimensional shape of a
plant.
– The lines created by the stems and leaves are
what gives form to plants.
• 1. Common plant forms include columnar,
oval, pyramidal, round, vase, and weeping.
– Columnar and pyramidal plant forms have high
visual energy.
– Visual energy is the ability of a plant to attract
attention.
– The more extreme the form, the more attention
the plant will attract.

12. What are
the
elements
of
design?

13. What are the elements of design?
• 2. Different plant forms
produce different responses.
– Upright forms provide accent
to a design by capturing
attention.
– Upright forms are difficult to
use in the landscape because
they are so visually active.
– Horizontal, or spreading, forms
are less visually active.
– They emphasize the breadth of space.
– Rounded forms are the most common forms
found in nature.
– They lend themselves well to groupings and
mass plantings.

14. What are the elements of
design?
• 3. Plant forms greatly influence a landscape
design.
– Using mostly rounded forms is
good practice.
– Rounded forms help give a
natural, informal appearance
to the landscape.
– They are particularly useful in softening vertical
architectural lines, such as at the corner of a
house.
– A few extreme plant forms can be added to the
design to provide variety and interest.

15. What are the elements of
design?
• Texture is the
characteristic of a
plant or other item in
terms of coarseness or
fineness, roughness or
smoothness,
heaviness or lightness,
and denseness or
thinness.

16. What are the elements of
design?
• 1. Textures draw out
emotional responses.
– Coarse-textured plants
have a higher visual
energy than fine-textured
plants.
– Because of their high
visual energy, coarse-
textured plants appear
closer to a viewer than
they really are.
– Having low visual energy,
fine-textured plants
appear more distant than
they actually are.

17. What are the elements of
design?
• 2. Plant structures,
such as leaves and
branches, determine a
plant’s texture.
– Coarse textures result
from large leaves and
twigs, dull leaf surfaces,
short petioles, and entire
leaves.
– Fine textures result from
small leaves and twigs,
glossy leaf surfaces,
long petioles, and cut
leaves.

18. What are the elements of
design?
• 3. In selecting plants for a landscape design,
keep the texture of plants in mind.
– If all the plants in the landscape have similar
textures, the view will be boring.
– Interest can be added by varying textures.
– However, the greatest effectiveness is achieved if
changes in texture take place gradually.
– A smooth transition from finer-textured plants to
coarser-textured plants is preferred.
– Never place an extremely fine-textured plant
next to a coarse-textured plant.

19. What are the elements of
design?
• 4. Selecting plants based in part on their
textures is wise.
– Usually coarse-textured plants should be used in
larger settings.
– When coarse-textured plants
are used in a small setting,
such as a courtyard, they
make the setting appear
smaller.
– A good practice is to use fine-textured plants in
small landscape settings or where the viewers
are close to the plantings.

20. What are the elements of
design?
• Color has the greatest appeal or visual
impact of all the design qualities.
• The primary concern when considering plant
color is the leaves.
• The source of color is light.

21. What are the elements of
design?
• 1. The colors of visible light are classified as
either warm or cool.
– Warm colors, including
yellow, orange, and red,
have high visual energy.
– People find warm colors
striking, stimulating, and
cheerful.
– Cool colors, including violet,
blue, and green, have lower visual energy.
– Cool colors invoke a feeling of restfulness and
peacefulness.

22. What are the elements of
design?
• 2. The designer can select plants based on
colors to create a desired effect.
– Plants with red-green, yellow-green, or black-
green foliage have high visual energy and appear
closer to the viewer.
– Those with blue-green or green foliage have
lower visual energy and tend to recede into the
background.

23. What are the elements of
design?
• 3. The main purpose of using plants in the
landscape is to provide a natural impression and a
sense of restfulness.
– Therefore, green-leafed plants should dominate the
landscape.
– Plants with warm leaf colors should be used for variety and
interest.
– Be careful, for plants with yellow, maroon, bronze, or
variegated leaves can easily dominate a landscape.
– In the public area, they draw attention from the house and
possibly the door.
– A good rule to follow is to use at least nine green plants for
every one plant that has a warm leaf color.

24. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Artwork appeals to the visual senses.
• It is pleasing to the eye and often affects the
emotions of a person viewing the object.
• Artwork is based on principles of design.
• Principles of design are rules and
guidelines used by an artist or designer to
create a beautiful composition.
• The principles of design are used in many
forms of art.
• The principles covered in this unit are unity,
repetition, variety, balance, emphasis,
sequence, and scale.

25. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• An attractive landscape has a look of
oneness when all the components flow
together and create a unified view.
• This look of oneness is unity.
– In a unified landscape, plants
do not stand out as individuals.
– The aim of a well-designed
landscape is to attract and hold
the attention of the viewer with
a look that is organized.

26. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• 1. An interesting concept called the unity of three can
be used to unify a landscape.
– The unity of three is a principle that involves the use of
anything in multiples of three.
– Three shrubs of the same species and size create oneness and
appear as a unit in a landscape.
– The human mind easily accepts threes as a unit.
– Odd numbers larger than three, such as five, seven, or nine,
have a similar power, but they progressively lose their sense
of unity as they grow larger.
– Three has that special property of unity not found with other
numbers.
– Even numbers of landscape elements, such as two trees or
four shrubs, create contrast and duplication.

27. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• 2. Unity in the landscape is
accomplished by selecting
plants based on their
qualities of line, form,
texture, and color.
– Careful planning and
selection of landscape
elements creates a whole
picture that appears
harmonious.

28. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Repetition is the recurrence of lines, forms,
textures, and colors of the plants throughout
a design.
• It has the effect of simplifying and unifying a
composition.
• A design can be kept
simple by using a limited
number of different plant
species and by designing
groupings that have three, five, or seven
plants of the same species.

29. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Variety is an assortment or diversity of
design elements.
• If all the plants shared
the same line, form,
texture, and color, the
view would be
uninteresting.
• Therefore, provide
variety in the design
by selecting some plants that differ in line,
form, texture, or color from the mass of
plants.

30. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Balance provides a sense of equilibrium to
a design.
• Objects in the landscape carry visual weight
based on line, form, texture, color, and size.
– Upright forms, coarse-textured plants, and plants
with dark green or other dark-colored leaves
have a heavy appearance.
– On the other hand, rounded forms, fine-textured
plants, and plants with light green or other light-
colored leaves appear light in weight.
– The goal of the designer is to create visual
balance on each side of a view.

31. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• 1. There are two types of balance: formal,
or symmetrical, and informal, or
asymmetrical.
– An imaginary line can be
drawn down the middle
of a composition.
– If the plantings on both
sides of the line are
identical or mirror images,
the composition has formal balance.
– Designs with formal balance give a feeling of
stability.

32. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
– If the plantings on each side of the line are
different, the composition has informal
balance.
– Although the plantings differ, the visual weights
of these plantings balance each other. Informal
balance has a dynamic appearance.

33. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• 2. The architectural style of the house
dictates whether the public area landscape
can be formal or informal.
– A house with formal architecture lends itself well
to matching plantings on either side of the
entrance.
– A house with
informal
architecture must
have different
plantings on each
side of the
entrance.

34. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Emphasis indicates dominance
of some elements of the design
over others.
• A landscape design should have
a point or points of interest that
draw and hold the attention of
the viewer.
• Points of interest are sometimes
called accents.
• Plants with visually active
qualities, such as extreme forms,
coarser textures, and warm
colors, can serve as accents in
certain areas of the design.
• Emphasis can also be achieved
through size, shapes, grouping,
and unusual plants.

35. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Sequence is the uniformity of change from one
item in the landscape to the next.
• A smooth transition from
one design element to the
next is desired over an
abrupt change in design
elements.
• To accomplish a sequence,
gradually change form,
texture, or color from one component of the
planting to the next.
• The gradual sequence actually causes the
viewer’s eye to move from one item to the
next.

36. How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?
• Scale is the proportion of
one object to another.
• When an object is in scale,
it is said to be in proportion
to its surroundings.
• It does not look too large
or too small for its location.
• An object in proper scale
fits neatly into a
composition with other
elements.
• Well-proportioned
landscapes offer an
appearance that is pleasing
and comfortable.

37. Review/Summary
•What are the elements of design?
•How are the principles of design
applied to the landscape?