Large Estate Landscaping Ideas

This large estate landscaping project is by far the biggest one I've ever created. It also has to be one of the biggest challenges I've ever taken on. When we took on the project, it had already been started by one of our competitors who was on his way out of business.

The only thing that had been completed was the estate house, part of the driveway area, and the brick pillar and wrought iron fence. There was nothing else but farm field. More on this design below...

I'll address the backyard in detail at Estate Landscaping Backyard and the pool area at Estate Landscaping Pool Area. However, here I'll try and explain the front yard landscaping and the rest of this design.

The first thing I wanted to do with this was to unify the entire area into one unit. The home is made of brick as well as the pillar fence. However, they seemed as seperate units that had nothing tying them together. So I created a brick row around all of the concrete driveway and walkway access areas. This in itself tied everything together as one unit.

Another element that I used to give unity and tie everything together is the Mondale Pines which are the larger dark colored landscaping plants in this design. You can learn more about unity, balance, and repetition at The Principles Of Landscaping And Garden Design page.

Then there was an issue of proportion in the sense that this large two story home dwarfed everything that surrounded it. So I placed the three majestic multi-trunk Red Oaks in the large triangle lawn area. This made a huge difference in the sense that now the house wasn't the only large element in the entire landscape. And now the rest of my plant selection wasn't so dependent on the size of the plants I would use. These three trees were the most expensive planting element that I used in the entire design. They were worth every penny for what they accomplished.

I'm not going to go into great detail about plant selection in this design as this drawing is not exactly how this thing ended up. However, I will point out, and as you can see in this design, that I do use the same plantings repeatedly throughout my landscaping ideas. This helps to create unity, consistency, and balance. Pick a few elements and repeat them throughout the design. I will also point out that almost all the plants used in this estate landscaping project are evergreen. There's no lack of color here in the winter.

Because there is so much of it, the groundcover rock is inexpensive crushed 1 inch limestone that we get locally. It is underlain with the absolute best Landscape Fabric that money can buy. I never skimp on this step as I don't like to go back and warranty a project that is overrun by weeds coming through the groundcover.

The lawn area is, believe it or not, a hybrid Buffalo grass lawn that we installed in plugs. 8000 plugs to be exact. This lawn is drought tollerant and grown in so tight now that not even the most aggressive weeds or Bermuda grass can even get a foothold in it. It is absolutely beautiful. And of course the entire lawn area and planting beds have an automated sprinkler system.

When you're done looking at this project, don't forget to take in the rest of our projects at The Landscape Ideas Gallery

Large EstateLandscaping Idea

Large Estate
Landscaping Idea