3 Finishing Touches That Complete a Landscape

There’s nothing easy about a landscaping project. Whether you’re simply updating an outdoor space or you’re engaging in a ground-up redesign, every individual project requires care and consideration.

However, when everything that needs to be done has been completed, sometimes a landscape design can feel flat or dull. The client might claim the finished product lacks ‘pop’ or ‘wow’ factor.

More often than not, this is not the fault of the design and not necessarily the fault of the final execution. The problem with the final landscape is that it will often be missing a finishing touch or two that takes it from being like every other landscape to an amazing landscape.

Just like how an interior decorator knows how to finish the interior of a building to make it look homely, liveable and personal, landscapers need to know these simple finishing touches to add to a design to give it ‘pop’ and really impress the client.

Lawn Stripes

Lawn stripes are a simple tool to add to your landscaping arsenal. Whether the new landscape has grass as a focal point, or simply in a small section, there’s a strange psychology behind lawn stripes. Lawn stripes improve the landscape and give it the finishing touch in several different ways:

Firstly, they add a level of class and sophistication. Freshly mown grass with crisply rolled stripes gives connotations of expense, wealth and quality; think about golf courses, stately manors and tennis courts.

Secondly, they give an impression of quality. If someone has taken the time to give the lawn stripes it must be well cared for, which means everything else in the garden is well cared for too.

Finally, lawn stripes don’t last forever, with everyday wear and tear they will fade. This gives the impression of it being new. Like the plastic film on a new piece of technology, it gives that feeling of freshness.

Ground Cover

An important part of a landscape is ground covering. There’s something about seeing raw earth in a landscape that makes it look unfinished or poorly executed. One of the simplest methods of preventing this from affecting the impact of your precisely designed landscape is to simply cover it up.

Ground cover can be achieved in a number of different ways. A common method is through mulching; the benefits of mulching have been discussed endlessly in our blog and you can read more about it here. Mulching adds a quality looking finish to soil that additionally protects from frost, retains moisture and adds nutrients to the soil. A similar quality finish can be achieved from aggregate, although without the nutrient quality.

This technique can add a great finishing touch to a landscape without breaking the bank.

Browse our Mulches

Lighting

Finally and one of the more drastic finishing touches that can hugely improve a landscape’s ability to impress the client is lighting. Strategically placed, quality lighting (whilst it can be a little pricey), transforms an environment from one that’s functional, to one that’s enjoyable even through the evening.

The quality focal pieces that draw a visitor’s attention should be accented with lighting, even coloured to match the terrain’s aesthetic. Borders, be them walls or paths, can be highlighted both for functionally and to showcase the design even in darker lighting. It’s all about adding ambience.

Quality and strategic lighting allow the visitor to enjoy the evening in the space, not be forced inside when the sun goes down. By adding lighting, you’re playing on the visitor/owner’s want to be able to entertain and impress visitors with evening parties and get-togethers.