Soft Landscaping Ideas For A Blooming Summer Season
Soft landscaping refers to all the living elements of your garden, such as the plants, flowers and turfing. Comprehensive garden design relies on a combination of multiple areas, with soft landscaping being a primary feature in outdoor spaces across the region.
No garden is complete without some natural beauty, but this does not mean you have to follow the herd. Soft landscaping is vast, with many trends and ideas available to align with your unique style, property, or purpose.
As a leading landscaping company, Beautiful Spaces appreciates that every garden is different and provides soft landscaping ideas to suit all. In this post, we are exploring some of the best soft landscaping ideas to get your garden ready for summer to help you create an outdoor space you’ll love.
What Is Soft Landscaping And Do I Need It?
There are two primary areas of garden design which apply to all landscapes looking for a renovation or upgrade:
- Soft Landscaping: The living elements of your garden, such as the plants, flowers, and turf, as well as the care of these areas. Garden maintenance, landscaping, and pruning are all considered parts of soft landscaping.
- Hard Landscaping: This refers to the structural elements of garden design, such as the paving, patios, decking, and fencing. Typically, these areas need to be sourced and constructed by professionals for the best results.
Soft landscaping is a vital part of garden design and the landscaping industry as a whole, as it refers to the majority of our work here. As a landscaping company, Beautiful Spaces spends a lot of time designing planting schemes, planting flowers, shrubs and trees, caring for lawns and pruning outdoor spaces.
Adding plants and greenery to your outdoor space can offer a range of benefits, such as:
- Create Atmosphere: With a combination of colours and textures, as well as wildlife, your garden comes alive through soft landscaping, making it a fun, engaging environment for the whole family
- Adds Colour: Plants and flowers are the primary source of colour in the garden, and a combination can be used to create a vibrant outdoor space throughout the seasons
- Promotes Biodiversity: A combination of plant types can support local ecosystems and offer habitats for wildlife such as birds, pollinators, insects and even creatures such as hedgehogs or frogs.
- Softens Design: The contrast between soft and hard landscaping is very beautiful, and in many cases, planting or turf is used to soften the edges of patios, paving and decking. These elements make your garden more inviting and comfortable, without hindering access or purpose.
With a range of benefits, soft landscaping is essential within garden design, and no outdoor space is complete without it.
Soft Landscaping Ideas For Summer: Get Ready For The New Season With These Design Tips
With a wide range of plants, flowers and greenery available, there is no shortage of soft landscaping ideas for you to consider. No matter what kind of garden you have or the landscape design you desire, you can incorporate soft landscaping ideas for additional appeal.
To get your garden ready for the summer, consider these soft landscaping ideas and the unique ways you can add colour, texture and appeal for a season spent outdoors:
Create Impact With Borders And Flower Beds
Adding plants and flowers to the borders of your garden allows you to incorporate a range of colour and texture without interfering with the rest of your landscape. Ideal for both front and back gardens, borders can be adorned with seasonal plants and perennials such as geraniums, petunias, pansies and begonias for traditional appeal and a pop of colour.
Alternatively, you can create raised planting displays using a combination of tall grasses and shrubs, which lower into ground cover flowers. These can add height and offer a modern appeal to your outdoor space. Herbs and edible plants can be added for unique textures and scents, giving you more cover and providing a comprehensive display.
From loud, traditional floral displays to minimal grasses and shrubs, borders are a great way to add interest to your garden this summer and are a great way to incorporate soft landscaping into any-sized outdoor space.
Companion Planting For Biodiversity And Easy Maintenance
Companion planting is one of the best soft landscaping ideas for those who want to have a diverse garden but do not have the time or skills for ongoing maintenance.
This form of planting relies on plants benefiting each other, such as offering essential nutrients, pest control, or soil moisture to the others in the same container or flower bed. It is about creating areas where plants can benefit from each other and essentially become self-sufficient.
For example, using specific herbs or edible plants to support the growth of your vegetables or edible planting plots. In these cases, plants such as garlic and chamomile should be planted next to fruits such as apricot to deliver better soil conditions and pest control. Growing chamomile next to struggling plants can work as a tonic that will bring better health and vibrancy to your flower beds.
Various companion plants can enhance the conditions of your flower beds and vegetable plots. These operate as organic maintenance tools, helping your garden thrive and ensuring more fruitful harvests after summer.
Soft Landscaping Ideas For Privacy And Screening
With the warm weather and longer days, you want to be able to spend as much time in your garden as possible. However, if you are surrounded by noisy neighbours or feel as though you are being watched from multiple angles, you may not feel comfortable getting outdoors as much as you want.
This is why planting for privacy and screening is one of the best soft landscaping ideas. Shrubs and dense climbing plants can be added around fences or the parameters of your garden to create a natural screen. With dense evergreen shrubs, such as hornbeam and yew, you can even experience a noise-cancelling effect, reducing the auditory interruptions coming from your neighbours.
Climbing plants and flowers, such as jasmine or clematis, can be a great way to block the view between fence panels or to provide additional screening around pergolas. As well as creating a natural screen and shade, these flowers look beautiful and will thrive throughout the summer for additional visual appeal.
Unique Lawn And Ground Covers
For family gardens and many outdoor spaces, the lawn is the primary soft landscaping space, and this can get tiring over time. Whether you do not have time to keep up with lawn maintenance or are looking for something new to do with your garden, there are unique soft landscaping ideas for ground covers like this.
Instead of the traditional lawn, you can create your own wildlife meadow. Allow natural plants and flowers to grow freely across the lawn, or dedicate a small corner of the landscape for this freedom. Not only will this add visual interest, but plays a vital role in local ecosystems by supporting wildlife and insects.
Alternatively, you can replace the lawn with or simply add chamomile or creeping thyme. Both plants develop lush green foliage, with chamomile producing sweet daisy flowers during spring and summer. These can be used to cover the whole turf or smaller ground areas, for more interest in the garden.
As well as offering greater visual interest, these soft landscaping ideas are low-maintenance, so you do not have to worry about the ongoing upkeep of your garden during the summer. They are intended to be organic and left to their own devices, so you have more time to enjoy the outdoors this season.
Conclusion
Soft landscaping is an essential part of garden design, and no outdoor space is complete without it. Plants, flowers and turf can offer a wide range of benefits to your garden, including promoting biodiversity and increasing visual appeal.
As we approach the summer and begin to spend more time outdoors, consider these soft landscaping ideas to bring out the best in your garden.
For support or more inspiration, consider working with professional landscapers like Beautiful Spaces. Our expert gardeners can offer personalised recommendations for your unique landscape, creating a garden that looks amazing and complements your home, lifestyle and personal tastes.
