Landscape Design Services

Landscaping is an extension of your home and should reflect your lifestyle. Design is an important step in your journey to ensure an aesthetic functional plan. Collaboration of your requirements, desires and environmental factors will make it simple for us to ensure a sustainable landscape.

A landscape design plan is the blueprint of your project. It creates a visual representation of your ideas, inspirations and needs using scaled dimensions. Your design plan can be set out in a birds eye view or in a more complex 3D drawing, both having their own benefits. We can provide either option to aid your decision making, it will also help us in cost estimation and the time to complete your project.

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The Design Process

There are 5 main points to consider during the design process.

 

  • 01 Site inventory and analysis

    • Site inventory and analysis of soil, drainage, climate conditions and existing plantation.

  • 02 Needs and requirements

    • A list of your needs and requirements — pets, children, security, council standards, other family and guests who will use this space. This will help you understand how you will use your landscape.

  • 03 Functional use of space in a diagram

    • Identify activity spaces and to place your hard and soft scapes to ensure accessibility and convenience to all areas.

  • 04 Design Ideas

    • Styles or themes can be used to determine shapes and organise spaces.

  • 05 Final plan design

    • A list of your needs and desires—this helps you determine how your yard and landscape will be used

Key Design Considerations

Understanding Your Site

Understand your site for plant selection and activity areas.

Through thorough understanding of your existing landscape you can understand limitations to your overall design and can guide you to making suitable choices. Knowing your soil type and climate will enable you to gauge what types of plants will thrive in your existing soil. Although soil can be amended, it can be costly and may not have the desired effect. Noting what plants are thriving can lead you to plants with the same growing requirements. Topography is the arrangement of your physical features of your landscape, eg dips or slopes. Using this information, you can structure and drainage your landscape requires and having a good design will move water away from your home and re-direct water flow to other areas. Another factor to consider would be the sun/shade patterns throughout the changing seasons, where some areas have full sun others will have partial shade and deep shade. If you have surveyors plans, they will show parts of your existing landscape that aren’t always visible such as power lines, buried pipes and other services.

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Space Considerations

Remember who will be using this space and consider what you want and need.

Think about how you currently use your landscape vs. how you want to use it, high vs. low maintenance and what your overall budget will be. Are there pets, children, other family members who only use specific areas for activities? Budget refers to your materials, installation and on-going maintenance costs. The general rule for your complete landscaping is between 5% – 10% of the value of your home. Eg. The recommended cost for a $1 million dollar home would be $50,000 – $100,000. Excluding external factors like retaining walls, pools, driveways, and fencing.

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Style and Themes

Style/ themes to help determine shapes and organise spaces

Your style/ theme will be the inspiration to your landscape. Gathering ideas to show your landscaper will help them learn about you and your wants. These ideas should factor in your personal taste, functionality and budget. Style themes simplify the design by basing ideas around the architecture of the home. Eg. Old English homes with an English inspired landscape. A combination of stone pathways, shrubs, pebbles and statues. Style themes aren’t always used; however, form themes will be in every home. Form themes refer to the organisation of your landscape, existing home shapes (square, rectangular, round), boundaries and the links between them.

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Connecting Spaces

Link spaces by designating activity areas and linking with hard and soft scapes.

There are typically 3 areas of landscape, public (front), private (back) and service (side). Each area naturally used for a different purpose. Landscaping in the back for entertaining guests and/ or use as a recreation area are the most common spaces linked. From a pavilion with decking down to the grass and softscape. It’s important to consider your spatial awareness for a successful design plan as these spaces are often separated and linked through functional use of plants, walls, level changes, gates and paved surfaces. When these features are implemented correctly, you’ll have a clear definition of each space whilst keeping an open feeling.

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Plant Selection

Suitable plants for both the environment and who is using this space.

In the design, plants have 3 main functions in contributing to your landscape: aesthetic, structural and practical. Plants create a visually pleasurable environment, structural plants define your spaces and practical plants are there for purpose (shade, food, barriers for privacy and safety, wildlife). Thoughtful selection in the early stages of design ensure these plants will have the proper spacing, quantities and combinations.

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Creating Depth

Plant Structure by using different combinations and layering.

When you have determined your plant selections, they should be grouped together and layered to create visual balance. The size of your groups will depend on your landscape space, what other elements you will be installing and the desired impact you want to achieve. Consider overlapping groups of plants so they are layered horizontally and vertically, and repeating groups so similar plants can tie the landscape together. Each plant should either complement or contrast a neighbouring plant. E.g. Focal plant (tall tree or large shrub), middle height plants for grouping/ fill space and low growing plants to complement and draw attention to the focal plant.

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Materials, Colours and Textures

Attention to detail in the materials, colours and textures.

There are smaller details that should be remembered too. Sensual qualities such as scent, sound and touch also add value to your landscape. Typically, dark colours and coarse textures make a plant look heaver and larger, whereas lighter colours should be 1 colour and 2 neighbouring contrasting colours. Be mindful of the scent from seasonal plants, the sound you hear from the wind blowing through trees or from a water feature. Combinations and contrasts of these shapes, colours and textures create an overall perfect design. Characteristics of individual plants affect the balance and appreciation of a landscape in its entirety. What you experience during the day will be different in the night and into the next season.

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Time and Care

Time for growth and maintenance of plants.

With design intent in mind, you must consider a plants growth rate, size of its matured form and the maintenance it requires over time. Plants need room to grow above and below the ground, depending on environmental factors some plants may grow to their full potential or remain in a smaller form. When planting it’s important to provide enough space so that when fully mature, plants are minimally touching each other, away from the home to allow air circulation and maintenance.

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Summary

The design process is a highly important aspect to add value to your home.

Remember to write your inspirational ideas down, note existing conditions or hurdles you foresee, identify your needs and create a clear theme. Using plants to serve a purpose, as well as being aesthetically pleasing will make certain your landscape achieves its greatest potential.

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Recent Projects

Dural

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North Kellyville

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Maroubra

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Castle Hill

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They did an amazing job

“ My partner and I are very pleased with the outcome of the job and workmanship Alex and his team created for us. It astounded our exceptions from what we originally had in mind and we are over the moon with how everything turned out. I would highly recommend if you are looking for a high quality landscape construction company! ”

Jazmine Harris

Amazing transformation!

“ Alex, Marko and Miki worked their magic on our backyard. What an amazing transformation! Quality workmanship, great communication. Will be recommending Gold Leaf to all my friends and family! Very happy with the results, thank you Gold Leaf Landscapes! ”

Paul Lockley

Exceptional quality

“ Alex and his team are exceptional to work with! I had my landscape plan efficiently drawn in no time. Alex’s creative design ideas shaped my thoughts on what I wanted perfectly onto paper. Their prompt and helpful responses made the process smooth and I felt confident my landscaping was in very experienced hands. I strongly recommend their unrivaled services! ”

Amanda White

More then we could have imagined!

“ Alex from Gold Leaf took our idea and turned it into something more than we could have imagined. The finish and quality are top level and we would highly recommend Alex and the team. ”

Sam Davis

Professional, responsive and respectful

“ The experience we had with Gold Leaf Landscapes was just amazing. From start to finish of the whole process, We were impressed with Alex, Marko and the team. They were professional, always responsive and respectful. They really made a magic to our yards. We are pleased with the outcome of finish and quality. Highly recommended! We would definitely contact Gold Leaf for future projects. ”

Stellar Jiang

A work of art

“ From start to finish, their service was nothing short of exceptional. Goldleaf Landscapes met the brief with professionalism and frankly, unbelievable, attention to detail. Alex is a perfectionist, leaving no stone unturned (pun intended), which translates to his team and to their work. They have left me an amazing space, which is a work of art. ”

Abby Templeman

An absolute stunning beauty

“ Gold Leaf Landscapes have transformed a normal backyard to an absolute stunning beauty. Throughout the journey of the transformation, the team has kept me informed of every step and was very transparent on any potential cost. You can tell that Alex is very passionate and takes pride in both the work and result. ”

Shu Yuan Goh

The transformation masters

“ Gold Leaf Landscapes are the transformation masters! While Alex had a unique and functional design vision from the start, he continued to check-in throughout the renovation, to ensure our satisfaction with the progress and to share his constantly evolving new and improved ideas. We will use them for all our future landscaping projects and highly recommend them to all our friends, family and community!  ”

Joe S

Remarkable work

“ I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the team at Gold Leaf Landscapes for the remarkable work they accomplished at my home. Among various quotes I received, their approach and professionalism resonated with me the most, and I’m so happy that I made that choice. I am absolutely blown away by the results and the best part is that they’re so easy to communicate with and always kept me in the loop throughout the whole process. Highly recommended!  ”

Daniel Nguyen

Simply amazing

“ We were immediately comfortable with the way in which both Alex and Jarrod talked us through our options in relation to design, material’s and pricing scope. The Gold Leaf team of trades were not only meticulous and thorough but also respectful and always going out of their way to ensure we were comfortable with the progress of the job. The end result of the work that Alex and his team completed was simply amazing. ”

Jason Faulkner

An urban oasis

“ Alex and the team at Gold Leaf Landscapes transformed the front entrance, private courtyard and carport of our terrace house into an urban oasis that perfectly transitions between indoor and outdoor open-plan living. Alex and the team worked in collaboration with us each step of the way from scoping and planning, to design, and building to ensure that the end product was something that we were both proud of. ”

Gemma G

Ready to discuss your landscaping project?

Contact us on 1300 538 637 or request a quote online.

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