Outback Landscape designer Kim Rubert knows firsthand the importance of function, not just beauty, in landscape design.
The garage of the new house she and her husband bought years ago flooded every spring.
Even the pros struggle with frustrations like poor landscape drainage.
Water management is just one of the functional landscape design elements that need to be considered.
Sure, your landscape has to look great. But it also has to work great.
In this blog we'll discuss the important pieces of a functional landscape design, including:
Rubert starts asking about landscape function before anything else when she sits down with a new customer to talk about their landscape design.
How do you live? What do you like to do?
Do you have kids? Pets? Does your family enjoy sports? Do you entertain a lot?
The answers help her narrow in on how the landscape should function — not just how it will look.
Do you need an outdoor kitchen? Enough grass to kick around a soccer ball? A play area? A place for pets to be comfortable?
In functional landscaping, water flows naturally away from your house and garage, not toward it.
Rubert sees this problem a lot with new patio installation.
If installers don’t grade the area correctly, water backs up and causes flooding or damage.
“Water can’t penetrate a hard surface like a patio the way it does a garden bed,” she says.
The most awesome, high-end patio isn’t so great if it means your basement floods with every heavy rain.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new fire pit.
Wine and cheese by the flickering flames! Cozy conversations with friends on chilly evenings! S’mores!
Function first.
Put that fire pit too close to a bedroom window and you’ll have smoke-scented sheets.
Rubert considers functional landscaping elements like wind direction and the fire pit’s distance from the house — not just what cool material it should be.
How will you actually use your fire pit? How it will function will help you decide if it should be fueled by gas or wood.
How rustic are you? Do you love the idea of throwing logs on the fire, watching the sparks fly, and rustling up foil pouches of potatoes and onions, cowboy style?
Then a wood burning pit is perfect for you. A wood burning fire pit offers a campfire feel and emits more heat for cooking.
Or are you more likely to stroll out to your fire pit in white pants holding a cheese board and a bottle of wine?
You might prefer to just flip a switch for the flames. A natural gas fire pit lights quickly and easily and doesn’t produce smoke or sparks.
It’s easy to get carried away by the amazing potential of plants. So many to consider! All those colors! Bring on the blooms!
Landscape function first.
It’s crucial to choose plants that are well suited and happy where you plop them. Then they’ll flourish.
Rubert puts a lot of thought into where plants are placed.
Functional landscape design is about more than just coordinating colors and textures so everything looks great.
Some professional tips on plant placement:
Here in Idaho, the winds can really howl.
Evergreen trees and shrubs can create a natural windbreak to block icy winter winds.
Strategically planting trees and shrubs near your house can help lower your home's heating costs — a great example of functional landscape design.
Evergreens work great to create natural privacy screening for your yard year round.
Some beautiful, and functional, choices for landscape privacy screening:
At Outback Landscape, we’re fanatics about function.
We don’t just want your property to look fantastic — we want it to function perfectly, too.
Located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, we serve residential and commercial properties in Idaho Falls, Rexburg and Pocatello, Idaho, as well as Bonneville, Madison and Bannock counties.
Contact Outback Landscape at 208-656-3220, or fill out the contact form to schedule a consultation.
We’d love to hear from you.