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A landscape is as much fun decorate as a house. You should, of course include ornamental items as a part of your design. But too much stuff can result in cluttered chaos. Use the design principles, balance, unity and accent to make your decorations striking.

Balance, Unity, Accent
You can achieve balance in different ways. Example, a symmetrical grouping of hand thrown pots will divide itself neatly into identical halves. For an asymmetrical arrangement, group small pots beside a big one. Balance is also a matter of relating a piece to the space around it. If a lion's head fountain is too small a relation to its surrounding wall, the fountain will get lost. You could choose to buy a larger fountain, but what if you particularly want to use the small one? Train a plant to grow flat against the wall a technique known as espalier to provide an intermediate matte to balance the object with its setting. Then the fountain no longer appears out of scale.

Understanding different unifying techniques can give you new ideas. Alternating the same large and small terracotta pots on the ledge is an example of rhythm. Stagger the pots from largest to smallest that's sequence. For design with repetition, Use the terra-cotta color elsewhere in the scene by echoing the hue in the stain on an arbor. Place accent items where the composition needs pizzazz. Don't always aim for eye level, unexpected accents place high or low keep a design dynamic. Rusted relics, architectural fragments, salvaged items, and antique tools find new life as garden accessories. Keep in mind that it is the position of an article that makes it an accent.Contrast the color, texture, line, of form of an item with it's setting to make it noticeable.

A bright Mexican tile can add a colourful accent where you need one, but where not needed, it could be and unwanted distraction. A layer of coarse-textured river rock can serve as a foreground to a planting bed, but too much rock could upset the balance of texture.

A little something extra
Furniture is an amenity that's also functional. Even a landscape designed for a lot of family activity needs a place for repose. No matter how lovely your courtyard may be, if there isn't a comfortable and convenient place to sit, you probably wont spend time there. There are benches and table and chair sets of all styles to choose from but don't stop there. Swings, rocking chairs, and hammocks also offer rest, and they introduce a relaxing from of movement. Vertical structures offer all sorts of design solutions. Arbors serve as doorways and suggest a division of space. A gazebo can add a distinct focal point to an outdoor room and make the landscape usable in wet weather by providing a dry, comfortable place to sit and watch rain fall. Storage sheds can do more than keep clutter out of the sight, properly positioned, a shed can increase privacy by blocking views.

Paint doesn't need to be limited to interior walls. Color can help camouflage utilitarian items such as meters and irrigation risers. Black is often the best. It tends to recede. Muted shades of olive green and brown are effective, too, but avoid bright greens. Artificial colors stand out among natural greenery and may ambush your camouflage attempts. Bright paint colors can add eye catching accents. Furniture and fences are easy canvases for brushing on color. Picket fences are traditionally painted white to make them more noticeable. But if your fence is intended to serve as a background for your composition, a dark or neutral paint or stain may be a better choice.

Movement of all sorts adds interest to the landscape. Incorporating water is an excellent way to keep a space from becoming static and dull, swimming fish and falling water and motion. Wind chimes, weather vanes, and some sculptures react to breezes flowing through an area. Wildlife can add movement that comes and goes, feeders and houses combined with habitat and food source plants will attract birds to your landscape. Plants attractive butterfly larvae and nectar-bearing flowers will entice butterflies as well as hummingbirds to grace your yard.

Albert Thomas is a experienced landscaper and would like to give ideas and tips on how to start working on your own front yards and backyards and creating your own ideas and putting it to plan. Visit his site http://www.landscapingway.com to learn more about landscaping tips and designs