Using Textures and Patterns | St. Augustine Grass Tips for Dallas Homeowners

While they last, bright colors certainly are the most eye-catching characteristics of a landscape, more so than even the shapes of plants and other structures. Frequently overlooked is the texture of things; yet it is the texture that determines whether a garden seems unified and harmonious or harsh and disjointed.

The other two major elements of design are color and form. These are easier to handle since they are more apparent to the eye. But using texture effectively requires great care and discrimination. The studied juxtaposition of textures - coarse against fine, rough against smooth, shiny against dull, sharp against rounded - can make a narrow space look wider, a shallow space look deeper and so on. Scale - the relationship between size of the repeating pattern to the size of the setting - is also an important factor in the effective use of textures.

In a small garden around a doorstop, a ground cover with large, widely-spaced leaves might seem obtrusive and make the area seem smaller than it is. But the same bold ground cover used beneath a copse of trees at a distance from the house could provide a strong pattern, transforming separate trees into a singular, powerful image...

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The backyard shown above is an unusual example of virtuosity in the use of texture. The neat, bristly surface of the St. Augustine grass visually enlarges an open space with its dynamic color. No matter what your needs are, we are here to help year-round.