31 Major Landscape Design Mistakes You Might Be Making

Among their many merits, gardens are learning opportunities. Beautifully, they’re not static, moving with nature and our own preferences and whims. With all the learning comes plenty of mistakes, from planting in the wrong growing conditions to all kinds of landscape site variables like climate and soil composition. Starting with a strong plan for a new garden or revising an existing landscape sets the best framework. A well-planned site minimizes missteps and forgives future ones.

Major landscape design mistakes are common—we can all relate to at least some of the transgressions. Enlisting a professional takes the guesswork out of prominent changes, and getting a feel for space and design principles improves our own capabilities. 

Here are the most important landscape design mistakes to avoid so you can have a cohesive, beautiful, and harmonious planting.

Lack of Planning

Plans change and gardens evolve, but a solid landscape plan takes the guesswork out of what works in a space and what doesn’t. Through a process involving guiding principles, the plan homes in on site layout and plant selection and accounts for mature size. Not planning for maturity is a common landscape design mistake, and many of us have had to move or severely prune a specimen that outgrows its spot.

Designing a garden blends creativity and research, beginning with exploring goals and priorities for the space. Getting a feel for your desired style(s), too, informs the concept. The concept or theme drives future design decisions and evolves into the landscape plan. The idea is to begin with a cohesive foundation, which, as gardeners, we build upon over time.

When it comes to garden styles, they inspire design choices and help stay the course with the overall garden concept. Personal and creative, they complement the home, create the mood, establish functional spaces, and beautify the site. Garden styles provide guiding principles, but the main component is that they work within site conditions. Plants suited to your garden’s sun and shade conditions, soil types, and water levels are essential for success.

Overlooking the Entrance

From a design standpoint, the way we enter and approach the garden should be highlighted. Emphasizing prominent features of the home, too, like the front door, steps, and foundation, guides the visitor easily, both visually and physically. Highlighting entrances also links the home to the surrounding landscape.

Entrances visually announce a transition from one space to another and welcome us to explore further. Mark the entrance with symmetrical plantings, a gate, pots, or a planted arbor – whatever best reflects the home’s style and scale.

A Foundation That’s Oversized or Too Puny

Big shrubs or trees out of proportion with the home throw off symmetry and balance. When monstrous plants devour the facade, either maintenance or a redesign may be in order. Well-placed foundation plantings can transform the look of a home. With balanced, unified, and varied selections, the garden frames the home and nestles it into the natural setting. 

A skewed landscape, on the other hand, can diminish the look of a home. We see this when a larger home has small-scale foundation plantings or when a smaller home has huge hedges swallowing it whole. A wimpy landscape, or one too overpowering, means the proportion is off.

A proportionate garden needn’t be symmetrical to feel harmonious and balanced. Select specimens that aren’t so large that they overshadow and dwarf the structure or so small that they don’t offer enough visual weight.

Overwhelming Arrangments

Abundant blooms and mixed plantings exude charm, as cottage gardens, wildflower meadows, and pollinator plantings embrace. There’s beauty in a chaos garden and the element of surprise in what plants do best in a given area, but this only works if you don’t mind the randomness. There’s also a tendency to collect plants without a real space for them, to overwhelm with color, to arrange haphazardly, or to inadvertently let a specimen overrun the group. Overcrowding happens.

A simple garden edit streamlines the display. Aim for simplicity through rhythm and repetition. Anything but boring, the best borders include variations in texture, height, color, and form. Repeating plants or those with similar characteristics is one of the easiest ways to create unity in the landscape. To avoid repeating the same plant over and over, opt for plants in the same color scheme or with similar foliage textures and growth habits.

Too Few Perennials

Perennials are workhorses with years of recurrent color, foliar interest, and ecosystem services. After trees and shrubs, consider them as star players. Their reliable performance and the ability to gently spread or clump make them a worthwhile investment.

From native species to their cultivars, low-maintenance and waterwise selections are plentiful across sites. Not only do the vibrant flowers and foliage add color and contrast, they also support butterflies, bees, birds, and other wildlife through nectar and seed production, as host plants, and as shelter. 

Use perennials in pots, too, as they last longer than annuals and can move to a bed as they grow. Or, let them overwinter in the container for another show the following season.

Not Incorporating Specimen Trees

Specimen trees provide multi-season appeal and cooling shade. They also boost property value and grow across garden scales, even in small spaces. To avoid the landscape design mistake of trees that encroach on the house, opt for small- to mid-sized, multi-trunk specimens like redbud, Japanese maple, sweet bay magnolia, and serviceberry to anchor foundation plantings for scaled variation.

Evergreens bring all-season color, while deciduous specimens with interesting forms, bark, and fruits bring unique winter interest. For large spaces, opt for a sizeable specimen or a group of smaller ones. Some trees are a fit for containers, too, at least at first.

Lack of Focal Points

Strategically placed focal points capture attention and draw the eye in a specific direction. They punctuate a space and may include a sculpture, fountain or pool, specimen plant, cluster of containers, well-situated bed of blooms, or a striking view.

When working with focal points, it’s helpful to frame the view. They can lead the eye to areas beyond the garden or internally. A common landscape design mistake is to forget the view from inside the house. Looking out into the landscape, consider the window view when deciding what to emphasize.

The opposite of too few focal points is too many. A lot of strong objects or exclamation points in the landscape don’t give the eye a place to rest.

Using Weak Lines

Garden lines are an important design element that inform how we move through a space, physically and visually. They frame the site layout and include paths, bed edges, walls, patios, pond edges – basically, any feature with a linear aspect that creates a distinction between materials.

Paths and walkways make it easy to create powerful lines. A sweeping curve lets us meander organically with an element of mystery as to what’s around the curve. A bold straight line moves us sharply from one zone to another, creating a dynamic approach. Straight lines tend to be more formal, structural, and stable.

Whether curved or straight, opt for strong lines rather than small movements in zigzags or little waves. Pay special attention in planning to the bed lines and how their shapes relate. Line is also defined vertically in space by tree trunks and branching, upright shrubs, and fences, so remember to think upward as well as at the ground level.

Missing Impactful Color

Color is one of the first things we process when we enter an area. It’s exciting and impactful in setting the initial read on the landscape, creating the mood, and unifying the overall space. Using a consistent color palette of complementary (contrasting) or analogous hues links the scheme through repetition and variety.

For the greatest impact, stick to a singular color scheme in small spaces, and link them in larger ones. This helps keep the display clear, unmuddled, and not overwhelming. Keep the color palette simple and repeat it in sweeps or patches.

Vibrant colors, like reds, oranges, and yellows, energize and activate a space and also make it seem smaller. Pastels and whites are serene and peaceful and recess.

For all-season appeal, include plants with color at different times of year. Look to foliage color and late-season bloomers for fall interest and fruits, berries, and winter-flowering species for cool-season color.

Not Harnessing Multi-Season Appeal

A well-rounded site relies on plants that shine throughout the seasons, or at least a few to carry the others to spring. When one plant is dormant, another steals the show with unique foliage, berries, blooms, or branching.

Even in the quiet winter landscape, something interesting can be happening, however subtle. Seed heads that persist into cold weather, twisted branching, or frosty evergreen boughs bring beauty. Cool-season specimens also support pollinators, birds, and wildlife with late fruits, winter flowers, and shelter spots. 

Not Layering Heights, Colors, and Textures

Layered landscape plantings with different heights and forms add variation and interest to your design; forgetting to include them is a major mistake. If you have the room, layer trees, shrubs, and groundcovers (including perennials and annuals) for a full complement.

Consider the largest specimens first, designing around trees and shrubs that form the bones of the garden. These impact the plants around them by altering light conditions and taking up root space. As the most sizeable and lasting landscape contributors, they yield the most structure and visual heft (and are also the most difficult to move in the future). Choose lower-growing plants after marking the trees.

Annuals in Dibs and Dabs

Annuals, whether in pockets or large sweeps, instantly punch up the display. They offer the ability to mix up the color scheme through drifts, patterns, or in pots. The seasonal color enlivens fall and winter displays and overflows in the warm season for months on end.

Unless you’re tucking them into gaps to accent container arrangements, use annuals in numbers for impact. Concentrate them rather than spreading, scattering, or dotting them in a line.

Keeping Unappealing Features in Plain Sight

Functional, utilitarian elements like air conditioning units, utility boxes, and garbage can storage can all become discreet with a planted buffer or screen. A well-planted buffer softens the items that detract from the overall visual appeal. 

From a single evergreen to a mixed hedge, planted screens also enhance privacy. They define a space, offer structure, and sculpt the view. Just as with focal points, remember the view from inside, too, in determining what to buffer.

Repeat plants from other areas to blend the screen. The aim is for it to fit seamlessly into the rest of the landscape.

Imbalanced Evergreens and Deciduous Specimens

From foundation plantings to the rest of the beds, a balanced, year-round scheme incorporates a mix of evergreens and deciduous specimens. Evergreens are the anchors when flowering shrubs and perennials take a winter break. 

Needled conifers and broadleaved selections contrast with the interesting forms and seedheads of bare branches. Bank on evergreens across landscape layers, from trees and shrubs to groundcovers.

Too Much Turf

If you have a vast expanse of turf, consider reducing it to decrease the uniformity. Turf plays a role by visually emphasizing the home and giving room for play, relaxation, and space for pets. The monoculture also requires more maintenance (both chemical and equipment) and more water than other plantings.

Consider enlarging or adding beds, or converting the lawn into alternate groundcovers. Where you keep the grass, use it to define the space. Grassy open areas give a pleasing break between garden areas.

Not Growing Vertically

Growing vertically maximizes growing space while adding dimension and visual interest. Tall plants, hanging baskets, trellises, and obelisks take the display upward. A climbing rose, for example, on a facade or archway makes a long-lived show of blooms.

Going vertical works for ornamentals and vegetables, too. It maximizes the growing area while conserving space. Just be sure to avoid the common design mistake of weak vertical supports in the landscape; this leads to collapsed structures and unsightly plants.

Overlooking Natural, Local Materials

Natural materials like native stone and local wood tie the landscape to its larger setting and eco-type. Region-specific resources establish a site that feels timeless. And, the materials don’t have to travel far to reach us.

Hardscapes enrich the site, whether a path, patio, or low wall. Choose stone, slate, and brick for hardscapes that blend with the surroundings. Repeat materials from your home for cohesion. Consider elements other than plants, like rocks, to feature in beds (just make sure they’re situated for a natural blend, not sticking out on their own or ununified).

Skipping the Senses

Appeal to all five senses for a truly well-rounded space. Choose color schemes to either calm or energize, and rustling leaves or water for soothing sound. Add fragrant herbs for on-the-spot aromatherapy and to flavor cuisine and beverages to enjoy in the garden.

Flowers with high fragrance immerse us in the space and become part of how we experience it.. Many blooms are most aromatic in the early evening to attract specific pollinators – situate them where you’ll enjoy their perfume.

Ignoring Ornamental Grasses

We sometimes discount ornamental grasses, which add texture and movement. They bring multi-season appeal through leafy blades, plumes, and persistent seedheads. Leave grasses standing in the fall and winter rather than cutting them back to enjoy their blades and dried seedheads.

Ornamental grasses, especially native ones, offer ecosystem services through low water needs, erosion control, and improved soil structure. They also provide habitat for birds and wildlife through shelter and forage, host pollinators, and become nesting sites for other insects, invertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians.

Being in the Dark

Don’t miss charming evenings or showcasing garden features when the sun goes down. Outdoor lighting should be subtle and strategic, ensuring safe and inviting paths and entrances. Use uplights and spotlights for a soft, all-over glow for trees and other specimens.

Solar lighting options are numerous, easy to install, and movable. Set a timer, and make sure the component is discreet during the day. You’ll want it to disappear into the background.

Overlooking Wildlife and Biodiversity

Garden-making is a prime opportunity to support the local ecosystem through site improvements. We can enrich biodiversity in our corners of the world through plant selection and maintenance practices.

Much of the thought behind our plant selections pairs attracting beneficial insects and promoting plant health. We strive for a diverse landscape that promotes ecosystem services and supports insects, birds, and wildlife that, in turn, benefit the garden. Adding a diverse variety of plants while avoiding invasives offers broad appeal.

With a supportive habitat, the creatures that inhabit our gardens in spring and summer remain nearby in fall and winter. Native bees, butterflies, and moths nest, lay eggs, and overwinter in fallen leaves and hollow stems. Amphibians, invertebrates, songbirds, and small mammals overwinter in the shelter of standing plants, logs, brush piles, stone walls, leaf litter, and healthy soils.

The caveat would be welcoming wildlife that uses the garden as a feast. If deer are frequent visitors in your area, opt for deer-resistant options and strategic plant placement as part of the plan.

Undefined Spaces

The best gardens have distinct spaces that connect to the garden at large through plant selection, meandering paths, and repeated materials. Depending on your scale, include paths to connect spaces like seating areas, patios, and the entryway.

Defined borders have clean edges that separate them from other materials. They often have a backdrop, like a wall, fence, or hedge. A backdrop adds cohesion to the space and gives the eye a place to rest. A variety of materials become backdrops, including plant forms, structures, and implied boundaries.

Not Pruning

Regular pruning prevents trees with weak limbs or monster shrubs. Preventatively, it improves structure, form, and air circulation. Pruning contributes to long-term health and improves resistance against pests, diseases, and weather injuries. It also promotes flushing new growth from species that benefit.

Prune out dead, diseased, or crossing limbs any time of year. Stop any pruning by late summer to avoid generating new growth. Tender stems are susceptible to weakness and winter dieback, potentially damaging branches in freezing situations.

Prune trees to develop a central leader (primary branch) and a scaffolding structure suitable to the species. Start with young trees to foster the best form and strength.

Pruning Too Much

In an effort to be ordered, formal, and tidy, sometimes we prune too frequently or at the wrong time. While clipped hedges or topiary specimens add structural interest, trimming all shrubs into uniform rounds lends a contrived, unnatural look. Pruning all shrubs into submission denies their natural form.

For balance, choose some to grow freely, pruning in spring or fall (depending on the selection) if warranted. Counter these with formal shaping (think boxwoods or an alternative) for a clean, timeless appeal.

If you’re pruning frequently to manage size, chances are the plant is in the wrong place. Transplant it if feasible and start fresh with a smaller variety.

Skipping Mulch

Mulching helps define a bed, giving it that clean edge we seek. More importantly, it insulates and regulates soil temperatures, keeping them cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. It aids moisture retention, adds nutrition as it breaks down, and suppresses weeds.

Topdress with a layer of bark chips, pine straw, leaf mulch or mold, or compost for a rich foundation. Keep it fresh with annual applications, or apply one round in fall and again in spring. Make your own leaf mold from fall leaves to condition the soil.

Use dark materials to reflect the natural area. Mulch should go unnoticed, and brightly dyed tones call attention.

Making Beds Too Small

Broad, fully-planted beds are a hallmark of many garden styles. Beds may comprise the foundation, borders, and islands. Make sure they’re proportionate to your home and site for impact. Beds that are too small are a major landscape design mistake that happens often. They detract from the site.

To avoid undersized beds, create a scaled plan, play with marking paint for visualization, or enlist a professional. Aim for an area three to five times longer than it is deep. Go at least six to eight feet deep and more if you can. The key is less about the ratio and more about the scale, proportion, and visual weight.

Missing Out On Bulbs

Bulbs bring easy growth, economy in numbers, and the capacity to surprise and delight for weeks in a given season. Spring-flowering bulbs, in particular, begin in late winter to cheer with vibrant color.

Perennial bulbs like daffodils, snowdrops, and crocus take little effort and maintenance. Plant them in the fall and wait for their cool-season emergence year after year. Daffodils have early, mid, and late season varieties. Stagger the bloom period with different types for extended color.

Taking on Too Much Maintenance

In all this landscape planning and creativity comes the potential to create intensive maintenance. Consider your plant selections, their irrigation needs, and their capacity to spread (and if welcomed or not). Look at what seasonal maintenance entails prior to planting and what it means for you. Full beds typically mean fewer weeds, but more tending in the way of deadheading, winter cutback, etc.

Rely on durable trees, shrubs, and perennials for the least maintenance and the fewest resources needed for growth. Natives and their cultivars, and those that withstand heat and drought (depending on your climate) or winter extremes, are a safe bet for minimal gardener intervention.

Ignoring regular maintenance or inheriting an overgrown landscape can be overwhelming. Tackle it one area at a time, using guidelines to avoid major landscape design mistakes.

Not Streamlining Accessories

Like anything else in the garden, accessories are highly personal and reflect creativity and individual style. To make them cohesive with the house and yard, match the style of the home. Or, keep them minimal and consistent to avoid sensory overload. Complimentary planters in varying sizes bring balance.

Spruce up the front porch, minimize clutter, and refresh outdoor furnishings. Focus on well-placed seating as a priority. Getting to enjoy your creation is the goal, after all. 

Limiting Containers to Annuals

Ornamental container arrangements feature color, texture, and form, and annuals are perfect for a seasonal burst. Pair them with longstanding specimens like a singular shrub or perennials for extended interest. Avoid containers that are too small; go bigger for impact, even with staggered sizing.

Situate containers to enjoy them up close, where they emphasize entrances like the front door or garden gate, walkways, or seating areas. Create a single focal point, symmetrical designs, or clustered pots of varying sizes.

Pots become a design element in themselves, and you can create a whole container garden that attracts pollinators or yields fruits and vegetables. They offer limitless creativity in a portable, seasonal form. Raised beds, too, make growing and cultivating easy across sites.

Unplanned Irrigation

Irrigation is the less showy part of planning, but a lack of it negates the whole scene. It helps to have concentrated zones where it runs on a timer, supporting plants with similar watering requirements and minimizing water loss. The amount of irrigation you’ll need informs plant selection and placement.

For waterwise solutions, employ xeriscaping techniques or grow species that need little supplemental watering. If you’re growing in pots and containers, plan to water frequently during hot summers. A simple drip irrigation system on a timer helps control delivery while minimizing runoff.