Landscaping 101

Lesson 2: Starting Your Landscape Drawings

To most effectively plan your landscape you need to start with an accurate base map and a good site inventory. These are not a difficult tasks, but they do take some time and effort to do properly. However, the base map and site inventory will help immensely in the rest of your landsaping planning.

Drawing Your Base Map

Before you begin updating your landscaping and putting in all those fun, new features you are craving, it is important to inventory what is already on your site and assess what factors, such as wind, dust from the road, where water ponds, etc. that will have an effect on your new landscaping. The way to do that is to plot your home and yard on to a base map.

A base map is a plan drawing that records the existing physical features of the site. By plotting everything you can stand back and take an unbiased look at the entire site, where the problems are, parts of the landscaping that you may want to highlight, and any parts of the landscaping you may want to hide (utility boxes, clotheslines, etc.). This base map will provide the basic backdrop that you will use throughout the design process.

The scales commonly used when drawing up a base map are the architect’s scale, which is 1” equals 8’ or the engineer’s scale, which is 1” equals 10’. Use whatever scale you are most comfortable using. If you have a very large yard, you may want to do your base map in sections. The easiest process to follow in getting an accurate base map is to start outside and sketch in a rough map that will include the information listed below. Once your rough map is finished, take it inside and refine it so that you have an accurate and precise base map to work with.

The items to include on your base map are:

1) house and garage

2) any other buildings or structures that are on the yard

3) large trees and shrubs

4) property lines

5) fences

6) paved areas

7) patios

8) pools

9) other permanent features

10) existing planting beds

11) any other existing features

12) utilities


It is easiest to begin your map by drawing in the house and garage. The next items to draw in will be the property lines. The third items to place on the base map are any walkways and the driveway using the home as a reference point. Next draw in any existing trees and physical features. The next step will be to identify the utility locations. Finally, note any other items that may affect your landscaping, these are things such as prevailing winds, areas where the sun beats down, drainage problems, etc.

Here are some hints to help you measure accurately: Use the house as a starting point before drawing in the other features of your yard. Measure off the corners of the house so that you have accurate reference points. Unless you have an extremely small yard, it is easiest to use a 100 foot measuring tape.

Roll out the tape from your center reference point and then use another tape to measure over to the feature you are placing on your base map (trees, utilities, etc). Accurate measurements are important and will help you determine the quantity of supplies, such as mulch and rock, that you will need as well as helping you determine the appropriate number of plants that will fit into your landscape.

For a step-by-step guide of drawing a base map, take a look at the following pdf file. (Click on this link to look at the file. This is a pdf file. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download it. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, go www.adobe.com and download it. It is a free program.)

Some people find it easier to plot their base map on graph paper, while others are more comfortable working on a large sheet of white paper.

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