As landscape architects, we know that color is more than a visual detail—it’s a key part of how a space feels and functions. Color has the power to transform any outdoor space, setting the mood, highlighting focal points, and bringing fresh interest through every season. With a few strategic choices, you too can use color to add personality and life to your landscape.
Hues That Evoke Emotion
Colors in your outdoor space can set the tone and affect your mood. Cool tones like blues and purples are known for their calming effects. You can introduce these colors with flowers like veronica, phlox, lilac, or even boulder blue fescue. Water features, outdoor furniture, cool-toned metal, or stone elements can also draw on these cooler hues to help create a soothing atmosphere.
On the flip side, warm colors—reds, yellows, and oranges—inject energy into a space. Plants like red twig dogwood, barberry, and blanket flower can add vibrancy, while colorful art sculptures, fire pits, or natural wood accents warm up the space. Whether you’re aiming for relaxation or excitement, colors help set the mood.
Individual style typically involves combining colors to balance the mood. Blending a variety of colors in a garden can create a whimsical, playful atmosphere. This approach adds energy and unpredictability to a space, making it feel lively and dynamic. On the other hand, a monochromatic palette, such as using shades of white, silver, or any single hue, lends a sense of sophistication and elegance to the landscape. A unified color scheme creates harmony, making the space feel more refined and cohesive, perfect for formal gardens or modern minimalist designs.
Seasonal Color Variations for Year-Round Interest
A well-designed landscape can feature color year-round by selecting plants with different seasonal traits. In the spring, bring in early bloomers like tulips, daffodils, or forsythia to brighten things up. Summer brings a wave of colorful foliage and blooms, while autumn offers the brilliant reds and yellows of trees like maple, aspen, and sumac. Even winter can shine with evergreen plants, striking bark, and the silvery dried plumes of ornamental grasses.
You can also use annual flowers for even more seasonal flexibility. Swap them out every season or year to add fresh colors without long-term commitment, allowing your landscape to constantly evolve.
Creating Focal Points in Your Landscape
Colors can be used strategically to direct attention. A vibrant flowering tree, a bold garden sculpture, or a brightly colored planter can serve as a focal point, guiding the eye and adding interest to a specific area.
Creating contrast also brings depth to your landscape. For instance, pairing burgundy coral bells with chartreuse sedge or placing bright white flowers against a deep green backdrop can create dramatic, high-impact visual effects that draw attention and keep your design lively.
Environmental Impacts of Color Choices
Color affects more than just the aesthetics of your landscape; it also has environmental impacts. Lighter colors reflect heat, making your outdoor spaces cooler and more comfortable, while darker features like pathways or furniture absorb heat, influencing plant health and the comfort of those using the space.
Color can also attract beneficial pollinators. Bees, butterflies, and birds are drawn to shades of purple, yellow, and red, making thoughtful plant selection not just about beauty but also about supporting the local ecosystem.
In landscape design, color plays a vital role that goes beyond mere aesthetics. It shapes the atmosphere of your outdoor space, offers seasonal variety, and can even impact the surrounding environment. Whether you desire a serene retreat or a lively garden, thoughtful color choices can dramatically enhance how a landscape is perceived and enjoyed. By selecting the right plants, materials, and design elements, you can create an outdoor oasis that beautifully reflects your style and harmonizes with nature.
If you’re ready to bring more color, energy, and visual interest to your outdoor space, the team at Outdoor Design Group can help. Our experts specialize in crafting beautiful, functional landscapes that reflect your vision and enhance your environment.
At Outdoor Design Group, we’re thrilled to spotlight our latest project, the Roundabout RV & Water Resort, nestled in the picturesque rolling hills of Oxford, Mississippi. This unique resort promises a blend of natural beauty, modern amenities, and thoughtful design, catering to a wide array of visitors, from Ole Miss fans to vacationing families and local residents.
Embracing Nature, Overcoming Challenges
Designing the Roundabout RV Resort presented a distinctive set of challenges. Our primary goal was to provide safe amenities, level RV pads and ADA-accessible routes all while preserving the site’s natural beauty. The rolling hills, mature trees, creeks, and ponds of North Mississippi’s landscape required innovative solutions to maintain the scenic charm while ensuring functionality and accessibility. Our team at Outdoor Design Group worked meticulously to balance these elements, creating a harmonious environment that highlights the area’s natural splendor.
Aerial view of site.
A Haven for All
The Roundabout RV Resort is more than just a place to park your RV; it’s a destination tailored to a diverse audience. Whether you’re a visitor, a student or faculty member of Ole Miss, a family on vacation, or a local resident looking for a staycation, the resort offers something for everyone. For those without an RV, the on-site luxury cottages provide a cozy and comfortable alternative, allowing everyone to enjoy the resort’s amenities and natural beauty.
Highlights of the Resort
The Roundabout RV Resort boasts an impressive array of amenities designed to enhance your stay:
Recreational Activities: Enjoy fishing ponds, playgrounds, a fitness center, business center, shuffleboard, pickleball and basketball courts, a dog park, picnic areas, walking trails, a food truck plaza, and a yoga/zen pad overlooking the pond.
Water Park Extravaganza: Dive into fun with a splash pad, lazy river, hot tubs, family pool, and a 21+ pool complete with a swim-up bar and sun deck.
Community Spaces: Gather with friends and family at the sandy beach, community pavilions, storm shelters, bonfire areas, and more.
Convenience and Comfort: Golf cart rentals ensure easy mobility around the resort, while the various pavilions and shelters provide perfect spots for gatherings and events.
Rendered graphic of final plan.
The Design Journey
The design process for the Roundabout RV Resort began with a comprehensive site visit to fully understand the property’s unique characteristics and potential. Our team conducted several versions of concept sketches, exploring various layouts until we identified the most ideal plan. This iterative process involved close collaboration with engineers and water attraction specialists, allowing us to refine the design further. Through this collaborative effort, we developed a final site plan that seamlessly integrates the resort’s amenities with the natural landscape, ensuring an exceptional experience for all visitors.
Concept sketch (left) and Schematic design (right).
A Collaborative Effort
The success of the Roundabout RV Resort is a testament to the collaborative efforts of several key players. We partnered with the Co-Founders Drs. Alison & Andrew Ross and Chris & Jay Hughes, Mersmann Consulting Group, Williams Engineering Consultants, and Synery Aqua Tech to bring this vision to life. Each team brought their expertise and dedication, contributing to the project’s overall excellence.
Community Excitement and Economic Impact
The local community has shown overwhelming support and excitement for the Roundabout RV Resort. Senator Nicole Boyd highlighted the project’s significance, stating, “This is a super exciting project. It is innovative. There is a huge market need for people that are travelling across the state… This will be a great recreational spot. It has great interstate access and will be able to have people from all over the south use Oxford as a landing spot. It also solves a real need in our community when people come in to the university for ball games and weekends at the university. They’ll have a first-class RV spot to be able to go and have the wonderful recreation amenities right here close to town. I think we’ve all been working at the state level to make sure that people understand that this is a true economic development project for the region. The tourism this will bring in will be absolutely incredible. It’s like nothing else that we have really in this whole region.” (watch the full interview here)
Groundbreaking ceremony.
Project Statistics
Resort Size: 85 acres
Project Cost: $22 million
Estimated Completion: Spring 2025
The Roundabout RV Resort represents a new chapter for Oxford, Mississippi, offering a premier recreational destination that promises to bring joy, relaxation, and economic growth to the region. We at Outdoor Design Group are proud to have played a part in this transformative project and look forward to welcoming visitors to experience all it has to offer.
Follow along with the construction of this project by visiting www.roundaboutoxford.com
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
Once upon a time, there was a castle guarded by soldiers. Enemies obscured by the trees would sneak close to the castle, so the soldiers reduced the threat by removing the trees. Without the trees, the land filled in with grasses, thyme, and chamomile. Animals began to graze in these new fields, keeping the plants low. The soldiers could see clearly across the land, and the sheep were fat and happy. The castle prospered, and everyone who visited wished their land could be so grand. The other land owners cut down their trees and filled in their land with grasses. The smell from the grazing animals wasn’t ideal, so they brought in men to cut the grasses low instead.
The “green carpet” surrounding the finest castles and estates in the 16th & 17th century became a status symbol, and planted the seed for the sod lawn we’re all familiar with today.
In the United States after WWII, automobile technology and availability took off. With the open road ahead of them, well-to-do folks left the cramped urban conditions of the cities, moving outward to new suburban neighborhoods.
Planners like Frederick Law Olmsted and Abraham Levitt gave the people sprawling neighborhoods, with acres of lush green grass. With the popularity of the 2-day weekend on the rise, homeowners indulged in their green Edens. This ignited a new chapter for the centuries old status symbol of the turf lawn – now repurposed for mini-golf and lawn bowl rather than spying enemy invaders and feeding livestock.
“No single feature of a suburban residential community contributes as much to the charm and beauty of the individual home and the locality as well-kept lawns” – Abraham Levitt
Ingrained into the new vision for the American Dream, well-kept lawns became the golden standard. With an estimated 30 to 40-million acres of the United States serving as an irrigated sod lawn today, this status symbol is butting heads with our resources and priorities.
The cold hard truth about lawns are that they are a water hog, high maintenance (what other non-food-production plants do you cut weekly, fertilize seasonally, and treat with chemicals?!), lawns are a food desert for animals & insects, and they do nothing for our groundwater while the water runoff often pollutes creeks and streams with high nitrogen fertilizers, causing harmful algae blooms. All of that lawn maintenance also creates air pollution and noise pollution from mowers, blowers, and trimmer equipment.
A renovation project where Outdoor Design Group helped our client reduce their turf lawn.
But lawns can be great in the right location!
This is where “active-use” vs. “passive-use” spaces come into play. Lawns can be very durable, and are amazing for active children and pets. Maintaining a lawn to play and entertain on is a lovely idea. Kentucky Bluegrass has been a popular turf choice for decades, but climate suited alternatives like Dog-Tuff Buffalo Grass, Bermuda grass, or “steppable perennial lawns” made up of creeping thyme or clover can serve the same purpose as high-water turf lawns with fewer drawbacks. While choosing the right type of lawn for your environment is a start, reducing the overall amount of lawn is still the key to a progressive and sustainable landscape. Maintaining any type of lawn on the side or front of your house where no-one ever spends their time is wasteful for you, your wallet, and the environment.
Steppable groundcover used with other perennials, step stones and mulch.
Consider ditching the golf-course-quality front-yard peacocking and save that neighborly competitiveness for the holiday light display. Instead, beef up your shrub beds, add some neat planters, and opt for native seed mixes that include drought-tolerant grasses & wildflowers. Keep your lawn only where you will use it, and plant a nice tree just west or south of it to keep it cooler and healthier during hot sunny days.
A front yard filled with a diversity of ornamental grasses, perennials, shrubs, landscape rock and mulch.
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
