Contour Landscaping Installation & Design

Function

• A contour is an invisible line that connects points of equal elevation above or below a fixed point. Plants are used to trace contour lines, which typically go around a home, a flowerbed or a focal point such as a statue. A closed contour line describes a level surface, such as a shoreline or rows of seating in a stadium.

Difficulty

• Contours are two-dimensional drawings representing three-dimensional shapes. The difficulty is in visually seeing contours since they are invisible. Furthermore contour lines often refer to slopes and difficulty arises in maintenance, water infiltration, and leveling. A gentle slope of two to three percent is ideal for landscapers, where anything above four percent might require regarding to prevent soil erosion.

Characteristics

• Contour lines are on the same elevation and are continuous lines forming a bowl shape. Two or more lines are needed to represent a three-dimensional shape. Water will flow perpendicular to contour lines since slopes are vertical to the horizontal lines. Although in the natural setting contours never split, this is untrue in installed landscapes.