Landscape gardening or architecture involves the investigation and designed response to the landscape. The scope of the profession includes architectural design, site planning, environmental restoration, town or urban planning, urban design, parks and recreation planning. A practitioner in the field of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect. Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, which includes: geography, mathematics, science, engineering, art, horticulture, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy and more recently, ecology.

The history of landscape gardening is related to the history of gardening but is not coextensive. Both arts are concerned with the composition of planting, landform, water, paving and other structures but: garden design is essentially concerned with enclosed private space (parks, gardens etc), while landscape design is concerned with the design of enclosed space, as well as unenclosed space which is open to the public (town squares, country parks, park systems, greenways etc).

The activities of a landscape artist can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for corporate office buildings, from the design of residential estates to the design of civil infrastructure and the management of large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills. Landscape gardeners work on all types of structures and external space - large or small, urban or rural, and with hard and/or soft materials, hydrology and ecological issues.

Landscape gardening has a tremendous impact on the worth of a home, and can substantially increase its value. It is a genuine investment and that is why it is imperative to acquire the services of a professional landscape gardener, one that has a solid reputation, and this may well include back up services or after sales services.

Landscape gardening not only enhances the monetary value of a home, it creates ambience, adds to the overall look and feel of the property and should be designed with the character of the home’s occupants in mind. It should be a place where families want to spend time and should be a natural extension of the abode, in that well-designed landscape gardens invite one to spend as much time there as possible. Reflecting the homeowners own personal style can easily be read from the kind of landscaped garden chosen: from stylish or functional, minimalist to traditional, practical to time-consuming, the expert needs to address these issues before setting out on the actual design itself.

A professional landscape artist will take drainage issues, space and the amount of natural light the property has, into account, in which to create a unique, comfortable and hopefully, relatively easy to maintain space in which the investor can flourish.