Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof or vehicle that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound.[1]

Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material. Windows are held in place by frames.[2] Many glazed windows may be opened, to allow ventilation, or closed, to exclude inclement weather.[3] Windows often have a latch or similar mechanism to lock the window shut.

Types include the eyebrow window, fixed windows, single-hung and double-hung sash windows, horizontal sliding sash windows, casement windows, awning windows, hopper windows, tilt and slide windows (often door-sized), tilt and turn windows, transom windows, sidelight windows, jalousie or louvered windows, clerestory windows, skylights, roof windows, roof lanterns, bay windows, oriel windows, thermal, or Diocletian, windows, picture windows, emergency exit windows, stained glass windows, French windows, and double- and triple paned windows.

The Romans were the first known to use glass for windows, a technology likely first produced in Roman Egypt, in Alexandria ca. 100 AD. Paper windows were economical and widely used in ancient China, Korea and Japan. In England, glass became common in the windows of ordinary homes only in the early 17th century whereas windows made up of panes of flattened animal horn were used as early as the 14th century. In the 19th century American west, greased paper windows came to be used by itinerant groups. Modern-style floor-to-ceiling windows became possible only after the industrial plate glass making processes were perfected.

The English language-word window originates from the Old Norse 'vindauga', from 'vindr wind' and 'auga eye', i.e., wind eye.[4] In Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic the Old Norse form has survived to this day (in Icelandic only as a less used synonym to gluggi), in Swedish the word vindga remains as a term for a hole through the roof of a hut, and in the Danish language 'vindue' and Norwegian Bokml 'vindu', the direct link to 'eye' is lost, just like for 'window'. The Danish (but not the Bokml) word is pronounced fairly similarly to window.

Window is first recorded in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a roof. Window replaced the Old English eagyrl, which literally means 'eye-hole,' and 'eagduru' 'eye-door'. Many Germanic languages however adopted the Latin word 'fenestra' to describe a window with glass, such as standard Swedish 'fnster', or German 'Fenster'. The use of window in English is probably because of the Scandinavian influence on the English language by means of loanwords during the Viking Age. In English the word fenester was used as a parallel until the mid-18th century. Fenestration is still used to describe the arrangement of windows within a faade, as well as defenestration, meaning to throw something out of a window.

The earliest windows[when?] were just holes in a wall. Later,[when?] windows were covered with animal hide, cloth, or wood. Shutters that could be opened and closed came next.[when?] Over time, windows were built that both protected the inhabitants from the elements and transmitted light, using multiple small pieces of translucent material (such as flattened pieces of translucent animal horn, thin slices of marble, or pieces of glass) set in frameworks of wood, iron or lead. In the Far East, paper was used to fill windows.[2] The Romans were the first known to use glass for windows, a technology likely first produced in Roman Egypt. Namely, in Alexandria ca. 100 AD cast glass windows, albeit with poor optical properties, began to appear, but these were small thick productions, little more than blown glass jars (cylindrical shapes) flattened out into sheets with circular striation patterns throughout. It would be over a millennium before a window glass became transparent enough to see through clearly, as we think of it now.

Over the centuries techniques were developed to shear through one side of a blown glass cylinder and produce thinner rectangular window panes from the same amount of glass material. This gave rise to tall narrow windows, usually separated by a vertical support called a mullion. Mullioned glass windows were the windows of choice among European well-to-do, whereas paper windows were economical and widely used in ancient China, Korea and Japan. In England, glass became common in the windows of ordinary homes only in the early 17th century whereas windows made up of panes of flattened animal horn were used as early as the 14th century.[5]

Modern-style floor-to-ceiling windows became possible only after the industrial plate glass making processes were perfected. Modern windows are usually filled with glass, although a few are transparent plastic.[2]

The term eyebrow window is used in two ways: a curved top window in a wall or in an eyebrow dormer; and a row of small windows usually under the front eaves such as the James-Lorah House in Pennsylvania.[6]

A window that cannot be opened, whose function is limited to allowing light to enter (unlike an unfixed window, which can open and close). Clerestory windows are often fixed. Transom windows may be fixed or operable. This type of window is used in situations where light or vision alone is needed as no ventilation is possible windows without the use of trickle vents or overglass vents.

One sash is movable (usually the bottom one) and the other fixed. This is the earlier form of sliding sash window, and is also cheaper.[2]

A sash window is the traditional style of window in the United Kingdom, and many other places that were formerly colonized by the UK, with two parts (sashes) that overlap slightly and slide up and down inside the frame. The two parts are not necessarily the same size; where the upper sash is smaller (shorter) it is termed a cottage window. Currently most new double-hung sash windows use spring balances to support the sashes, but traditionally, counterweights held in boxes on either side of the window were used. These were and are attached to the sashes using pulleys of either braided cord or, later, purpose-made chain. Three types of spring balances are called a tape or clock spring balance; channel or block-and-tackle balance; and a spiral or tube balance.

Double-hung sash windows were traditionally often fitted with shutters. Sash windows can be fitted with simplex hinges that let the window be locked into hinges on one side, while the rope on the other side is detachedso the window can be opened for fire escape or cleaning.

Has two or more sashes that overlap slightly but slide horizontally within the frame. In the UK, these are sometimes called Yorkshire sash windows, presumably because of their traditional use in that county.

A window with a hinged sash that swings in or out like a door comprising either a side-hung, top-hung (also called "awning window"; see below), or occasionally bottom-hung sash or a combination of these types, sometimes with fixed panels on one or more sides of the sash.[1] In the USA, these are usually opened using a crank, but in parts of Europe they tend to use projection friction stays and espagnolette locking. Formerly, plain hinges were used with a casement stay. Handing applies to casement windows to determine direction of swing; a casement window may be left-handed, right-handed, or double. The casement window is the dominant type now found in modern buildings in the UK and many other parts of Europe.

An awning window is a casement window that is hung horizontally, hinged on top, so that it swings outward like an awning. In addition to be used independently, they can be stacked, several in one opening, or combined with fixed glass. They are particularly useful for ventilation.[7]

A hopper window is a bottom-pivoting casement window that opens by tilting vertically, typically to the inside.[8] (Mostly used for schools)

A window hung on one hinge on each of two opposite sides which allows the window to revolve when opened. The hinges may be mounted top and bottom (Vertically Pivoted) or at each jamb (Horizontally Pivoted). The window will usually open initially to a restricted position for ventilation and, once released, fully reverse and lock again for safe cleaning from inside. Modern pivot hinges incorporate a friction device to hold the window open against its own weight and may have restriction and reversed locking built in. In the UK, where this type of window is most common, they were extensively installed in high-rise social housing.

A window (more usually a door-sized window) where the sash tilts inwards at the top and then slides horizontally behind the fixed pane.

A tilt and turn window can both tilt inwards at the top or open inwards from hinges at the side. This is the most common type of window in Germany, its country of origin. It is also widespread in many other European countries. In Europe it is usual for these to be of the "turn first" type. i.e. when the handle is turned to 90 degrees the window opens in the side hung mode. With the handle turned to 180 degrees the window opens in bottom hung mode. Most usually in the UK the windows will be "tilt first" i.e. bottom hung at 90 degrees for ventilation and side hung at 180 degrees for cleaning the outer face of the glass from inside the building.[9]

A window above a door; in an exterior door the transom window is often fixed, in an interior door it can open either by hinges at top or bottom, or rotate on hinges. It provided ventilation before forced air heating and cooling. A fan-shaped transom is known as a fanlight, especially in the British Isles.

Windows beside a door or window are called side-, wing-, and margen-lights and flanking windows.[10]

Also known as a louvered window, the jalousie window consists of parallel slats of glass or acrylic that open and close like a Venetian blind, usually using a crank or a lever. They are used extensively in tropical architecture. A jalousie door is a door with a jalousie window.

A window set in a roof structure or high in a wall, used for daylighting.

A flat or slope window used for daylighting, built into a roof structure that is out of reach.[11]

A sloped window used for daylighting, built into a roof structure. It is one of the few windows that could be used as an exit. Larger roof windows meet building codes for emergency evacuation.

A roof lantern is a multi-paned glass structure, resembling a small building, built on a roof for day or moon light. Sometimes includes an additional clerestory. May also be called a cupola.

A multi-panel window, with at least three panels set at different angles to create a protrusion from the wall line.[1]

This form of bay window most often appears in Tudor-style houses and monasteries. It projects from the wall and does not extend to the ground. Originally a form of porch, they are often supported by brackets or corbels.

Thermal, or Diocletian, windows are large semicircular windows (or niches) which are usually divided into three lights (window compartments) by two mullions. The central compartment is often wider than the two side lights on either side of it.

A picture window is a large fixed window in a wall, typically without glazing bars, or glazed with only perfunctory glazing bars near the edge of the window. Picture windows provide an unimpeded view, as if framing a picture.[12]

A window glazed with small panes of glass separated by wooden or lead glazing bars, or muntins, arranged in a decorative glazing pattern often dictated by the building's architectural style. Due to the historic unavailability of large panes of glass, the multi-lit (or lattice window) was the most common window style until the beginning of the 20th century, and is still used in traditional architecture.

A window big enough and low enough so that occupants can escape through the opening in an emergency, such as a fire. In many countries, exact specifications for emergency windows in bedrooms are given in many building codes. Specifications for such windows may also allow for the entrance of emergency rescuers. Vehicles, such as buses and aircraft, frequently have emergency exit windows as well.[13]

A window composed of pieces of colored glass, transparent, translucent or opaque, frequently portraying persons or scenes. Typically the glass in these windows is separated by lead glazing bars. Stained glass windows were popular in Victorian houses and some Wrightian houses, and are especially common in churches.[14]

A French window (when hinged French door) is a large door-sized lattice light, typically set in pairs or multiples thereof. Known as porte-fentre in France and portafinestra in Italy, they often overlook a terrace and are commonly used in modern houses. [15]

Double-paned windows have two parallel panes (slabs of glass) with a separation of typically about 1cm; this space is permanently sealed and filled at the time of manufacture with dry air or other dry nonreactive gas. Such windows provide a marked improvement in thermal insulation (and usually in acoustic insulation as well) and are resistant to fogging and frosting caused by temperature differential. They are widely used for residential and commercial construction in intemperate climates. Triple-paned windows have been commercially manufactured and marketed with claims of additional benefit but have not become common.

A hexagonal window is a hexagon-shaped window, resembling a bee cell or crystal lattice of graphite. The window can be vertically or horizontally oriented, openable or dead. It can also be regular or elongately-shaped and can have a separator (mullion). Typically, the cellular window is used for an attic or as a decorative feature, but it can also be a major architectural element to provide the natural lighting inside buildings.

EN 12519 is the European norm that describes windows terms officially used in EU Member States. The main terms are:

The United States NFRC Window Label lists the following terms:

The European harmonised standard hEN 14351-1, which deals with doors and windows, defines 23 characteristics (divided into essential and non essential. Two other, preliminary European Norms that are under development deal with internal pedestrian doors (prEN 14351-2), smoke and fire resisting doors, and openable windows (prEN 16034).[18]

Windows can be a significant source of heat transfer.[19] Therefore, insulated glazing units consist of two or more panes to reduce the transfer of heat.

These are the pieces of framing that separate a larger window into smaller panes. In older windows, large panes of glass were quite expensive, so muntins let smaller panes fill a larger space. In modern windows, light-colored muntins still provide a useful function by reflecting some of the light going through the window, making the window itself a source of diffuse light (instead of just the surfaces and objects illuminated within the room). By increasing the indirect illumination of surfaces near the window, muntins tend to brighten the area immediately around a window and reduce the contrast of shadows within the room.

Frames and sashes can be made of the following materials:

* PVC and fiberglass frames perform well in accelerated weathering tests. Because PVC is not as strong as other materials, some PVC frames are reinforced with metal or composite materials to improve their structural strength.

** Modern aluminium window frames are typically separated by a thermal break made of a glass fibre reinforced polyamide. With a 34mm thermal insulation profile it is possible to reach Uf= 1.3 W/mK for a metal window. This greatly increases thermal resistance, while retaining virtually all of the structural strength.

Composites (also known as Hybrid Windows) [20] may combine materials to obtain aesthetics of one material with the functional benefits of another.

A special class of PVC window frames, uPVC window frames, became widespread since the late 20th century, particularly in Europe: there were 83.5 million installed by 1998[21] with numbers still growing as of 2012.[22]

Low-emissivity coated panes reduce heat transfer by radiation, which, depending on which surface is coated, helps prevent heat loss (in cold climates) or heat gains (in warm climates).

High thermal resistance can be obtained by evacuating or filling the insulated glazing units with gases such as argon or krypton, which reduces conductive heat transfer due to their low thermal conductivity. Performance of such units depends on good window seals and meticulous frame construction to prevent entry of air and loss of efficiency.

Modern double-pane and triple-pane windows often include one or more low-e coatings to reduce the window's U-factor (its insulation value, specifically its rate of heat loss). In general, soft-coat low-e coatings tend to result in a lower solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) than hard-coat low-e coatings.

Modern windows are usually glazed with one large sheet of glass per sash, while windows in the past were glazed with multiple panes separated by glazing bars, or muntins, due to the unavailability of large sheets of glass. Today, glazing bars tend to be decorative, separating windows into small panes of glass even though larger panes of glass are available, generally in a pattern dictated by the architectural style at use. Glazing bars are typically wooden, but occasionally lead glazing bars soldered in place are used for more intricate glazing patterns.

Many windows have movable window coverings such as blinds or curtains to keep out light, provide additional insulation, or ensure privacy. Windows allow natural light to enter, but too much can have negative effects such as glare and heat gain. Additionally, while windows let the user see outside, there must be a way to maintain privacy on in the inside.[23] Window coverings are practical accommodations for these issues.

Historically, windows are designed with surfaces parallel to vertical building walls. Such a design allows considerable solar light and heat penetration due to the most commonly occurring incidence of sun angles. In passive solar building design, an extended eave is typically used to control the amount of solar light and heat entering the window(s).

An alternative method is to calculate an optimum window mounting angle that accounts for summer sun load minimization, with consideration of actual latitude of the building. This process has been implemented, for example, in the Dakin Building in Brisbane, Californiain which most of the fenestration is designed to reflect summer heat load and help prevent summer interior over-illumination and glare, by canting windows to nearly a 45 degree angle.

Photovoltaic windows not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also convert sunlight to electricity for the building.[24] In most cases, translucent photovoltaic cells are used. Recently, hybrid-type transparent solar concentrator systems have been developed,[25] which resulted in the industrial production of solar windows. These ClearVue solar PV windows also feature superior thermal insulation and solar control properties.[26]

Passive solar windows allow light and solar energy into a building while minimizing air leakage and heat loss. Properly positioning these windows in relation to sun, wind, and landscapewhile properly shading them to limit excess heat gain in summer and shoulder seasons, and providing thermal mass to absorb energy during the day and release it when temperatures cool at nightincreases comfort and energy efficiency. Properly designed in climates with adequate solar gain, these can even be a building's primary heating system.

A window covering is a shade or screen that provides multiple functions. For example, some window coverings control solar heat gain and glare. There are external shading devices and internal shading devices.[27] Low-e window film is a low-cost alternative to window replacement to transform existing poorly-insulating windows into energy-efficient windows. For high-rise buildings, smart glass can provide an alternative.

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Window - Wikipedia

With years of experience in creating professional landscapes across the South Jersey area, Beechwood Landscape Architecture and Construction, LLC is the regions premiere landscape design-build professionals.

A well landscaped property with architecturally designed gardens, pools and exterior living spaces is an excellent investment in ones property and quality of living! Integration of your interior home with a seamless design to the outside can be created by Beechwoods team of landscape architects, horticulturists and landscape designers. Whether dining al fresco by the pool, enjoying lazy summer days or casual evenings by the fire pit, a well conceived plan will reap years of enjoyment!

In our experience, the true success of any landscape project depends upon the implementation of a well thought out combination of design criteria and ideas. As landscape architects, we are educated and trained to develop effective solutions for exterior spaces, circulation and spatial relationship of all elements affecting the final design. Our team of designers will work hard to ensure that your property will bring you years of enjoyment and fulfillment.

Our professional landscape architects and designers can walk you through the entire landscape design process and with the ability to coordinate all aspects of the construction phase. Getting started on your landscape design is easy call Beechwood at 609-801-1252 to speak with one of our landscape architects today.

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Landscape Architects-Contractors- NJ Hardscaping-Pool ...

by Tim Sanford on 03/24/11

So the question I keep hearing from customers is "What materials can we use for our pool decking because we dont want concrete!" Finally people are looking for new, natural ways to surround their pools. The old, cracked white concrete is out and has made way for all sorts of new natural (and some man-made) materials. We are using everything from- bluestone to travertine to concrete pavers- it helps incorporate the pool into our customer's existing landscapes. If you are looking for something beyond the old, boring white concrete, here are a few different pool deck materials to consider.

I also wanted to mention that if you have a concrete pool deck and are looking to jazz it up with another material, you can always overlay your existing pool deck with one of the materials listed above. You don't even have to pull up the concrete; it can go right over the top! An easy fix for a dated pool. Check out our earlier blog on how to create a new look for your pool.

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Trends in Pool Deck Materials : Ask the Landscape Guy

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Pool landscape designs that are lush and colorful add to the beauty of the swimming pool area. But how do you create a pool landscape design that will look well with your new swimming pool?

Adding trees will make the area cozier...ornamental trees add color and interest while larger trees can add shade to certain areas. Shrubs provide textures, color an height. Perennials add beautiful summer color! Integrate these different types of plants to achieve a great design.

You can mix in evergreen and flowering deciduous shrubs. The evergreen shrubs will provide interest when viewing the area in the winter.

Include Trees Around the Pool (Don't be Afraid of the Leaves - Pool Will Be Closed by That Time!)

The flowering shrubs will provide color in the summer when you are enjoying your swimming pool landscape.

Plant in groups. Seven flowering shrubs will make a more exciting picture than two or three.

Perennials will give lots of color also.

You can select low maintenance perennials so that you can enjoy your swimming pool design and not be constantly tending to the plants!

I would suggest including some broadleaf evergreen shrubs in your pool landscape design also. However, many of these require some shade and often pools are located in sunny areas. If you do have some shady areas, include some broadleaf evergreen shrubs, such as Rhododendron, Cherry Laurel, Mountain Laurel and Japanese Andromeda.

There is a nice evergreen shrub that will take sun or shade and that is Blue Holly. It does not flower, but it does provide wonderful red berries in the Fall.

Consider adding a few ornamental trees to your pool landscape design. They will add color and interest. In addition, they will provide height and scale to the project. A swimming pool is large and you need some garden trees to make it feel it belongs in the landscape.

You might include a flowering cherry tree, such as the Weeping Cherry Tree. A Dogwood tree is also a nice addition. For texture and for a tree that is not bulky, River Birch is a nice choice. There are many to choose from. The point is...include them!

Shade is almost a must in your backyard pool landscape. Don't be afraid to use large shade trees. Just don't plant them too close to the pool. Shade trees will still provide shade if planted a fair distance away due to their ultimate large size.

If you do need a tree for shade very close to the pool, select a smaller type. Crapemyrtle is one flowering tree that works well and can be planted close to the pool paving.

For a more elaborate design, consider an outdoor pergola.

Mulch all the planting beds with a minimum of three inches of hardwood shredded bark. This will conserve the water in the ground for the plants and also help to prevent weeds.

Speaking of weeds, there are products available that prevent or deter weeds from growing. They work well, as I have used them myself. Sprinkle them on your planting beds in the early Spring. They do have to be re-applied a couple of times throughout the season. The product I use is called Preen.

Some other interesting pages I have written with great information concerning swimming pools are the following:

Swimming Pool Fencing

Swimming Pool Decking

You might also like to visit my page on Pictures of Swimming Pools.

It is not necessary to have a walk leading up to your swimming pool. You can walk through grass. However, walkways do provide some practicality, as they eliminate tracking grass from wet feet into the house.

Walkway paving materials should blend well with the pool paving. You can choose the pool paving and the walkway paving to be the same or you can use materials that compliment each other.

Pool Paving is Tumbled Pavers

Pool Back Wall is Natural Stone Plantings Cascade Over the Wall

Although not something that is a must, it is advantageous to select paving that is cool to the touch....that means cool on your feet! Travertine pavers are an excellent choice. They are also quite beautiful.

If you have a pool waterfall, plant behind it so that it looks natural. Add shrubs that are loose, such as Cotoneaster. Add trees behind it too! One Weeping Cherry tree or three White Birch look wonderful. As always, know your planting zone and check zones of particular plants.

Does your pool have a spa? Hug it in with plantings in your pool landscape design to make you feel secluded while sitting in your spa. Make it part of your swimming pool landscape.

Great pool landscape designs should create a garden like setting for your swimming pool. The addition of lots of shrubs, flowering and ornamental trees, shade trees and perennials will help to create a lovely swimming pool landscape.

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"Susan, what a pleasure it was to work with you. You made me feel like I was your only client - responding late at night and always so quickly! Your design is amazing and we only hope we can do justice to it when we plant. You have such fantastic ideas and you are so open to suggestions and changes. Loved working with you - now if you could only come to Canada and plant it!!!" Helen, Ontario-Canada

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Pool Landscape Designs | Tips and Ideas

There are two main meanings for the word landscape: it can refer to the visible features of an area of land, the landforms and how they integrate with natural or man-made features or to an example of the genre of Landscape painting that depicts such views of an area of land.[1]

A Landscape, in both senses, includes the physical elements of geophysically defined landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions.

Combining both their physical origins and the cultural overlay of human presence, often created over millennia, landscapes reflect a living synthesis of people and place that is vital to local and national identity. The character of a landscape helps define the self-image of the people who inhabit it and a sense of place that differentiates one region from other regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to peoples lives. Landscape can be as varied as farmland, a landscape park, or wilderness.

The earth has a vast range of landscapes, including the icy landscapes of polar regions, mountainous landscapes, vast arid desert landscapes, islands and coastal landscapes, densely forested or wooded landscapes including past boreal forests and tropical rainforests, and agricultural landscapes of temperate and tropical regions.

Landscape may be further considered under the following categories: landscape art, cultural landscape, landscape ecology, landscape planning, landscape assessment and landscape design. The activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land is named landscaping.

There are several definitions of what constitutes a landscape, depending on context. In common usage however, a landscape refers either to all the visible features of an area of land (usually rural), often considered in terms of aesthetic appeal, or to a pictorial representation of an area of countryside, specifically within the genre of landscape painting. When people deliberately improve the aesthetic appearance of a piece of landby changing contours and vegetation, etc.it is said to have been landscaped,[1] though the result may not constitute a landscape according to some definitions.

The word landscape (landscipe or landscaef) arrived in Englandand therefore into the English languageafter the fifth century, following the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons; these terms referred to a system of human-made spaces on the land. The term "landscape" emerged around the turn of the sixteenth century to denote a painting whose primary subject matter was natural scenery.[2] "Land" (a word from Germanic origin) may be taken in its sense of something to which people belong (as in England being the land of the English).[3] The suffix "scape" is equivalent to the more common English suffix "ship."[3] The roots of "ship" are etymologically akin to Old English sceppan or scyppan, meaning to shape. The suffix schaft is related to the verb schaffen, so that ship and shape are also etymologically linked. The modern form of the word, with its connotations of scenery, appeared in the late sixteenth century when the term landschap was introduced by Dutch painters who used it to refer to paintings of inland natural or rural scenery. The word "landscape", first recorded in 1598, was borrowed from a Dutch painters' term.[4] The popular conception of the landscape that is reflected in dictionaries conveys both a particular and a general meaning, the particular referring to an area of the Earth's surface and the general being that which can be seen by an observer. An example of this second usage can be found as early as 1662 in the Book of Common Prayer:

There are several words that are frequently associated with the word landscape:

Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical or chemical processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do, to understand landform history and dynamics and to predict changes through a combination of field observations, physical experiments and numerical modeling. Geomorphology is practiced within physical geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeology and geotechnical engineering. This broad base of interests contributes to many research styles and interests within the field.[7]

The surface of Earth is modified by a combination of surface processes that sculpt landscapes, and geologic processes that cause tectonic uplift and subsidence, and shape the coastal geography. Surface processes comprise the action of water, wind, ice, fire, and living things on the surface of the Earth, along with chemical reactions that form soils and alter material properties, the stability and rate of change of topography under the force of gravity, and other factors, such as (in the very recent past) human alteration of the landscape. Many of these factors are strongly mediated by climate. Geologic processes include the uplift of mountain ranges, the growth of volcanoes, isostatic changes in land surface elevation (sometimes in response to surface processes), and the formation of deep sedimentary basins where the surface of Earth drops and is filled with material eroded from other parts of the landscape. The Earth surface and its topography therefore are an intersection of climatic, hydrologic, and biologic action with geologic processes.

Desert, Plain, Taiga, Tundra, Wetland, Mountain, Mountain range, Cliff, Coast, Littoral zone, Glacier, Polar regions of Earth, Shrubland, Forest, Rainforest, Woodland, Jungle, Moors.

Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy.[8][9][10]

Landscape is a central concept in landscape ecology. It is, however, defined in quite different ways. For example:[11]Carl Troll conceives of landscape not as a mental construct but as an objectively given organic entity, a harmonic individuum of space.[12]Ernst Neef[13] defines landscapes as sections within the uninterrupted earth-wide interconnection of geofactors which are defined as such on the basis of their uniformity in terms of a specific land use, and are thus defined in an anthropocentric and relativistic way.

According to Richard Forman and Michael Godron,[14] a landscape is a heterogeneous land area composed of a cluster of interacting ecosystems that is repeated in similar form throughout, whereby they list woods, meadows, marshes and villages as examples of a landscapes ecosystems, and state that a landscape is an area at least a few kilometres wide. John A. Wiens[15] opposes the traditional view expounded by Carl Troll, Isaak S. Zonneveld, Zev Naveh, Richard T. T. Forman/Michel Godron and others that landscapes are arenas in which humans interact with their environments on a kilometre-wide scale; instead, he defines 'landscape'regardless of scaleas "the template on which spatial patterns influence ecological processes".[16] Some define 'landscape' as an area containing two or more ecosystems in close proximity.[17]

Integrated landscape management is a way of managing a landscape that brings together multiple stakeholders, who collaborate to integrate policy and practice for their different land use objectives, with the purpose of achieving sustainable landscapes.[18][19] It recognises that, for example, one river basin can supply water for towns and agriculture, timber and food crops for smallholders and industry, and habitat for biodiversity; the way in which each one of these sectors pursues its goals can have impacts on the others. The intention is to minimise conflict between these different land use objectives and ecosystem services.[19] This approach draws on landscape ecology, as well as many related fields that also seek to integrate different land uses and users, such as watershed management.[18]

Proponents of integrated landscape management argue that it is well-suited to address complex global challenges, such as those that are the focus of the Sustainable Development Goals.[20] Integrated landscape management is increasingly taken up at the national,[21][22] local[23] and international level, for example the UN Environment Programme states that "UNEP champions the landscape approach de facto as it embodies the main elements of integrated ecosystem management".

Landscape archaeology or landscape history is the study of the way in which humanity has changed the physical appearance of the environment - both present and past. Landscape generally refers to both natural environments and environments constructed by human beings.[24]Natural landscapes are considered to be environments that have not been altered by humans in any shape or form.[25]Cultural landscapes, on the other hand, are environments that have been altered in some manner by people (including temporary structures and places, such as campsites, that are created by human beings).[26] Among archaeologists, the term landscape can refer to the meanings and alterations people mark onto their surroundings.[26][27] As such, landscape archaeology is often employed to study the human use of land over extensive periods of time.[27][28] Landscape archaeology can be summed up by Nicole Branton's statement:

The concept of cultural landscapes can be found in the European tradition of landscape painting.[30] From the 16th century onwards, many European artists painted landscapes in favor of people, diminishing the people in their paintings to figures subsumed within broader, regionally specific landscapes.[31]

The geographer Otto Schlter is credited with having first formally used "cultural landscape" as an academic term in the early 20th century.[32] In 1908, Schlter argued that by defining geography as a Landschaftskunde (landscape science) this would give geography a logical subject matter shared by no other discipline.[32][33] He defined two forms of landscape: the Urlandschaft (transl. original landscape) or landscape that existed before major human induced changes and the Kulturlandschaft (transl. 'cultural landscape') a landscape created by human culture. The major task of geography was to trace the changes in these two landscapes.

It was Carl O. Sauer, a human geographer, who was probably the most influential in promoting and developing the idea of cultural landscapes.[34] Sauer was determined to stress the agency of culture as a force in shaping the visible features of the Earths surface in delimited areas. Within his definition, the physical environment retains a central significance, as the medium with and through which human cultures act.[35] His classic definition of a 'cultural landscape' reads as follows:

The cultural landscape is fashioned from a natural landscape by a cultural group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.

A cultural landscape, as defined by the World Heritage Committee, is the "cultural properties [that] represent the combined works of nature and of man."[36]

The World Heritage Committee identifies three categories of cultural landscape, ranging from (i) those landscapes most deliberately 'shaped' by people, through (ii) full range of 'combined' works, to (iii) those least evidently 'shaped' by people (yet highly valued). The three categories extracted from the Committee's Operational Guidelines, are as follows:[37]

The Chinese garden is a landscape garden style which has evolved over three thousand years. It includes both the vast gardens of the Chinese emperors and members of the Imperial Family, built for pleasure and to impress, and the more intimate gardens created by scholars, poets, former government officials, soldiers and merchants, made for reflection and escape from the outside world. They create an idealized miniature landscape, which is meant to express the harmony that should exist between man and nature.[38] A typical Chinese garden is enclosed by walls and includes one or more ponds, scholar's rocks, trees and flowers, and an assortment of halls and pavilions within the garden, connected by winding paths and zig-zag galleries. By moving from structure to structure, visitors can view a series of carefully composed scenes, unrolling like a scroll of landscape paintings.[39]

The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the 'English garden', is a style of parkland garden intended to look as though it might be a natural landscape, although it may be very extensively re-arranged. It emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical jardin la franaise of the 17th century as the principal style for large parks and gardens in Europe.[40] The English garden (and later French landscape garden) presented an idealized view of nature. It drew inspiration from paintings of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin, and from the classic Chinese gardens of the East,[41] which had recently been described by European travellers and were realized in the Anglo-Chinese garden,[41] and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 1778).

The English garden usually included a lake, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape. The work of Lancelot "Capability" Brown and Humphry Repton was particularly influential. By the end of the 18th century the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as St. Petersburg, Russia, in Pavlovsk, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a major influence on the form of the public parks and gardens which appeared around the world in the 19th century.[42]

Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, incorporating aspects of botany, horticulture, the fine arts, architecture, industrial design, geology and the earth sciences, environmental psychology, geography, and ecology. The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for campuses and corporate office parks, 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 architects work on all types of structures and external space large or small, urban, suburban and rural, and with "hard" (built) and "soft" (planted) materials, while paying attention to ecological sustainability.

For the period before 1800, the history of landscape gardening (later called landscape architecture) is largely that of master planning and garden design for manor houses, palaces and royal properties, religious complexes, and centers of government. An example is the extensive work by Andr Le Ntre at Vaux-le-Vicomte and at the Palace of Versailles for King Louis XIV of France. The first person to write of making a landscape was Joseph Addison in 1712. The term landscape architecture was invented by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828 and was first used as a professional title by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1863. During the latter 19th century, the term landscape architect became used by professional people who designed landscapes. Frederick Law Olmsted used the term 'landscape architecture' as a profession for the first time when designing Central Park, New York City, US. Here the combination of traditional landscape gardening and the emerging field of city planning gave landscape architecture its unique focus. This use of the term landscape architect became established after Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and others founded the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1899.

Possibly the earliest landscape literature is found in Australian aboriginal myths (also known as Dreamtime or Dreaming stories, songlines, or Aboriginal oral literature), the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples[43] within each of the language groups across Australia. All such myths variously tell significant truths within each Aboriginal group's local landscape. They effectively layer the whole of the Australian continent's topography with cultural nuance and deeper meaning, and empower selected audiences with the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of Australian Aboriginal ancestors back to time immemorial.[44]

In the West pastoral poetry represent the earliest form of landscape literature, though this literary genre presents an idealized landscape peopled by shepherds and shepherdesses, and creates "an image of a peaceful uncorrupted existence; a kind of prelapsarian world".[45] The pastoral has its origins in the works of the Greek poet Theocritus (c. 316 - c. 260 BC). The Romantic period poet William Wordsworth created a modern, more realistic form of pastoral with Michael, A Pastoral Poem (1800).[46]

An early form of landscape poetry, Shanshui poetry, developed in China during the third and fourth centuries A.D.[47]

Topographical poetry is a genre of poetry that describes, and often praises, a landscape or place. John Denham's 1642 poem "Cooper's Hill" established the genre, which peaked in popularity in 18th-century England. Examples of topographical verse date, however, to the Late Classical period, and can be found throughout the Medieval era and during the Renaissance. Though the earliest examples come mostly from continental Europe, the topographical poetry in the tradition originating with Denham concerns itself with the classics, and many of the various types of topographical verse, such as river, ruin, or hilltop poems were established by the early 17th century.[48]Alexander Pope's "Windsor Forest" (1713) and John Dyer's "Grongar Hill' (1762) are two other oft-mentioned examples. George Crabbe, the Suffolk regional poet, also wrote topographical poems, as did William Wordsworth, of which Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey is an obvious example.[49] More recently, Matthew Arnold's "The Scholar Gipsy" (1853) praises the Oxfordshire countryside, and W. H. Auden's "In Praise of Limestone" (1948) uses a limestone landscape as an allegory.[50]

Subgenres of topographical poetry include the country house poem, written in 17th-century England to compliment a wealthy patron, and the prospect poem, describing the view from a distance or a temporal view into the future, with the sense of opportunity or expectation. When understood broadly as landscape poetry and when assessed from its establishment to the present, topographical poetry can take on many formal situations and types of places. Kenneth Baker, in his "Introduction to The Faber Book of Landscape Poetry, identifies 37 varieties and compiles poems from the 16th through the 20th centuriesfrom Edmund Spenser to Sylvia Plathcorrespondent to each type, from "Walks and Surveys," to "Mountains, Hills, and the View from Above," to "Violation of Nature and the Landscape," to "Spirits and Ghosts."[51]

Common aesthetic registers of which topographical poetry makes use include pastoral imagery, the sublime, and the picturesque, which include images of rivers, ruins, moonlight, birdsong, and clouds, peasants, mountains, caves, and waterscapes.

Though describing a landscape or scenery, topographical poetry often, at least implicitly, addresses a political issue or the meaning of nationality in some way. The description of the landscape therefore becomes a poetic vehicle for a political message. For example, in John Denham's "Cooper's Hill," the speaker discusses the merits of the recently executed Charles I.[52]

The Vision on Mount Snowdon

...and on the shore I found myself of a huge sea of mist, Which meek and silent rested at my feet. A hundred hills their dusky backs upheaved All over this still ocean, and beyond, Far, far beyond, the vapours shot themselves In headlands, tongues, and promontory shapes, Into the sea, the real sea, that seemed To dwindle and give up its majesty, Usurped upon as far as sight could reach.

One important aspect of British Romanticism evident in painting and literature as well as in politics and philosophy was a change in the way people perceived and valued the landscape. In particular, after William Gilpin's Observations on the River Wye was published in 1770, the idea of the picturesque began to influence artists and viewers. Gilpin advocated approaching the landscape "by the rules of picturesque beauty,"[53] which emphasized contrast and variety. Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) was also an influential text, as was Longinus' On the Sublime (early A.D., Greece), which was translated into English from the French in 1739. From the 18th century, a taste for the sublime in the natural landscape emerged alongside the idea of the sublime in language; that is elevated rhetoric or speech.[54] A topographical poem that influenced the Romantics, was James Thomson's The Seasons (172630).[55] The changing landscape, brought about by the industrial and agricultural revolutions, with the expansion of the city and depopulation of the countryside, was another influences on the growth of the Romantic movement in Britain. The poor condition of workers, the new class conflicts, and the pollution of the environment all led to a reaction against urbanism and industrialisation and a new emphasis on the beauty and value of nature and landscape.[56] However, it was also a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, as well a reaction against the scientific rationalisation of nature.[57]

The poet William Wordsworth was a major contributor to the literature of landscape,[58] as was his contemporary poet and novelist Walter Scott. Scott's influence was felt throughout Europe, as well as on major Victorian novelists in Britain, such as Emily Bronte, Mrs Gaskell, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy, as well as John Cowper Powys in the 20th-century.[59][60]Margaret Drabble in A Writer's Britain suggests that Thomas Hardy "is perhaps the greatest writer of rural life and landscape" in English.[61]

Among European writers influenced by Scott were Frenchmen Honor de Balzac and Alexandre Dumas and Italian Alessandro Manzoni.[62] Manzoni's famous novel The Betrothed was inspired by Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.[63]

Also influenced by Romanticism's approach to landscape was the American novelist Fenimore Cooper, who was admired by Victor Hugo and Balzac and characterized as the "American Scott."[64]

Landscape in Chinese poetry has often been closely tied to Chinese landscape painting, which developed much earlier than in the West. Many poems evoke specific paintings, and some are written in more empty areas of the scroll itself. Many painters also wrote poetry, especially in the scholar-official or literati tradition. Landscape images were present in the early Shijing and the Chuci, but in later poetry the emphasis changed, as in painting]] to the Shan shui (Chinese: lit. "mountain-water") style featuring wild mountains, rivers and lakes, rather than landscape as a setting for a human presence.[47]Shanshui poetry traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: developed in China during the third and fourth centuries AD[47] and left most of the varied landscapes of China largely unrepresented. Shan shui painting and poetry shows imaginary landscapes, though with features typical of some parts of South China; they remain popular to the present day.

Fields and Gardens poetry (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: tinyun sh; WadeGiles: t'ien-yuan-shih; literally: "fields and gardens poetry"), in poetry) was a contrasting poetic movement which lasted for centuries, with a focused on the nature found in gardens, in backyards, and in the cultivated countryside. Fields and Gardens poetry is one of many Classical Chinese poetry genres. One of the main practitioners of the Fields and Gardens poetry genre was Tao Yuanming (also known as Tao Qian (365427), among other names or versions of names).[65] Tao Yuanming has been regarded as the first great poet associated with the Fields and Gardens poetry genre.[66]

Many landscape photographs show little or no human activity and are created in the pursuit of a pure, unsullied depiction of nature[67] devoid of human influence, instead featuring subjects such as strongly defined landforms, weather, and ambient light. As with most forms of art, the definition of a landscape photograph is broad, and may include urban settings, industrial areas, and nature photography. Notable landscape photographers include Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell, Edward Weston, Ben Heine, Mark Gray and Fred Judge.

The earliest forms of art around the world depict little that could really be called landscape, although ground-lines and sometimes indications of mountains, trees or other natural features are included. The earliest "pure landscapes" with no human figures are frescos from Minoan Greece of around 1500 BCE.[68] Hunting scenes, especially those set in the enclosed vista of the reed beds of the Nile Delta from Ancient Egypt, can give a strong sense of place, but the emphasis is on individual plant forms and human and animal figures rather than the overall landscape setting. For a coherent depiction of a whole landscape, some rough system of perspective, or scaling for distance, is needed, and this seems from literary evidence to have first been developed in Ancient Greece in the Hellenistic period, although no large-scale examples survive. More ancient Roman landscapes survive, from the 1st century BCE onwards, especially frescos of landscapes decorating rooms that have been preserved at archaeological sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum and elsewhere, and mosaics.[69]

The Chinese ink painting tradition of shan shui ("mountain-water"), or "pure" landscape, in which the only sign of human life is usually a sage, or a glimpse of his hut, uses sophisticated landscape backgrounds to figure subjects, and landscape art of this period retains a classic and much-imitated status within the Chinese tradition.

Both the Roman and Chinese traditions typically show grand panoramas of imaginary landscapes, generally backed with a range of spectacular mountains in China often with waterfalls and in Rome often including sea, lakes or rivers. These were frequently used to bridge the gap between a foreground scene with figures and a distant panoramic vista, a persistent problem for landscape artists.

A major contrast between landscape painting in the West and East Asia has been that while in the West until the 19th century it occupied a low position in the accepted hierarchy of genres, in East Asia the classic Chinese mountain-water ink painting was traditionally the most prestigious form of visual art. However, in the West, history painting came to require an extensive landscape background where appropriate, so the theory did not entirely work against the development of landscape painting for several centuries landscapes were regularly promoted to the status of history painting by the addition of small figures to make a narrative scene, typically religious or mythological.

Dutch Golden Age painting of the 17th century saw the dramatic growth of landscape painting, in which many artists specialized, and the development of extremely subtle realist techniques for depicting light and weather. The popularity of landscapes in the Netherlands was in part a reflection of the virtual disappearance of religious painting in a Calvinist society, and the decline of religious painting in the 18th and 19th centuries all over Europe combined with Romanticism to give landscapes a much greater and more prestigious place in 19th-century art than they had assumed before.

In England, landscapes had initially been mostly backgrounds to portraits, typically suggesting the parks or estates of a landowner, though mostly painted in London by an artist who had never visited the site. the English tradition was founded by Anthony van Dyck and other, mostly Flemish, artists working in England. By the beginning of the 19th century the English artists with the highest modern reputations were mostly dedicated landscapists, showing the wide range of Romantic interpretations of the English landscape found in the works of John Constable, J.M.W. Turner and Samuel Palmer. However all these had difficulty establishing themselves in the contemporary art market, which still preferred history paintings and portraits.[70]

In Europe, as John Ruskin said,[71] and Sir Kenneth Clark confirmed, landscape painting was the "chief artistic creation of the nineteenth century", and "the dominant art", with the result that in the following period people were "apt to assume that the appreciation of natural beauty and the painting of landscape is a normal and enduring part of our spiritual activity"[72]

The Romantic movement intensified the existing interest in landscape art, and remote and wild landscapes, which had been one recurring element in earlier landscape art, now became more prominent. The German Caspar David Friedrich had a distinctive style, influenced by his Danish training. To this he added a quasi-mystical Romanticism. French painters were slower to develop landscape painting, but from about the 1830s Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and other painters in the Barbizon School established a French landscape tradition that would become the most influential in Europe for a century, with the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists for the first time making landscape painting the main source of general stylistic innovation across all types of painting.

In the United States, the Hudson River School, prominent in the middle to late 19th century, is probably the best-known native development in landscape art. These painters created works of mammoth scale that attempted to capture the epic scope of the landscapes that inspired them. The work of Thomas Cole, the school's generally acknowledged founder, has much in common with the philosophical ideals of European landscape paintings a kind of secular faith in the spiritual benefits to be gained from the contemplation of natural beauty. Some of the later Hudson River School artists, such as Albert Bierstadt, created less comforting works that placed a greater emphasis (with a great deal of Romantic exaggeration) on the raw, even terrifying power of nature. The best examples of Canadian landscape art can be found in the works of the Group of Seven, prominent in the 1920s.[73]Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though was never an official member. Although certainly less dominant in the period after World War I, many significant artists still painted landscapes in the wide variety of styles exemplified by Neil Welliver, Alex Katz, Milton Avery, Peter Doig, Andrew Wyeth, David Hockney and Sidney Nolan.

The term neo-romanticism is applied in British art history, to a loosely affiliated school of landscape painting that emerged around 1930 and continued until the early 1950s.[74] These painters looked back to 19th-century artists such as William Blake and Samuel Palmer, but were also influenced by French cubist and post-cubist artists such as Pablo Picasso, Andr Masson, and Pavel Tchelitchew (Clark and Clarke 2001; Hopkins 2001). This movement was motivated in part as a response to the threat of invasion during World War II. Artists particularly associated with the initiation of this movement included Paul Nash, John Piper, Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens, and especially Graham Sutherland. A younger generation included John Minton, Michael Ayrton, John Craxton, Keith Vaughan, Robert Colquhoun, and Robert MacBryde (Button 1996).

Landscape with scene from the Odyssey, Rome, c. 60-40 BC.

Spring in Kiangnan (1547) by Wen Cheng-Ming(1470-1559) (lower half detail).

Pablo Picasso, 1908, Paysage aux deux figures (Landscape with Two Figures)

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Welcome to the realistic oil paintings and artwork of William Hagerman that include realistic paintings of the American west, southwest landscape, Texas hill country, bluebonnet paintings and other beautiful views of the rural countryside.

You will find solace among the elegant oil paintings that highlight the majesty of the landscape captured in a moment of time and then translated to canvas by the artist's hand. As humans we are made up of the elements of the earth, and when we experience the scenic outdoors, we feel drawn to it, nurtured by it, and rejuvenated as we savor the beauty around us.

Being infused with such qualities is the essence of the art by William Hagerman.

If you haven't found that "special painting" commissioning an oil painting may be just the perfect option for you.

As one happy customer related: "Our painting captures the mood of the area and is so peaceful you can gaze at it for hours and feel refreshed - like a mini-vacation."

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Learning how to oil paint, can raise many questions such as "where do I start or how do I mix colors?" It can seem like a daunting task for those just starting out and especially without any guidance.

However, William Hagerman offers such guidance through his art classes, demos and workshops.

Basic art instruction is provided here on this website.

With 33 years experience the art instruction William provides will make even the most apprehensive student feel confident!

Art Classes Learn to Oil Paint

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Realistic Landscape Oil Paintings by William Hagerman

Any plant with strong, deep or fibrous roots does well on slopes.

It's impossible to stop the wind from blowing or the rain from pouring down, but you can minimize their effects on your hillside in various ways to keep soil from eroding. The best way to stop soil erosion is to use all the methods at your disposal -- planting shrubs and ground covers with strong root systems; building terraces; installing drip irrigation systems. Despite the widespread notion that sowing native grass seed is an effective method to control soil erosion, studies show that such slopes have more erosion, according to horticulturist Bert Wilson at Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita, California.

Build a series of stone or wood terraces if you have a large hillside. Even a small, single terrace prevents some water runoff.

Incorporate stairs into the hillside. Use gravel or other porous material to help water seep into the ground.

Install a drip irrigation system on the uphill side of plants to reduce erosion caused by watering plants with a hose or sprinkler.

Plant cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) in full sun to partial shade in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 1 through 10b. Cinquefoil, with yellow 1/4-inch flowers and bright green leaves, grows 4 to 6 inches tall and spreads with rooting stems.

Raise dwarf periwinkle (Vinca minor) in partial to full shade or full sun in cool climates in USDA hardiness zones 5b through 10b. Don't plant Vinca major, a larger, invasive species of the plant.

Use Santa Barbara sedge (Carex barbarae) in sun or partial shade in USDA zones 7a through10b. This perennial forms spreading clumps of grasslike leaves 1 to 3 feet tall.

Plant a spreading juniper, such as Gold Lace (Juniperus chinensios), in USDA plant hardiness zones 5b through 10b in either full sun or partial shade. Gold Lace, with golden tipped, green foliage, grows to 4 feet tall and spreads to 6 feet. Blue Chip (Juniperus horizontalis) spreads 6 to 8 feet and grows 1 foot tall, with silver-blue foliage in USDA hardiness zones 1 through 10b.

Grow dwarf heath (Erica carnea) in sun, or partial shade in very hot climates, in USDA plant hardiness zones 5b through 10b. This species of heath has red flowers and grows 16 inches high and 2 feet wide.

Plant pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) in USDA zones 9a through 10b in full sun. The plant needs a big slope, where its large mounds can reach 5 to 6 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide. Pride of Madeira has gray-green leaves and tall, spiky blue-purple flowers.

Susan Lundman began writing about her passions of cooking, gardening, entertaining and recreation after working for a nonprofit agency, writing grants and researching child development issues. She has written professionally for six years since then. Lundman received her M.A. from Stanford University.

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How to Landscape a Hill to Stop Soil Erosion | Home Guides ...

The high voltage (about 120 volts effective, 60 Hz AC) is supplied to the smaller prong of the standard polarized U.S. receptacle. It is commonly called the "hot wire". If an appliance is plugged into the receptacle, then electric current will flow through the appliance and then back to the wider prong, the neutral. The neutral wire carries the current back to the electrical panel and from there to the earth (ground). The ground wire is not a part of the electrical circuit, but is desirable for prevention of electric shock.

The two receptacles in a common "duplex" receptacle receive power from the same circuit leading from the main electrical supply panel. They are wired in parallel so that two appliances which are plugged into the receptacle receive the same voltage, but can draw different amounts of electric current. Parallel wiring is the standard for 120 volt circuits in the entire house, making possible the independent use of all appliances, supplied by the same voltage.

Practical circuit concepts

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Household Wiring

A home is one of the largest investments a person will ever make, and it's important to protect that investment. With an HSA Home Warranty, you can. The home warranty provides valuable coverage to the mechanical systems and many of the appliances in your home. The home warranty is a service contract that will pay for the repairs or replacements of covered items in your home that fail due to normal wear and tear.

With HSA, you get the convenience of one source for most repairs so you can avoid the hassle of finding a service contractor on your own. When a covered system or appliance breaks down, all you need to do is contact us to report the problem. Whether it's your air conditioner or your dishwasher that breaks down, you simply click or call us. We'll talk to you about the failure and then let you know what the next steps will be. We have a large network of service providers who are pre-screened by HSA and qualified to take care of the failure.

Just one service request could save you hundredseven thousandsin repair and replacement costs. Compare the repair and replacement costs on these common failures:

Interested in learning more about how a home warranty works?

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HSA Home Warranty

The CRNtv Test Center Holiday Gift Guide 2016 The CRN Test Center selects four hot gadgets and stocking stuffers for the holiday season.

HP CEO Says The Company Is 'On The Right Track And Investing In Our Partners' One year following its split from HPE, CEO Dion Weisler says HP Inc.'s core markets are 'still in flux,' but notes that his company can 'tackle the challenges' ahead in the printer and PC markets.

Presidio's IPO Bombshell: Annual Sales Up 14 Percent With $3.4M Loss Solution provider and Cisco powerhouse Presidio filed for an IPO today, providing previously undisclosed financial figures and strategies.

Dell EMC Still Working On Final Rebate Structure, Partners Fear Rebate Reductions Calling the new Dell EMC Partner Program "a work in progress," a source close the process told CRN that the company has not yet established a new rebate structure for partners.

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