At least two of the senses come into play when you bring texture into the landscape: touch and sight.

Marjorie Elliott Bevlin wrote in Design Through Discovery: The Elements and Principles, "Textures are so much a part of our environment that we generally take them for granted."

Nothing could be truer in the outdoor world. Everything from smooth, polished river rocks to thorny agave plants has an inherent texture. But texture can be seen, too. Visual texture is an important design element for capturing the play of light or shadow against surfaces or lending depth, dimension and definition with contrast.

Touch: Give your garden a tactile quality by adding masses of soft, fuzzy, or feathery plants to the places where your ankles or hands will brush against them. Touching the velvety leaves of lamb's ears may trigger any number of emotions — most likely pleasurable ones.

Sight: The most basic rule I follow in creating moments of visual texture is to pair bold foliage with fine foliage. Another way to express this is with graphic plant forms and amorphous ones. Each reads more distinctively when placed in juxtaposition to the other.

This trick works equally well with the surfaces of different outdoor fabrics, with plants in a container garden, or in a dramatic border, seen from a distance.

And remember, texture doesn't have to be messy or busy. Give yourself the challenge of combining two key plants as a signature duo and then repeat that pairing throughout the landscape for a sublime and sophisticated look.

More in this series: Using Lines in Garden Design | Using Rhythm in Garden Design Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture As powerful as a black and white photograph, texture can be striking when the colors stay the same. Here, a smooth cast-stone paver rests in a bed of pebbles, also in the same concrete hue. The eye will instantly read this pairing as a pleasing texture contrast. The soft feather grass lends a surprising accent. debora carl landscape design This low-water design is anything but dreary. It's a fabulous example of using contrasting textures for impact, especially in a small space. The needle-fine blue fescue grasses look soothing as a carpet beneath bold-shaped, red-tinged Kalanchoe, also known as paddle plant. I'm not certain which cultivar the designer used, but one that's similar is the aptly named Kalanchoe thyrsiflora 'Bronze Sculpture'. debora carl landscape design Here's a textural explosion in a container garden, centered around the dramatic variegated Aeonium, a succulent that has a distinct, flowerlike arrangement.

One of the popular variegated forms is called Aeonium decorum 'Sunburst'. Notice how this singular plant commands our attention, but also how it is complemented by narrow, small-leafed and trailing succulent forms. They seem happy to let the sunny Aeonium take center stage. Studio H Landscape Architecture One color, many textures. An all-green planting scheme does a good job of illustrating how our eye reads textures in a single palette. The row of feathery papyrus stalks is silhouetted in front of a retaining wall, while the rounded clipped-box shapes on the hillside above have a heavier volume. Together, these different green textures create a pleasing visual tension — and balance. Philpotts Interiors Texture is an important design ingredient when you're selecting outdoor furniture and fabrics. Here, the graphic all-weather upholstery plays nicely with the huge bird of paradise foliage seen beyond the lanai.

Those two bold impressions are balanced by the finely woven wicker seating and the polished wood side table. This setting is an invitation to relax, feel the breezes and enjoy the moment. Molly Wood Garden Design All the foliage is lush, green and textural, while the hardscape, pergola/awning and furniture upholstery is white and satiny. What a soothing backyard room.

I like that the only suggestion of color comes from the green shrubs and trees and the turquoise accent pillows. The texture story continues where the smooth concrete walkway seems to float over a gravel bed. Huettl Landscape Architecture Various textures and colors combine here for a stunning vignette. Even if this design had no color, your eye would still read the various textures, from the long, slender wands of lavender to the threaded blue grass at the base of the Japanese maple tree, with its burgundy, palm-shape leaves. Threadlike golden conifer textures occupy the front of this bed. Don Ziebell Here's a favorite quote from Design Through Discovery (Bevlin) on texture, which this open-air living room exemplifies: "Rough textures ... have a warmth about them that makes most people feel at ease — the kinds of textures found in brick and stone, uneven wall surfaces, and in thick carpets and nubby draperies."

Rough textures abound here: rustic wood for the fireplace mantel and exposed beams; woven wicker furniture, irregular brick pavers and mortared stone for the fireplace and walls. All of these surfaces are natural and comforting. Tracy Stone AIA The surface textures in this spalike outdoor shower area make it so very special. According to the designer: "The shower now features a deck of ironwood, smooth-trowel plaster walls and an enclosure made of recycled resin panels with embedded reeds." The privacy panel with the embedded reeds echoes the nearby planting of reedlike horsetail (Equisetum hyemale) — a nice, textural touch.

More:
Using Lines in Garden Design

Using Rhythm in Garden Design