Start with some great home landscaping ideas, landscape plans, and a desire to be creative, and you can soon own a beautifully landscaped property. A well planned landscape can bring satisfaction to you, as well as add value to your home. To create a yard area that is both attractive and easy to maintain, you need to consider some important things. Property size, the local climate conditions, the soil type, and the amount of both moisture and sunlight are all factors you have to deal with and must consider.
Planning a landscape, and putting those plans into action, is one of the best ways to improve the appearance of your home and to increase your property resale value. A home that has plenty of curb appeal and a “wow” factor will also make the entire neighborhood more attractive. If you want to transform your boring expanse of lawn, maybe it’s time to explore some front yard landscaping ideas.
One challenge that most homeowners are faced with is not actually coming up with landscaping ideas but from too many. Landscape ideas and pictures abound in magazines, creating dreams for the homeowner. Where do you start – with the entryway and front walk? Or do you revamp the much-used back yard first? What about fences, pergolas, patios, lawn furniture, pathways, fountains, flowers, tree and shrub choices? With the humongous choices of landscaping concepts, it is tough know where to start. If you are starting from scratch, with little or no landscaping in place except a lawn, there are literally countless landscaping ideas you can apply.
So the question is: where do you start? Decide on one spot to work with first. Perhaps it is the front yard landscaping, the most public part, that you want to tackle first. Or maybe you want to create an inviting backyard area for family use. Whatever you decide on, make sure your landscaping plans are suitable for your budget, your lot size, the local climatic conditions, and the type of soil that you have to work with.
The details of your design will be your own personal taste, needs and wants. Also take into consideration the style of your home. This is an important concept, so the end results are pleasing, cohesive and satisfying.
Here are some home landscaping ideas and styles to start with:
1. Formal – This landscape style employs primary straight lines and perfect geometrical shapes. Plants are arranged formally rather than randomly positioned, with attention to details, symmetry and balance. Often features such as pruned hedges, topiaries, pools and paved walks and patios are included.
2. Informal – This landscaping style works well with smaller houses and country cottages. Flower borders and beds with curved edges are favored. Random placement of plants, and masses of colorful perennials fit this landscaping style. Even the use of rock gardens, attractive planters and urns strategically placed will add to the random and casual look.
3. The English Garden – This style achieves harmony between the architecture of the house and the garden surrounding it. Large perennial borders filled with colorful perennials, the use of flowering shrubs, and more natural paths of flagstone or brick, edged with flowers, are common features. Arbors and pergolas covered with climbing and flowering plants are essential parts of an English garden.
5. Oriental – This style is suitable for houses with backyards that are small. It makes use of rocks, water, mosses and evergreens in an idealized and balanced way. Artistic planning allows miniature vistas to be revealed as one proceeds through the garden. A sense of serenity and calmness is desirable.
6. Woodland – This casual landscape style is good for homes with large yards backing onto woods and sloped areas to work with. Rockeries, native plants, evergreen shrubs and trees are components, along with natural pathways and shady areas where a rustic bench can be located. The plantings must look as natural as possible, with mulches or groundcovers around the plantings.
