The exterior portion of your home is what the majority of people see. Only your friends get to come inside and see the beauty of your decorating skills, the rest of the people see your yard so it is crucial that your landscape your yard to highlight the natural beauty, and minimize the points you do not like.
Before you can begin to landscape your yard, you will need to evaluate what you have to work with. Stand on the street and look at the property to get an idea of what people see when they are passing. Do not make any outdoor decorating decisions until you have looked at the property from every possible angle and decided what the yard’s best features are, and what the yard’s worst features are.
Create a landscaping plan before you begin. If you start planting trees, shrubs, and flowers without a landscaping plan, you will spend more money than you need to and get less satisfactory results. You must create a plan, envision the final results, and choose a starting point.
Landscaping plans should include:
• The budget you have to spend on the project. If you break the project up into several small projects, you can spread the cost out over a long period of time.
• Your favorite plants, flowers, and trees. If you are going to plant something make it something you enjoy seeing.
• Visibility requirements. Do not plant shrubs too close to the road so that they block the view of motorist. You should also think home safety and try not to create a place where someone could hide from your view, especially right against the house.
• Think about your pets and do not plant anything that would be toxic to them.
• Draw everything out on graph paper so you can quickly reference where one thing should start and another should cease.
• Think about what you would like to use the space for. If you like to cook outdoors, you might want to develop a patio with a grill, or a seating area where your guests can sit and enjoy the outdoor experience with you.
• Maintenance issues should be a large part of your landscaping plans. Think about the care that each item will need and then decide if you have the time to devote to that item.
When you are decorating outdoors remember to mix textures, sizes, and colors to create a more pleasant effect. Use stone borders, and wooden borders, in the same yard. Plant tall plants behind shorter plants so that you get the full benefit of your planting space.
Develop eye appeal for the entire year by planting flowers that bloom at different times throughout the year. This will allow you to always have s touch of beauty in the yard.
Use butterfly attracting plants, and hummingbird attracting vines, to lure beautiful wildlife species into your yard. The wildlife will add color and interest to your space.
Always allow plenty of walkway room around furniture and between trees. You also want to illuminate your walkways so that you reduce the fall hazards of darkened paths.
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