Landscape Design for Home and Beyond
Now is the time to get in touch with the outdoors!
You don’t have to wait until you own a huge acreage and can hire a gardener. You can start right away. It’s good to take things in steps for a home landscape. There are several stages in the life of a home landscape, and they’re all a lot of fun.
The first step most likely is container gardening. If you rent an apartment, you can create elaborate and colorful embellishments to both the inside and outside of your home. A container garden is open to exciting color combinations and experiments. It’s a good way to begin understanding a plant’s needs for light, fertilizer, and water. Learning there can be too much as well as too little is an important lesson. If you make mistakes, no problem! Container gardens are small enough to replace easily.
Moving out into your first home begins a new phase. The burden and blessing of maintaining a lawn begins. Oh, the things that can be studied. Some people end up devoting their entire lives to the obsession of a perfect turf! You will discover weeds and diseases, and find out there is more to grass than mowing. This is the phase when you start trying out foundation plants and annual beds.
With children, the focus on the outdoors become a necessity. You start looking for ways to entertain and occupy your children and their friends with structures and play areas. With children and an occasional dog or cat, you discover the need for circulation paths and designated functional areas. You home landscape begins taking on arrangements with outdoor rooms.
As the children get older, you begin to have time to develop sophistication and maturity in your landscape configuration, and you can start concentrating on aesthetics and entertaining other adults. If you are an avid gardener, you can start collecting plants, and if you only want to enjoy the outdoors without putting in a lot of maintenance time, you can refine the spaces to work with your lifestyle.
Finally, you reach the transition to a full and complete garden. It has all the plants you want, and none of the issues that cause you grief—your Garden of Eden.
What if your design ambitions go beyond your own home? You can find professional design tips and guidance right here.
We would love to hear your comments on what you learned at each stage of home gardening, or what you hope to achieve at each stage. Coming soon, an eBook filled with insider tips you can use for your design—The Advanced Guide to Landscapes. A successful landscape is the goal, no matter where you are along the home landscape path!
New Article! Your First Landscape — A Container Garden
New Article! Your First Landscape Part Two
New Article! More is Less for Weeds
New Article1 Interplanting
New Article! Wait Until June for Plant Recovery
New Article! Invasive Insect Pests
New Article! Landscape for Birds
New Article! Seven Options for Dealing with Deer Browsing
New Article! Contrast
New Article! How to Create Curb Appeal
New Article! Circulation Dynamics
New Article! Landscapes for Young Homeowners
New Article! A Sense of Place
New Article! Midlife Landscapes
New Article! Xeriscaping
New Article! Perennial Bed Design
New Article! Modifying the Landscape for the Mature Gardener
New Article! Great Gifts for New Gardeners
New Article! Raking Fall Leaves
New Article! How Different Plant Shapes Create Excitement in Your Landscape Design
New Article! Plant Symbols and Tree Stamps
New Article! Retaining Wall Design
New Article! Landscaping Steep Slopes
New Article! Solution to a Problem Path
New Article! Designing Children's Gardens and Playgrounds
New Article! Arbors and Pergolas
New Article! Landscape Edging
New Article! Garden Naturalization
New Article! Outdoor Solar Lights
New Article! Gazebos and Pavilions
New Article! Landscape Gates
New Article! Outbuildings
New Article! Choosing Paving Materials