Enhance your Landscape Design by Adding Water

If you feel that your backyard is lacking a certain something, a water feature might be just the thing to bring new life to your outdoors. There are many different types of water features to consider, such as a pond or a waterfall. Flowing or still water has a peaceful relaxing quality to it, and water features allow you to bring this natural beauty right into your own yard. You may be thinking that the care and upkeep of a water feature may not be worth the hassle, but they are much less labor intensive as you may think. By following a few simple guidelines and understanding how your water feature lives and breathes, you can enjoy this natural work of art for as long as you own your home.

Water fountains are considerably easier to deal with then a water garden. Fountains must be regularly cleaned, but really require little upkeep. If you want a successful water garden you will probably need to invest a little more time, especially when you’re first trying to get it established. When creating a water garden, it is vital that you understand the relationships between the plants and animals coexisting in this environment. If you want your water garden to thrive, you’ll need to take special care to choose the right fauna and flora.

Click Front Yard Landscape Ideas for more landscaping ideas.

Many new pond owners have problem with algae. If you don’t want to be cleaning out your pond every few weeks, adding a few fish can greatly help as can floating plants which help to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the algae. Ensure you don’t have an excessive amount of chlorine in your water, especially if you have fish. You may want to install a pump and/or a filter along with regularly checking the pH level of water (should be between six and eight).

If you’re having your pond installed for you, ask the professionals for advice on getting started. If you are still unsure about where to start you can also buy one of several books which can guide you step-by-step through the process of creating your own water garden. Once your pond is established you will likely find the upkeep to be quite minimal.

Many people find that adding a water feature to their yard can literally transform their entire surroundings. Ponds, fountains, and waterfalls add a natural beauty and serenity to any outdoor area, no matter how small or modest.

Click Front Yard Landscape Ideas for more landscaping ideas.

Balance is a principle of all art forms, design, and even landscape design. It implies a sense of equality. And while there may be just a little more to it, this is how I explain it to make it easier for first timers and do it yourselfers to understand.

A garden, landscape, or any form of equal proportions would naturally feel and look balanced. However, most gardens and landscapes are not exact or symmetrical in shape and form. They’re asymmetrical and abstract in form and are often without any natural balance of their own. So landscaping often relies on other elements to create balance and harmony through unity.

Many times, a lack of balance is directly related to a lack of repetition. Repeating alike elements such as plants or rocks throughout the landscape will help unify different areas to each other. As little as one repeated matching plant group, color, piece of decor, or hardscape can accomplish this.

A lack of balance is also created by placing too many or all non matching elements throughout a landscape design. This can sometimes seem cluttered and unkept when it grows in. In the beginning of your design, plan for less, place just a few matching plant groups throughout the garden, and keep decor matching and to a minimum. You can add more later.

So many of the questions that I receive about landscape design deal with the shape of a design . Shape is unique to each design and will ultimately follow all necessary paths and your visions. However, any shape or form can be filled with elements and still be either dull, void, loud, cluttered, and unbalanced. Balance isn’t necessarily dependant on shape. It can be but generally it’s not. So don’t get too hung up on trying to even things out entirely by shape.

Landscape design is an art form and so it deals with “all” the same principles that other art forms use. Repetition, unity, and balance are all principles of art that go hand in hand with each other.

Architects use repetition in design by making doors, windows, fixtures, trims, etc. the same sizes, shapes, and styles. Imagine how your home would feel if every door, door frame, window, and fixture were of different sizes, shapes, colors, and types. It would be uncomfortable and chaotic.

And so it’s the same with landscape design.

In order to create balance, appeal, and even comfort in a landscape that is lacking, we need to create some form of consistent repetition. As little as one matching element placed on opposites can create a sense of unity and consistency.

It’s easiest and most often created in the softscape (plants, ornaments, lawn, decor, etc.). However, it should be considered in the hardscape (walks, driveways, necessities, fences, walls, raised beds, boundaries, etc.) of your drawn design plan.

See Also:  Landscape Ideas For Your Home or Business

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One of the many testimonials.

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Becoming a Landscaping Contractor can be a very profitable and rewarding way to work for yourself and manage your financial future. Organization and planning are the key to any landscaping business and must be maintained throughout it’s life is to be successful. A service business like landscaping is one of the easiest to start up and has the best chance of success. By tending to the landscaping needs of your clients and understanding landscape design you can grow your landscaping company into a very profitable endeavor.

Estimated Start up Costs:

The costs of a landscaping business start up are relatively low but they increase with the level of services you intend to offer. Essential to your start up will be: a truck or trailer of some sort capable of hauling your tools and equipment to client locations; a lawnmower and weed eater; a rake and broom; a cell phone; and a computer to help with invoices, bookkeeping, and marketing; understanding front yard landscape design and hand tools will all be needed to get your business started. Not including the truck or trailer, a person could reasonably finance a landscaping business start up for less than $1,500.

Pricing Guidelines:

Pricing definitely is dependent upon the range of services offered and how desperate you are to break into the market. A reputable Landscaping Contractor can reasonably expect to command anywhere from $25 per hour and up for residential services. Sometimes you will be forced to bid on entire projects and pricing depends on the level of expertise needed to complete the project.  This is one reason the study of landscape design can help you demand top dollar and possibly land you large jobs.

Marketing tips:

The most advisable strategy would be to begin with residential accounts and build up a good reputation. To do this, word-of-mouth advertising will be key to the growth of your landscaping business start up. In addition, farming local neighborhoods, contacting local Realtors or builders and online advertising are the best ways to get started at minimal costs.

All in all, with some diligence and hard work, you can build a nice business and be your own boss.  The more experience and knowledge you gain the more opportunities will present themselves.

Landscaping has often been likened to the painting of a picture. Your art-work teacher has doubtless told you that a good picture should have a point of chief interest, and the rest of the points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or to form a fine setting for it. So in landscaping there must be in the gardener’s mind a picture of what he desires the whole to be when he completes his landscaping project.

Should you include lots of bare open lawn in your landscaping theme? A large extent of open lusious green lawn space is always beautiful. It is restful.

This type of open landscaping adds a feeling of space to even small grounds. If you cover your lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. A bit like an over-dressed person. Not the most visual appealing result from your landscaping efforts.

When front yard landscaping, a single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Do not centre the tree or trees. Let them drop a bit into the background. Make a pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees for your landscaping project, keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree. The tree should have a good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit.

For the beauty of landscaping, the catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, the seed pods which cling to the tree until way into the winter, add a bit of picturesqueness. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are beauty points to consider when planning your overall landscaping arrangement.

Front Yard landscaping may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells, perfectly formal. The other method is, of course, the exact opposite. You should consider the advantages and danger points in each.

In conclusion, plan for open lawn spaces in your overall front yard landscaping design and keep a visually appealing tree to blend in the background. Think balance and you will come up with a beautiful landscaping design for your yard.

I found a great article about front  yard landscaping that I wanted to share.

The first paragraph of the Landscaping Your Front Yard article starts out:

Each home and its landscape should be a reflection of the people who live there. The front yard is the visitor’s first impression of the home and its inhabitants. When first seen, it should be inviting and direct the guest easily to the front door. The purpose of this publication is not to be a formula for the development of the front yard, but rather a guideline to planning and making choices, along with an explanation of the basic principles involved in designing a landscape. Drawings are included to illustrate concepts but are not to be interpreted as exact designs to be copied.

Read the rest of the Front Yard Landscaping Article.  I think it will help.

As always if you are planning on doing your own landscaping, I have some recomendations that you might want to consider located on the top right hand corner of this website.

Happy landscaping!

There are a number of ways to enhance your home’s appearance, from smaller tasks such as weeding and mowing the lawn, to larger projects such as an exterior remodeling project.

It’s well known that potential buyers make up their minds in the first few minutes of seeing a home. How your home presents itself from the road can actually make or break the sale. You can make a world of difference in how your home is perceived by adding a boxwood hedge, painting the front door, or simply fertilizing and weeding the lawn.

It helps to write down a complete inventory of what is wrong with your home’s appearance, then make a list of ways in which you can fix those problems. It could be as simple as adding a flower bed or planting a tree. If your home lacks visual depth, installing a portico over your front door could be the solution. A walkway lined with bright flowers is always helpful. A good, old-fashioned paint job can give the home a face-lift, as well as new siding. If the roof looks dull, replacing the shingles can breathe new life into the house. View all repairs and improvements with the idea that you’ll make back your money three, five, or even ten times over with these tips.

The most important thing to keep in mind when preparing your house is to be objective. Look at your house and yard as if you were a buyer, and determine curb appeal from that perspective. You may notice things you’ve spent years overlooking. By spending a little time fixing up your house, you could potentially add thousands to the selling price.

Some tips that can be extremely useful in landscaping one’s front yard are:

• The yard should contain various plantations in the form of plants and trees. The trees and plants have a beauty of their own and give the yard a natural look and feel.
• The porch is also an important part of the front yard. The designing of that particular part of the yard should be done with great care.  The materials used on the porch should also be similar to the rest of the house and should not disturb the natural ambience.
• The maintenance of the sidewalk of the yard is also another important aspect as it enables the incoming and out going people to notice the beauty of the house in full effect.

Front Yard Gardens:

Front yard gardening is usually done to highlight the best features of your home and its front. Apart form keeping in mind how you want your front yard garden to look, there are also other considerations that you must go through. What most people fail to remember in their enthusiasm for beautifying their front yards is that the long-term effects have to be kept in mind before planting the shrubs and trees.

First of all you have to make sure that the plants you plan to plant have a good chance of survival. So, checking the amount of shade or sunlight, the kind of soil etc has to be checked before hand. You also have to be careful about the kind of plants you choose to plant near the foundation of the house. Choose plants whose roots are not likely to endanger the foundation of the house when fully mature. 

If you have a wide shadow of your home falling on your front yard, it is advised to plant small shrubs farther away form the house so as not to deprive them of sunlight and to protect them from the heat which would be reflected off the wall.

As a real estate broker and landscape enthusiast, I see all kinds of yards and meet all types of people.  I know some successful landscape business owners and I have met some that just don’t get it. 

Sometimes when I have clients looking at properties, I cringe when we arrive and the first thing we see is a lack of any landscape design or any landscaping at all.

Have you been scouring the Internet for landscape ideas?  If you allow it to happen all the terms and choices can be overwhelming.  As I have been writing blog posts about front yard landscape ideas, I have realized that choosing the best design for you can be daunting if you don’t simplify your choices.

Ever hear of the acronym KISS?  It means Keep it simple stupid.  I try to keep things simple in all that I do.  Landscaping is no different.  Trying to visualize what the end product will be without examples is impossible for me.  I need a guideline and examples.  Most people are more successful if they have examples or steps to follow.

For this reason I tell my clients and those starting a landscape business, that Landscape 4 home is a minimal investment for what you receive.

Christina Peterson is a professional landscaper and has created this fantastic landscape design product.

Here is a quote and guarantee from Christina: “You really don’t even have to think about it, though, because I’ll guarantee you’ll start creating landscape designs that are environmentally friendly, low maintenance and that will give you years of enjoyment….or you won’t owe me a dime”

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Landscape Ideas For Your Home

Taking a drive around town will reveal yards that look the same. Sure some may have beautifully manicured lawns and others may not but the overall look is the same, green grass, trees and flowers. If you’re longing to make your yard stand out from the acres of sameness adding some decorative rocks and stones to your landscape design will do the trick.

The addition of landscaping rocks will give your yard a style and character that most homeowners would love to have but don’t know where to start. The first step to adding some personality to your landscaping is to remove some of the grass. If you aren’t using your front lawn there’s no point in maintaining it and this will make your landscape ideas unique.

Use a shovel or if you have access to one, use a tiller to break up the ground. Pull the rocks out of your way –these are not the kind of rocks we’ll be using for this landscaping project

While you’re digging, decide whether or not you have the proper drainage for your plants and flowers, if not, now would be a good time to add the appropriate irrigation system.

One addition that you can add to your front yard landscaping is to add a walkway. Having your guests use the driveway or worse, the grass, to get to your door is not ideal landscape design so think about adding a walkway. This addition will keep guests from tracking in dirt and other debris in to your home too.

One popular effect for a stone walkway is to stagger rocks all along the walk to your door. Make certain that when you do the final install your rocks are secure and they don’t move when they are walked on. To keep the rocks in place remove four to five inches of soil beneath each rock that you lay. Add a thin layer of gravel beneath the stone. This will keep your rocks and stones in place to ensure safety and stability.

When planning the walkway try to add interest by adding curves to your landscaping design. This will give your work a more distinctive yet informal look. Add smaller trees and shrubs top provide structure for your new walkway. And add some color with some easy to care for perennials. Perennials work well with a rock landscape because they are easy to care for yet they add beauty and color to the project.

Once the main plantings are in, you can start to add some smaller greens and flowers. You can add some greens in between the rocks in your walkway to fill in the gaps. Some people suggest that instead of using mulch to maintain the manicured look use river rock between the flowers. Both would work well it’s just a matter of taste and budget.

Now for the finishing touch –add some climbing vines that will wrap up and around your railing and front porch. Hanging plants can be hung from the roof of you porch or you can create a trellis for the vines and the planters. This will give it the finished look of a Tuscan garden. Decorative rocks are the final touch for this easy to do project and you’ll have a front yard that neighbors will envy for years.

For additional ideas for your landscape design, check out Landscape 4 Home.