Designing and growing a beautiful landscape garden around your home is a great experience. Just imagine how it will feel looking
around your own beautifully grown and maintained garden, that stays fresh all the day and fills your life with a sense of pride. But before you start let’s take a look at some of the key factors that can needs a major decision while executing your garden.

I have tried to list down some of the common points here that need attention prior to starting out landscaping design.

1) Information about plants.

This is quite obvious. You must have a list of plants ready with you. .it is not difficult to create such a list from a catalogue of plants at your local nursery or from the Internet, but the problem is these are the plants that you like, does not mean they are suitable for growth in your garden.

Why is this so? Simply because there are many factors that are
responsible for the growth of a plant in your garden, such as direct sunlight, amount of water required, frequency of watering, which compost to use and not to use, doe the plant grow individually or in groups, and many more. SO don’t choose plants that just look good in photographs, find out something more about their basic requirements.

Also it is important to know the basic structure of plant. For example how tall will it grow after 10 years from now. It should not happen that you have planted a tree and after a few years it is blocking your entire garden entry passage and view from inside of the house.

It’s ok if you don’t have each and every detail about all the plants. But if you plan for future, the results will be quite satisfactory.

2) Gardening Tools

This is very important aspect of gardening. Growing a landscape garden is not an easy task. I am not discouraging you, but it requires physical hard work and such time gardening tools can save your tremendous energy.

There are many excellent tools available today and also in quite
affordable prices. Depending upon what you want to achieve and the expanse your garden you will require different sets of tools. Start with making of list and then short listing the most important ones my deciding priorities.

3) Landscaping Design Styles..

This is not an absolute must, but if you take extra efforts, I bet you can easily compete with the professional designers. Visit your local library or the internet and get an idea of how “design” plays a role in landscaping. When designers talk about “balance”, “ambience”, “proportions”, “vista formation” what exactly are they talking about. All these elements can greatly add value to your garden such that people visiting your garden will always remember it.

4) Landscaping Material..

Again a very basic understanding of landscaping materials along with their costing structure is enough for you. Whey costing is necessary? Because this can have a drastic effect in hoe you execute your garden.

It should not happen that you have personally liked a material, you have seen it at some public garden or at your friend’s place and want to use it in your backyard garden but at the last moment the budget doesn’t allow you to use it.

5) Executing Your Garden..

Do you know what’s the single most important aspect in executing a garden? it’s schedule. By schedule I mean what comes first and what comes next. There are various questions to ask.

*When do I start?
*When should I order the plants from the nursery?
*Where should I store them before panting?
*If you are going to use electricity in your garden when should I call the electrician to perform his wiring tasks?
*what about compost bags?
*How many do I need them?
*what about the bags that go unused? and lot more…

Even if you appoint a “landscaping contractor” for this job, you can always use this list to cross examine what he is up to.

6) Maintaining Your Garden..

Maintained is the most important aspect in a garden. Someone has very cleverly said “It is very easy to be first, but it is comparatively harder to keep up the first position”. A landscape garden is no different from this.

look it’s simple you are using natures forces to express your
creativity, so follow natures rule and you will never fail. there is unlimited potential in nature to easily grow and maintain a beautiful garden on it’s own, so shale hands with natures forces and see you dream come true. That’s why the first point in this articles is very important. First study what works and what doesn’t in your climatic conditions and then safely start to put your dream into reality.

I hope this article was helpful to everybody.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

About the Author: Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster on landscapingdatabse.com If you are interested in making the most out of your landscaping passion, I recommend you visit my website to find an excellent list of books on Do It Yourself Landscaping. You will be glad you visited.

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No matter where you live, there’s nothing better than relaxing outdoors on a warm summer night watching your backyard landscaping ideas come to life.

Unfortunately, re-landscaping your entire backyard during the course of one growing season can be back breaking, expensive and requires major planning.

Here’s a simple solution: Break up your backyard into “rooms” and remodel one room each year. This is especially helpful if you’re on a budget. You’re results will be much better if you spend as much time and money as you can on one project, rather than trying to revamp the entire backyard all at once for the same amount of money.

Although you’re landscaping only one section of the yard at a time, you still need an overall plan. Using graph paper, sketch out the permanent structures on your property including the house, out buildings, deck and trees.

This is also a good time to consider which existing plants and shrubs won’t be a part of the new landscape.

Make copies of your sketch and experiment with different designs. Incorporate ideas you like from magazines or gardens you’ve visited.

If you host frequent cook outs you’ll probably want to keep the yard open and plant along the borders. If you don’t need the space, you could create real drama with an island bed, walkways, solar lighting and cutouts for comfortable furniture to relax on.

Here are some ideas you’ll dig:

Screening with Plants

If your yard doesn’t have a fence, you might want to consider planting a row of hawthorn, juniper, arborvitae, or a combination of these bushes to create privacy and provide a backdrop for future flower beds. A strategically place evergreen screen will also provide a windbreak from winter winds and drifting snow.

Planning a Border Flower Bed

The hardest part of designing a border is choosing flowers that complement each other both in color and height. The list of perennials I suggest here is for a six foot wide bed in a mainly sunny situation. Wide, in this case, means outward from the plant screen or fence, not the length of the bed.

Use 3 or 5 plants for each kind of flower and allow 16”–18” between each plant. Allow 20”–22” between the different plant groups. Planting an odd number of plants is more visually appealing than an even number.

Allow sufficient space at the rear of the bed for access. This will also prevent choking off necessary air and light from the plants in back.

These are my suggestions for a perennial border. They were chosen to give a long display, with the first flowers appearing in April and the last in October.

Tall plants for the back row: SEDUM ‘Autumn Joy’; RUDBECKIA Goldsturm; PHLOX White; IRIS light blue or yellow; VERONICA Blue; SOLIDAGO ‘Golden Shower’; and HOSTA fortunei ‘Picta’.

Shorter plants for the front row: GERANIUM grandiflorum; POTENTILLA ‘Firedance’; HUECHERA Pink; ASTER Dwarf Blue; SEDUM Dragons Blood; ACHILLEA ‘Moonshine’; and ERIGERON ‘Prosperity’.

Obviously, these plants won’t be the best choice for every climate. A worthwhile book to help you choose plants native to your climate zone is The Comfortable Lazy Garden. It’s also an excellent reference for beginning gardeners.

Island Bed

An island bed, as the name implies, is planted in the middle of the yard surrounded by a sea of grass. It can vary in shape and size according to your imagination and available space. Scale the plants from tallest in the center to shortest at the edges.

Preplanned Gardens

I understand all of this Latin mumbo jumbo can be daunting for first time gardeners, it was for me. If you would like a ready made solution, Direct Gardening offers a wide selection of preplanned gardens designed to take all the guess work out of plant selection and placement.

Water Feature

Imagine the reflective beauty of a pond or the gentle splashing of a man made waterfall. How about a 100 foot high waterslide? Maybe next year.

Do Your Yard a Favor

Before you buy any vegetation, visit a real garden center for advice on drainage and soil preparation. Also, bring a copy of your plan; a soil sample and an extra credit card just in case you can’t wait years to make your backyard landscaping ideas come true.

About the Author: Visit Backyard Landscaping Ideas at Alternative-Heating-Info.com for a free copy of “How To Build Your Own Natural Waterfall”.

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Most hostas thrive in full shade, though a few can tolerate more sun, especially those with yellowish foliage. Blue and blue-green hostas should be planted in full shade. Variegated plants can tolerate partial shade.A well-drained, rich organic soil is ideal for growing plants. Work the soil to a depth of six to eight inches.

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