Last Updated on November 22, 2022 by
Have you just purchased or built your new home? Owning a home is a major milestone in life.
Your home is the best place to relax and bond with your family. However, if your backyard, lawn, and garden look average, your home is not perfectly complete.
Smart landscaping adds interest to your yard and improves your home’s curb appeal. It also improves the quality of air around your home. Besides, if you sell a home with smart landscaping, you will definitely fetch a good payment.
Let’s be honest; most people think of landscaping to be an expensive affair. However, that’s not true. With the right landscaping tips, you don’t have to break the bank.
You can easily add color, texture, and functionality with just a small investment. All you need is to get it right when showcasing your personal style and creativity with the landscaping.
But when doing landscaping, be cautious. A wrong move, and you will end up spending too much money and never get the results you expect.
So, do you want to learn how to take your landscaping a notch higher?
If so, here are 15 essential landscaping ideas for homeowners you can apply.
Table of Contents
1. Create Garden Beds Around Trees or Mailboxes
Chances are you already have some flower beds. But to add some more garden space, why not add some more garden beds.
You can create an appealing garden by planting flowers and other plants that perform well under a shade. Some of the trees which would do well under the shade include bluebells and primroses, just to mention a few.
But if creating a new garden is something you are not familiar with, you can hire a landscape designer. The designer will create a customized garden that perfectly portrays your style and taste.
2. Add Mulch
Adding mulch is an effective way of quickly adding a dress-up to your new home. Mulch keeps your garden looking fresh, appealing, and rich.
Otherwise, a garden without a mulch will appear neglected and tiring. Apart from making your garden appealing, mulch also offers other benefits.
It retains soil moisture which makes the plants stay healthy for a long time. It also reduces weed growth and offers insulation to the soil in winter.
For the best outcome, ensure to go for organic mulches. Organic materials such as wood chips, bark, and grass clippings can form the best mulching. Besides, when such material decomposes and decays, they add fertility to your garden.
3. For Easy Maintenance Go for Perennial Plants
Planting perennials is the most effective way of creating a beautiful garden with low maintenance needs. When you have a busy schedule all year round, you might not have enough time to devote to your garden.
But perennial plants are easy to maintain compared to the annual ones. Annual plants usually last for one year, after which they die. This means you will have to replant new plants at the end of the year.
However, for perennial plants, they last for several years. In winter, the perennials might appear dead; however, they usually spring back life-giving your garden a vibrant look during spring.
Out there, there are very many perennial plants you can include in your garden. A few that will add a vibrant look to your landscaping include lavender, peonies, and daylilies.
4. Add Flowering Trees
Flowering trees effectively add a pop of color to your garden during spring. If you have flowers with a spectacular pale pink color or white blooms, they make your garden appear vibrant.
Most flowering plants usually grow quickly and are suitable for a person in need of quick shade coverage. Some of the best flowering plants to add to your garden include dogwood, magnolia, and Japanese maple.
To make your flowering plants bloom, ensure they have access to adequate water and light. Mulching and fertilizer also add the nutrients needed to keep your plants healthy all year round.
Pruning your trees also keeps the flowering plant healthy and in good shape. However, if the flowering trees you have are tough to reach, hiring professional tree trimming services is better.
This way, you will avoid sustaining injuries while removing a tree. Besides, experts know how to trim trees without affecting their growth or health perfectly.
Are you looking for reliable tree trimming and care services near you? At https://dawkinstreecare.com/, they got you covered.
5. Combine a Variety of Plants
Combining several plants that bloom at different times keeps your yard vibrant all season round. Otherwise, if your flowers bloom all simultaneously, then your garden will appear dull when they fade.
A perennial plant variety you can include in your garden is Rozanne geranium. This type of plant blooms from June through October.
As a novice landscaper, you might only go for plants that do well during springs. Come winter; such plants could end up drying, leaving your yard looking dull.
If you reside in areas where summer temperatures are intense, you should invest in drought-resistant plants.
If you don’t want to invest in the grass, you can go for ground covers that are easy to maintain. Their closeness to the ground and density makes your garden look more appealing.
Ground covers also make it easy for you to introduce spring bulbs to your landscape. You can also use a combination of flowers to add much-needed privacy to your property.
To add privacy to your garden, you can consider including a buffer of shrubs. You must ensure the buffer has multiple plants with varying heights.
Such shrubs can serve as a fence but are still more welcoming. If there is a room whose view you want to obstruct, a buffer of trees and shrubs might be a good option.
6. Bring Corners to Life With a Berm
To add pizzazz to your landscape, you can consider including a berm. A berm is a mound that you cover using a rock or a flower garden.
If you have a flat or plain lawn, berms are a good option. They add color and texture to your landscape. If you want to heighten your landscape, you can have the berms built as a mound.
Berms are mainly suitable for corners. But, you can also place them in any area within your garden.
7. Make a Water Feature Look Natural
Having a water feature in your yard makes your home landscaping appear unique. However, if your water feature does not appear natural, it will not create the intended vibrancy.
Hence when creating a water feature, ensure it looks like it belongs to the surroundings. To make your water feature appear natural, you can use the same stone you find on the house.
However, you must avoid using too many stones or materials. Three elements in one area are just enough. Otherwise, too many elements for your water feature will work the opposite way for you.
8. Give the Landscape a Rustic Look
A rustic look makes your garden appear classy. Having old-fashioned wagon wheels and split rail wood at the center of your garden makes it appear stylish.
Out there, there are varieties of old-fashioned materials you can consider including in your garden. The rustic materials you choose depend on the residential landscaping you want to achieve.
9. Create Curve Lines Instead of Straight ones
Most landscapers usually add lines at the edge of flower gardens and along the sidewalks to enhance the landscape’s appearance.
Straight lines have been used for a long, and there is nothing unique about them. But if you use curved lines at the edge of your garden, you get to add character and style to your landscaping.
Besides, having curved lines made of attractive features moves your garden from boring to being beautiful.
If you want to take the appearance of your yard a notch higher while adding character to it, curved lines would be a good option.
10. Illuminate Focal Points and Walkways
Attractive landscaping deserves to be recognized even after sunset. This is where the need for landscape lights becomes invaluable. Lights play a huge part in making your home attractive and illuminating the pathways for safety.
The lights can also be essential in highlighting areas of interest within your garden, such as water features. For landscaping lighting, you can place lights alongside pathways and around areas of interest.
It’s not necessarily you place the lights in a straight path. You can have them follow a curve to add some character to your garden.
But for uniformity, you must place the lights on both sides of the sidewalks.
11. Invest in a Heavy-Duty Tarp
To keep your garden in good shape, you have to move soil, weeds, and other small rocks. If such materials are not handled well, they can damage your plants.
For this reason, you should invest in a heavy-duty trap. It’s suitable for moving weeds, soils, and other materials safely while maintaining the yard. You can also use the heavy-duty trap to cover plants while moving them.
In case of a storm, the heavy trap can offer the kind of protection your plants need. But don’t leave the duty trap lying on your lawn for too long as it might kill your plants.
12. Update Your Backyard With a Firepit or Gazebo
If you are looking for fresh ideas for your backyard, adding a landscaping pit would be a good option. A fire pit is very beneficial during the night or when it’s cold.
They offer the warmth needed to hold gatherings in the backyard. You can use rocks, pavings, and other natural materials to make the fire pit appear stylish and natural.
A gazebo can also serve as a beautiful centerpiece to your yard. It’s a good place where you can enjoy evening meals with your families. To delight the gazebo, you can include hanging floral baskets.
You can also add sparkling lights to light up the gazebo in the evening.
13. Create Raised Flowerbeds
A raised flowerbed makes your garden appear unique and appealing. It also adds much-needed height and depth to your garden.
Besides, a raised flowerbed keeps your flowers safe from animals. It’s also suitable for exposing your vegetable to the much-needed light.
You can use paving blocks and stones to raise a flowerbed.
14. Incorporate Hardscape
Don’t focus all your energy on plants only when carrying out landscaping. You must add some hardscape features too.
Hardscapes such as walls and fences frame your property and provide structural support in winter. They also make your property appear complete.
The other types of hardscape you can invest in include decks and arbors. Decks are essential in offering the transition from indoors to indoors.
15. Break Up a Monotonous Yard with a Big Rock and a Sitting Area
Including a big rock in your yard is an effective way of creating a statement with your lawn. When all you have in your garden are green plants, your garden might appear dull.
But a big rock can create the much-needed contrast in your garden. But when adding a rock to your yard, pay attention to the size of your yard. If the rock is too big compared to your yard, it will make the yard appear too small.
You can also consider including an outdoor sitting space. Creating an outdoor sitting area at the edge of your lawn offers a much-needed outdoor escape.
Having the sitting area under trees gives the area some privacy. It also breaks the monotonous of only having green plants only.
You can design your sitting area with concrete or stones.
Discover the 15 Essential Landscaping Tips for Homeowners
Landscaping improves your home’s curb appeal and value. However, you must have the right landscaping tips to get it right when showcasing your style and creativity.
Follow the above 15 essential landscaping tips for homeowners and get it right.
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