This is also a great option if your current yard has nothing in it. You can always build on a basic yard later as you save money for renovation costs or develop new ideas for your yard. Keeping your yard relatively simple is a great idea if you have children or pets, since you won’t need to worry as much about anyone stomping on precious plants or fragile structures.
Keep in mind, you’ll need to put a lot more effort into your yard if you plant a ton of greenery. This may not be the best option if you live in an area prone to droughts. If you don’t have a steady supply of water, your yard will naturally degrade into compost over time.
You can break this guideline if you want to emphasize the yard over your home by planting larger, more unique plants. If you want to emphasize your home over the yard, keep the landscape simple and streamlined.
This is a great option if you live in a city and don’t have an enclosed yard, since you won’t need to worry about strangers trampling all over your greenery. Skipping plants is also a great choice if you live in an arid climate that doesn’t get much rain.
A garden gate leading into your front door is a great way to make your front yard feel like a distinct, separate space. A garden gate on the side of your home will function as a clear divider for guests and bystanders. This will create a heightened sense of privacy. You do not need to include a garden gate if you don’t want to.
Avoid setting up seating that isn’t capable of being locked up if you live in a city. A simple chain lock will work to deter opportunistic thieves in most cases. While umbrellas are great for creating shade in a backyard, they tend to take up a ton of space in a front yard. Avoid using one unless you have no nearby trees or overhangs.
You can use separate slabs of limestone instead of concrete for your walkway if you want to create a unique, modern vibe in your yard. You can use fine gravel instead of concrete or stone if you don’t live in a particularly busy or windy area.
Leave at least 6 inches (15 cm) of space between the bases of fences and porches and the flowers you line them with. If you’re going for a more modern look or your fence and porch are unique, consider lining the surrounding space with gravel or loose stones instead. For a more natural look, plant vines or ivies along the porch or fence. As they grow, they will make their way up the fence and porch to give it a rustic look. .
Feel free to break this philosophy if you want to create a more chaotic, naturalistic-looking yard.
Foundation plants should be placed at least 4–6 feet (1. 2–1. 8 m) away from the building to ensure that the roots don’t grow into your foundation. This will also make it easier to access the exterior walls of your home. For more colorful options, Girard’s Rose bushes, azalea, and chokeberry are fun choices. Japanese barberry is a great choice if you want a shorter bush that grows in wild directions. Korean boxwood is a great choice if you prefer small-leaved shrubs that can be cut into unique geometric shapes. Most evergreen and deciduous bushes grow in a variety of climates. Evergreen varieties are particularly good for colder climates. Remember, though, that there’s really no such thing as low-maintenance when it comes to gardening. Shrubs might end up growing and you need to be ready to deal with them.
Make sure that you only plant flowers that succeed in your climate. Look each potential flower up online or ask the clerk at your local flower nursery to figure out what will grow well in your area. Delphinium is a great choice if you’re looking for vertical flowers that grow taller than normal flowers.
Deadnettle is a solid choice for a flower that functions as ground cover since it’s quite resilient and sticks around for a longer period of time. Another option for ground cover is horse herb, which blooms small, yellow flowers year round. Mondograss is a great choice if you want a messy-looking plant that can grow wildly across your yard. It also tends to do well in colder climates. Flowering ground cover plants will succeed in a variety of climates, but they will struggle in colder climates after the first freeze of the year.
While they aren’t technically flowers, cacti are great choices that can live for an incredibly long time without water.
If you’re planting flowers around trees in your garden, Epiphytes are popular plants that can grow in the bark of trees.
Do this on a sheet of paper larger than 9 by 11 inches (23 by 28 cm) to give yourself plenty of room to work. Keep it smaller than 36 by 42 inches (91 by 107 cm) though, since too much space will make it hard to keep your drawing consistent.
You don’t need to know exactly what type of plant you’re going to put in each space, but it’s a good idea to have a sense for the type of look you’re going for. Label each shape that you draw so that you can easily keep track of what everything is going to look like. For example, you may draw larger rectangles and label them “shrubs” followed by smaller circles that are labeled “flowers. ” Unless your yard is oddly shaped, it’s best to keep walkways simple. Going straight from the sidewalk to your door will minimize the amount of space that your walkway takes up while making it easier to navigate at night. It’s a good idea to leave at least 50% of your yard empty. A little negative space is important and you may want room to exercise or walk around.
You may realize as you’re adding more details that your design is too busy, empty, or that something is improperly placed. For example, draw squiggly lines around your shrubs to give them some texture, draw small flowers together to get a sense for the texture of your garden. Add individual stones or concrete squares to give your walkway its shape.
Again, your sketch doesn’t need to be perfect. Things can change as you go about discussing options with landscaping contractors or consultants. If you’re doing your own landscaping, you may deviate from your outline once you realize that certain things need to be changed.
