Guide to Landscaping Designing

Designing landscaping is a task performed by many homeowners and professionals alike. Landscaping is a simple, cost-effective method of raising your property value and enhancing the appearance of your lawn. Many homeowners enjoy developing and constructing landscaping designs to the point that they practice it as a hobby.

• Determine the resources that you are willing to invest in designing your landscape. This includes assessing investments of time, finances and effort. This step is particularly important in making decisions later in the process.


• Choose a color scheme. Most landscaping designs include a number of plants and features that will likely exhibit highly unique colors. It is important to choose a color scheme in the early stages of the project and to install landscaping that will contribute to the overall scheme.


• Consider basing your design around a large or interesting feature. This feature will be the focal point of the entire design and should be placed in a desirable setting. Good choices include patios, gazebos, and pools because they all provide places to sit or swim, that will allow guests to appreciate the surrounding landscaping.


• Add a pond to your design if appropriate. Ponds allow you to make use of aquatic plants and animals in the landscaping design. However, this feature does require a substantial investment and more upkeep than most other features.


• Install a garden fountain to enhance the appearance of the surrounding plant life. The sound of trickling water is considered by many to create a calm, relaxing setting.


• Build a walkway to guide guests to a desired area, such as an entrance to your home, or to prevent them from stepping on sensitive parts of the landscaping design.


• Use a retaining wall to prevent soil on steep grades from collapsing. Soil on a slope that is not firmly held by plant roots will occasionally shift or collapse during periods of heavy precipitation. Retaining walls can prevent this problem and often make attractive additions to properties.