Unless you have a lot of experience with plants, you may want to consult a landscaper before you begin beautifying your yard. There are many things to take into consideration. You'll need to learn about the best plants for your area, amendments needed for your soil, and you'll need to know about landscaping elements that add visual interest such as walkways, mulch, and borders.
You don't want to spend a lot of time and money on flowers and plants only to see them slowly die because of neglect or poor preparation. Here are a few tips that may help when you start planning your landscaping project.
Install The Hardscapes First
Hardscapes are things such as walkways, sitting areas, patios, and fire pits. These add interest and beauty to your yard. They should be installed first and then the plants added later to complement them. A walkway of natural stone, pavers, stamped concrete, or artsy tile that's bordered by colorful flowers can really brighten your yard.
Installing a patio or sidewalk requires construction equipment and a lot of movement around your yard. Your yard may even need drainage pipes put in or the slope of drainage adjusted to accommodate the new landscape. If you put in plants first, the disturbance could be enough to kill them. Wait until all the hardscape construction is completely finished so your yard will be a welcoming place for new plants and flowers.
Pick Your Mulch And Borders
Flower beds are the most attractive when they have distinct borders. You can use stone, brick, wood, or plastic borders in different textures and colors depending on the look you want to achieve. Mulch is important to the care of your plants, and it offers beauty to your yard as well. Mulch can be colorful wood chips or natural river rocks.
The benefit of rocks is that they last a long time since they don't rot away. Wood chips and other organic mulch will eventually degrade and need to be replaced. Color and appearance may be the most important aspect when you choose mulch because you can choose a color that complements bright flowers or contrasts green plants.
Choose Your Plants
Selecting the right plants for your yard is the hardest part about landscaping. First, you need to know your yard well because it's important to understand which areas get the most and least sun each day. Plants go in spaces where their light needs are met or they won't survive very long. Also, you want to group plants together that have the same watering requirements.
Both of these factors are important for keeping plants healthy. To create the most beauty, you'll want to group plants together that differ in some way. They could have different colors, shapes, or heights. This increases the visual interest in your yard. In addition, by choosing the right plants, you can ensure your yard is beautiful all seasons of the year since new plants will thrive as others die off with changing weather conditions.
A garden center or landscaper can help you choose the best plants for your yard and also take into consideration how well you can pamper them. You may want plants you can put in the ground and forget about. If so, you want plants that survive despite being neglected.
There are many things to know when you start landscaping your yard. Much of it you learn by doing. If you don't enjoy working in nature, but want a pretty yard, you can hire a landscaping company, like Nature's Design Landscaping, to do the work for you. Then all you'll have to do is enjoy the view every time you look out the window.
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