If you own a home with a garden, consider yourself blessed. In these days of ever-shrinking real estate, any patch of land you can call a garden is something to treasure. Landscaping ideas are plentiful, and to indulge in gardening is extremely rewarding. It is an enjoyable hobby that can last a lifetime. If you are new to this pastime, here are a few easy landscaping ideas that can turn you into an instant gardening sensation.
Complement Your Climate
Regardless of the climate where you live, there are specific plants that will thrive in those unique conditions. If you live in a temperate area, then select plants that are known to flourish in that weather. Conversely, if you live in the tropics, opt for plants that will do well in the relative heat. The wise gardener will never contradict nature. Therefore, choosing tropical plants for a temperate region or the opposite is asking for failure and frustration. Complement your natural environment with plants meant for that area.
Get a Soil Analysis
If you have access to an agency that can evaluate your soil, get a sample analyzed. This will spare you the trouble of guessing what kind of plants will naturally thrive in your garden. Likewise, landscaping ideas, no matter how brilliant, may not come into fruition without the aid of some science. If you have access to a soil test, by all means, avail of it.
Opt for Young Plants to Save on Cost
Landscaping ideas can be free, but plants, shrubs, or foliage come at a monetary price. Don’t take the fun out of gardening by breaking your wallet. When acquiring plants to populate your garden, avoid the lure of mature, attractive specimens. Instead go for the young, less expensive examples. They will cost much less, sometimes up to half the price. For that reason, remember, gardening is all about nurturing growth. Why rob yourself of the pleasures watching your landscaping ideas take root (literally), week after week, month after month?
Think Dimension and Variety
One essential landscaping idea and concept is to create dimension. Vertically, endeavor to use different heights of plants. This will make the garden look more visually appealing and less boring. Horizontally, try to be inconsistent with how you allocate space for the different garden elements. Go for a natural look often referred to as ‘organized chaos.’ You will be surprised to discover that some of the most magnificent “natural gardens” were products of landscape ideas emanating from the most brilliant and sought after gardening minds.
Create Sections and Clusters
Regardless of how small or large your garden is, create sections that will highlight variety. Beautiful landscape ideas always give the eyes a break, avoiding visual monotony. Likewise, use rocks and stones to demarcate sections. Create flower beds in unpredictable areas. Form a nice, quaint footpath to the front door. The beauty of landscape ideas is there are no rules. Your only guide is a sense of aesthetic.
Be Generous and Make a Statement
Never be wimpy when you want to make a garden statement. Landscaping ideas cannot be noticed if you execute without conviction. If you like a particular plant, then have them in relative abundance to your space. A hodgepodge of one variety here and there is not going to be noticed. Even if you only have three or four elements in your garden, profuse amounts of them will be vital in realizing your vision. Therefore, if you elect to have a water feature (which are now inexpensive), let it be noticed in a prominent way. Do you like daisies? Then have lots of them in a lovely flower bed lining your charming pathway. Do you like the look of ivy? Then have it grow strategically on some parts of a wall or walls for that country appeal. Make a visual statement.
Landscaping Ideas for the novice gardener begins with a simple understanding of the basic principles. Playing with nature can be extremely rewarding, once you know how to coax it into cooperation. The proverbial “green thumb” is really nothing but being sensible. Apply these basic principles, and you will see your landscaping ideas realized without much effort.
