Creative Front Yard Landscaping Ideas
Landscaping ideas for front yards generally follow an entirely different set of needs than those for the back. The front yard design will almost always have to address the need for accessibility and entry into the home. Also, being the first thing that folks see when they visit or pass by your house, the front yard landscape usually gives them a first impression of your home as well as your landscaping. Not generaly an area designed to spend a lot of time in, front yards basically serve as the entry, access, and exit of the home. Basically, a front yard landscape design can get a good start by designing the necessary walkways or driveways and then the rest of the design can often be created around that.

Planting ideas and schemes in front yards often place a lot of focus on the house and how it sits on the property. The same as the rest of the landscaping elements like fences, walkways, and driveways, it's important that the plants placed around the home also complement it. Trees and shrubs have the ability to create unity between the house and its surrounding by helping the building seem more a natural part of the landscape and softening the hard lines.

The corners of the house and the entryway door are two areas that need special consideration when you're creating your landscaping ideas and plans. Basically, the door is the focal point of the house and it often good practice to place short plantings on either side of it. For the corners however, tall plants are a great choice since they help soften the corners as well as lead the eye toward the front door and the plants surrounding it.

Trees are a wonderful addition to front yard landscaping also because they can frame the home. They can be used to place visual interest on the home making it the most outstanding feature in the landscape. Generally, you should grow trees that have a mature size that is close to the same scale of the house. Take care when planting shade trees that they're tall enough to create shade and keep the home cool but not so tall that they dwarf the house. On the other side of the coin, planting shorter trees can make the house appear taller and possibly out of proportion as well.

Consider the different shapes of different trees and then select those with a shape that will best fit the style of the home. A house with a steeply angled roof line and dormer windows normally call for pyramidal trees, like birch and spruces. For dwellings that have the low lines of the ranch style, the horizontal or round shape of maples and dogwoods works very well.

Aside from the plants and trees, the open lawn is also important in many landscape design styles since it can provide an excellent setting for the house. A front yard with a patch of lawn surrounded by clean flower beds, shrubs, and ornamental plants can add the illusion of a bigger space than there is. Be mindful when planting shrubs as they can appear to be out of place and floating on their own if not planted in designated planting beds or groups.

Creating beautiful and successful front yard landscaping ideas always starts with a complete and finished plan. Even if you plan to do the project in steps over time, a complete plan is important to keep the project on track. Without it, you'll end up with a patch work landscape that was obviously pieced together.Take the time to consider all we've learned in this article and create a finished plan first.

Front yard landscapes often place the main focus on creating an inviting entry while also accenting the view of the home. And coming up with a great design can really be as simple as designating the necessary walkways and entries and then designing around them.

A few new additions to the site worth mentioning. Along with all the pictures on the site, there are even more pictures now. Along with all the specific categories, there is outdoor fireplace ideas which has become quite popular in the last few years. And as if there aren't enough pictures directories on the site already, see landscaping pictures for even more ideas and photos.

Outdoor Christmas Yard Decorations

Computerized outdoor Christmas yard decorations are taking on in a big way all over the country. With the help of electronic and computerized decorations and local communities, a lot of cities are becoming large tourist attractions just like Christmas On The Pecos in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

When decorating for Christmas or any other holiday, having close access to plenty of electricity is a welcome convenience. At the same time, not having enough can also be a setback of not being able to decorate the way you want to. While most modern houses have plenty of outlets on the walls of the home, very few have electricity in the yard. Some Christmas yard decorations and displays can use a lot of electricity and outlets. Having access right where you need it is so much better than having extension cords stretched out all over the yard. So having electrical outlets installed throughout the landscaping is a great idea.

The amount of power you’ll need will obviously depend on the extent of your decorating displays. Over planning for too much is always better than not enough. Have your electricians create the right size power supply and network for your decorations. And then have them place outlets where you know you’ll have Christmas yard decorations.

Nothing is worse to a landscaping project than the visibility of utilities. Along with other utilities like transformers and meters, outlets can’t be avoided and so we have to find some creative ways of hiding them or blending them with the landscaping. One of the easiest ways to hide outlets is to place them in planting beds nearest to the areas where you’ll have outdoor Christmas decorations. There are also weatherproof outlet boxes that can be set directly into lawns and flowerbeds as well as fake rocks.

Christmas lights and outdoor decorations have been around and used for quite a long time. It’s interesting and entertaining to see how far they’ve come. Click here to read about the history and origin of using christmas lights and outdoor decorations.

Xeriscaping Ideas

As part of the movement for green living, the principles of xeriscaping are finally being considered for most design styles and not just for desert southwest landscapes. While a lot of folks still think that xeriscape is a design style confined to desert and southwest landscaping, many more are starting to understand that it is a method that can be applied to all design styles rather than a style itself. Still, chances are if you're searching for xeric information, you're probably looking for landscaping ideas of a Santa Fe, Arizona, Southwest, or desert nature.

Xeriscape Design Ideas

Before I point you in the direction of some great xeriscaping ideas resources, skim over xeriscaping principles to get an understanding of the methods and benefits of drought tolerant and low water use landscaping. You'll find that most of it is just plain common sense.

As I said before, chances are that you're looking for something of a Santa Fe or Arizona style. Ans seeing how these are some of the most common styles in our area, we have some good ideas resources to share with you.

Dry Riverbed Xeriscaping Ideas is an informative post with pictures of fake dry riverbeds used for design and drainage purposes in drought tolerant landscaping.

Xeriscaping Pictures And Plans is a new directory of links, pictures, and plans for low water use landscape design. Many of the links and resources are from very talented designers all over the country.

Xeriscape Design Ideas is a list of some of my own design and plans.

Southwest Landscaping Ideas is a collection of design ideas and links to some beautiful desert Southwest Santa Fe style designs, plans, and pictures that I could find.

Also see Xeriscaping for an updated and more detailed version of this post along with some other important xeriscape design resources.

While you may be tempted to overlook the principles and go directly to all the pictures and ideas, just take a moment to skim over them. It will help you understand Xeriscaping better so you can apply it to any design style and idea you choose.

Landscaping Videos

Videos are the present and future of tutorials and ideas. Being able to see a project or idea created is so much better for comprehension than someone trying to tell you or explain the steps or theory of the project.

There are videos available that will teach you how to do practically anything. And how to do your own landscaping projects and garden design are no exception. You can find video tutorials on landscaping all over the internet. The only problem is that in order to find the good ones, you have to wade through hundreds of useless videos.

So in order to help the do it yourselfer find good tutorial videos on landscaping and garden design, the landscape design site created Landscaping Videos.com . Currently there are over 100 video landscaping ideas organized in categories to help you find specific project details related to landscaping and garden design.

For even more, see landscaping ideas for the latest blog post that will show you several resources for gathering landscaping ideas and how to use them in your own yard and property.

Patios, Courtyards, And Small Gardens

Designing patios, courtyards, and small gardens is just the same as most any other landscaping except for scale and materials. If you don't have a vision, you'll need pictures and ideas to help you come up with your own plans. Once again, we've got you covered.

We just added a whole new section to our landscaping pictures directory. To start, see patio designs and ideas for a complete collection of patio pictures and ideas that are sure to inspire you.

While there's a fine line between patios and courtyards designs, we felt a need to create two separate directories to do them both justice. See courtyard ideas for a collection of enclosed courtyard pictures and ideas.

Our site has always been big on small garden design ideas. And while any of the other directories mentioned here would be considered as small gardens, there still needs to be some individual principles and guidelines to follow. See small garden design ideas for principles, theory, and ideas for creating small gardens.

Pre Planned Gardens Design Plans

While I can't quite put my finger on the recent popularity of the professionally designed ready made garden plans and landscaping designs, I would have to lean more toward the state of the economy and the fact that more folks are finding it necessary to do their landscaping and gardens design themselves.

And in response to the new popularity of these plans and designs, there are more of them available and in much better quality. And in response to this, I have begun to prescribe pre designed garden planting plans to some of my consulting clients as a way to create planting schemes without having to do a lot of research or paying a landscape designer like myself to come up with design ideas for them. If you're planning on doing your landscaping yourself, it's another option worth looking into.

Patio Design Ideas

There are over 750 new pictures added to the landscaping pictures gallery on the landscape design site. And one of the most popular new directories is the patio design ideas directory. However, I'm not really surprised as folks are finding more refuge in outdoor rooms, patios, and small gardens that are extensions of the home. If you're planning to build a new patio, you'll find some great ideas there.

Landscaping Videos And Ideas

I'm very proud of the new videos site. I believe it is to become a very useful asset to the do it yourself landscaping and gardening community. See landscaping ideas and videos to check out all the videos, pictures, and plans that are there to get ideas from all for free.

Finding Landscaping Contractors With Good Character

As a follow up to the announcement of the new free contractors directory, I wanted to add some thoughts on finding and hiring a good landscaper or designer. See the post at Landscaping Designers And Contractors Of Character. It's a good read and will give you something to think about if you are planning to use a landscaping contractor or company.

Landscaping Contractors Free Directory Of Landscape Designers

We've just added a new directory to the site. After all, it should live up to its name and offer everything that one would be looking for related to landscape and garden design.

I am surprised that we have the #1 spot for the search term landscape designer. I've never tried to have that spot. Still, it's a good indication that we needed to create a resource for locating landscape design contractors.

So we created a free landscaping contractors directory that also displays portfolios and finished landscape designs created by the contractors and designers. This way, you as a home owner can view the quality and design style of each contractor before you contact them. And there's no cost to contact as many designers as you like.

As a contractor or designer, there's also no cost to add your information, portfolio, contact information, and even an active link back to your site. Advertise for free on The Landscape Design Site.com.

Landscaping Fabric - How To Install Landscape Fabrics

I wrote a great article on my main blog titled How To Install Landscaping Fabric. Instead of repeating it here, just follow the link. It's very informative and detailed.

Landscaping Ideas And Design Styles

After a recent server change, The landscape design site was offline for several days which caused a few pages to get lost. The landscape design idea gallery has been moved out of place. Also, the garden styles gallery was moved as well. We'll see about getting them back.

How To Fertilize A Lawn - Tips For Fertilizing Lawns

Properly fertilizing your lawn should be one of the simpler and less time consuming processes in your lawn care program. While you could get very technical about it, the basics you need to know are not as complicated as they might appear to be. Listening to some lawn care professionals and gurus explain detailed processes and equations might leave you a bit confused about the whole deal. However, you don't need to know all the details to have a beautiful lawn.

How much to fertilize, how often, when, and what formula to use are all the right questions. However, because of all the different variables ranging from soil type to location to hundreds of grass varieties and types, it’s impossible to give an exact lawn care program that would fit every lawn.

Testing the soil isn’t usually necessary for determining lawn fertilizer needs. If you’re having trouble growing a lawn, testing may be helpful to figure Ph and to see if a nutrient level is extremely high or low. Otherwise, they don’t give a good indication of the amount of nutrients your lawn needs.

You generally only need to be concerned with the three basic nutrients of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. Other minor nutrients such as iron and zinc are usually plentiful in the soil. However, in some instances such as my own yard, I do apply one application of fruit and nut tree food to the entire lawn every few years. I have several trees that take these nutrients from the soil. Still it’s not common practice and isn’t necessary in most yards, landscaping ideas, and lawns.

The right formula? I can’t give an exact. Just a guideline. The three numbers on the label (0-0-0) represent the product percentage of the three nutrients in order, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. A good mixture would be high in Nitrogen, low in Phosphorus, and medium in Potassium. An example might be 10-2-5. This is one of those areas that can get technical. However, if you're not inclined to study up in this area, just keep applications low and safe. Keep Nitrogen, the first number, at 20 or below.

As my own rule for staying on the safe side, and in my opinion is a better way to feed a lawn, cut the amount in half and apply it twice as often or even less often. For some nutrients, plants will absorb all that is in the soil until it’s gone, grow very quickly, and deplete the soil before it’s time to fertilize again. A continuous feed is much better for the health of the lawn, reduces the risk of burning, and is easier to get an idea of what feeding program your specific lawn needs.

Again, all of this can’t be placed in a given formula for all lawn types. When to fertilize, of course, depends on your area, time of year, weather. Your soil type (clay, sand, etc) will influence many factors including how often and how much to fertilize. So it’s best to follow the steps of starting with less and working your way up. It also helps to keep a journal to keep track of your results.

landscaping on a slope

As a follow up to my last main blog post on sloped and hillside landscaping - Landscaping On a Slope, you can now see the design plan for thos ideas and several pictures. See - Circular Driveway Landscaping On A Slope.

Landscaping On A Slope

Hillsides and slopes can be a challenge for landscaping projects. Coming up with ideas for usable space and drainage can be difficult.

We just added a video on our site of one of our designs of a circular driveway on a slight slope. See Landscaping On A Slope to see the video and hopefully get some ideas you can use to landscape a sloped area if you have one.

And don't forget our original directory of hillside and sloping design ideas. See Landscaping On A Slope Or Hillside for several more ideas from various professional designers and landscaping contractors.

Courtyard Garden Design

I'm very excited to finally start publishing one of our Mediterranean landscaping projects that we've created. Besides an amazing Enclosed Tuscan courtyard, there will be videos on creating waterfalls, walkways, curbing, sprinkler systems, lawn, and much more.

So far there are two videos out with the last one being courtyard gardens drainage which covers some preparation considerations and drainage issues.

All the videos and lessons in this series will be archived at Mediterranean Garden Design. I hope you enjoy and get something out of the series.

Landscaping On A Budget.

I just posted a detailed article on the site on how to save money in your landscaping projects.

Most articles related to landscaping on a budget only touch on one or two specific areas of design. The article landscaping on a budget details money saving ideas involved in the entire landscaping design process.

You should find it very interesting as it will give you some details for saving money in your landscaping that you probably haven't thought of.

Landscaping On A Budget.

Landscaping and garden planting ideas.

I just got finished with an extensive blog post about plant selection that goes beyond the normal scope of choosing the right landscaping and garden plant.

The post goes into basic principles of garden and landscaping planting ideas as well as additional considerations in placement.

Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping (low water use landscaping) is getting a lot of attention due to an increased awareness in natural resources. Read xeriscaping principles and methods

More to come in a few days.

Social bookmarking and community for landscaping, do it yourself, gardening, home improvement, other diy information.

After spending a lot of time searching for a social bookmark sites specific to the do it yourself niches and finding very few, I decided to create one. www.diwire.net is free for everyone wanting to share or bookmark favorites or their own sites.

Do it yourself social bookmarking - landscaping - garden - gardening - home improvement

Just a quick note.

The Landscape Design Site looks a bit odd as we're changing templates. We've also added a video section to the site at Landscaping Videos. Of course, the videos there are our own as well as landscaping lessons and ideas from some of the better producers.

Soil Ph, The Taste of Dirt, and Organic Gardening

My Grandfather was an old world dirt farmer who depended on his crops for his living. That old man knew more about soil and dirt than anyone I've ever known.

On his farm there was never a need for chemical fertilizers and insecticides as his crops were healthy and produced incredible yields. He was completely organic, returned everything to the soil, and rotated his crops. And in return, his soil had a perfect ph balance. Or at least that's what he said.

Back then, there were no soil test kits or probes so folks tasted the soil to test its ph. If it was sweet, it was acid. If it was sour, it was alkaline. And I guess bittersweet was a perfect 7. I don't know. To me, most dirt just tastes like...dirt.

Anyway, the importance of proper ph has been known for a long time. Nutrient uptake as well as many other factors are regulated by ph balance. And plants are always healthiest, produce more, are more nutritious, and have fewer pests and diseases when ph is perfect.

Anyway, the point of this blurb.....

I was reminded of my Grandfather the other day as I consulted with a client about his yellowing Hollies, Nandina, and other Evergreens. He had already been to the nursery where they had given him the cure to his problem in the form of a sack of iron supplement.

Since I live here and have dealt with this same problem many times, I knew the problem wasn't a lack of iron. There's plenty of iron in our soil. However, the plants can't pick it up. It's locked in the soil because of improper soil ph. We live on a huge limestone shelf and so the soil is extremely alkaline.

So rather than drown the soil in toxic levels of manufactured iron supplement, we began a slow systematic increase in soil acidity with simple garden sulfer. Within a few months the soil ph will become more acid, the iron will become available, the tree will get healthy and green, and I'll get paid.

So, while you won't have to eat dirt because there are modern test kits and probes, there's no excuse for not knowing the ph of your soil. And actually, at the first sign of plant problems, you should look for visible signs of insects or disease and check the ph of the soil.

Ultimately and the biggest lesson learned from my Grandfather is organics. Before the extensive use of chemicals, folks did just fine and even better with rich organic soil. And while organics may not be practical in some of our modern applications, using it when and where you can will produce growing benefits to your gardening experience. Naturally balanced soil ph being one of them.