Have you found yourself browsing Pinterest for hours looking at landscape ideas? Envying your neighbors for their green thumb? We’ve put together a few tips for helping you to narrow it down. It’s important to consider your family’s needs, your available space, your free time, and take an introspective look at how much work you are willing to put into maintenance. Your landscape is important for your property value, your happiness, and the wildlife in the area.

Here are a few things to consider when brainstorming your home landscaping!

Look Around your Neighborhood

Now is the time to spend some more time envying your neighbors green thumb. Take a walk around your neighborhood and intentionally look at some of your neighbor’s landscaping. This will help you see those Pinterest dreams in real life. Look to see how they have their landscaping mapped out around their house. Are you looking for something subtle or something that is big and bold? Take some notes or pictures for inspiration! If you are friends with some of them, you can even ask how much time it takes them to maintain it each season to see if that is doable for you.

Know Your Yard

Your yard is completely unique. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to designing your home landscaping. While your neighbor may have landscaping that you just “Absolutely love”, it is important to consider the differences in grade, yard size, sun/shade, topography, and water drainage that your home may bring into the picture. The types of plants you use and the amount of water it will take to maintain your landscape will be greatly affected by the aforementioned factors.

Consider Maintenance

Be honest with yourself on how often you are going to want to weed, water, prune, and maintain your landscape. Evaluate the time you have in your day to spend outside maintaining your landscape. Consider the long term commitment you are making to maintain the landscape you plan to install. If you are someone who doesn’t mind, or even enjoys, spending your time outdoors keeping your landscaping healthy and pristine, a larger installation with lots of plants might be for you. If you are someone looking for a landscaping installation that is easy to maintain but still looks impressive, a landscape with large bushes or giant green plants, might be in your cards. Whether it’s poured concrete edging, pavers, mulch, rock, or plant variations, the materials, plants, and ground coverings that you use will impact the amount of maintenance that is needed to keep your landscaping looking sharp.

Grab a Pen

Once you have gotten a better idea of your taste, your yard, and how much work you want to have to put in, grab a pen and some paper. Make a simplistic over-head sketch of your house and start getting some ideas out on paper. We aren’t looking for a Picasso here! Section off areas of your yard that you would like to have certain features. Maybe a mulched flower bed by your porch…Oh! And remember those bushes along that stone edger your neighbor had? Something like that might look good wrapping around the side of your house. Show your family some of your ideas, and slowly make your ideas a little more detailed or specific.

Give Us A Call!

 Whether you are looking for us to help create your dream landscaping, or an answer to a landscaping question, don’t hesitate to reach out.