Thursday, January 29, 2009

Three Things You Must Know Before Starting Backyard Landscaping

By Michael Aral

If youre a natural green thumb, the chance to work on backyard landscaping project can spark more ideas than you'll ever be able to fit in one home landscape. After all, unlike the more conservative front yard, the backyard gives you the freedom to design the garden of your dreams without worrying what the neighbors will think. Even so, if you want to steer clear of potentially costly and time-consuming mistakes, there are a few things youll want to consider before you break out that trowel.

A plan is important

An attractively landscaped yard almost never happens by chance. Even those seemingly free-roaming English perennial gardens are planned down to the last pot of thyme. Go in without a plan and you're likely to come out with more than a few regrets. To make sure that doesn't happen, take the time to look at a wide variety of backyard landscaping designs first.

Collect some ideas that appeal to and will work well in your and suit your tastes and at least and make a sketch of you backyard to . And don't be afraid to keep re-working your plan until you get something youll really love. If you really want to get organized, pick up some landscaping software.

Permanent features: the place to start

Its easy to get wrapped up in choosing annuals, statues, and garden wall decor because picking out little things doesnt take much thought. Not to mention, buying small things for the garden wont break your budget. The problem is, though, if you start out like this you may well end up blowing your budget on things you don't really need.

That means before you pick out any easily moved features like annuals and bird baths, you'll want to decide how you're going to landscape around large, permanent objects. Many of these are either attention-grabbing focal points or landscaping challenges, so they typically require a little forethought. Also remember to include stand-out features you're planning to add like a waterfall and pergola.

Plant choice matters

You dont have to be a professional landscaper to know lining your garden path with cacti is probably a mistake, but unfortunately most of the problems plants can cause are a more subtle than that. Because putting the wrong green thing in the wrong spot can cause major hassles in the future, you'll want to take care with plant choice.

To save yourself headaches, read up on every perennial, vine, shrub, and tree youre considering adding to your backyard landscaping design. Learn about its care requirements, growth pattern, and any unpleasant characteristics it may have such as the tendency to attract bugs or grow roots through septic tanks. - 16035

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