Top 5 Landscape Design Ideas
Leafing through home improvement magazines, there is always at least one beautiful garden or front yard landscape design being featured and one cannot help but fantasize about having exactly the same kind of garden at home. However many of these gardens are showpieces, not really the kind that takes into consideration maintenance costs and problem areas. For most people, landscaping remains a dream. It need not be if these landscape design ideas are put to good use.
Aside from its aesthetic value, residential landscape design increases the value of the property by as much as 15% in some cases. It is not inconceivable because anyone who sees a nice garden will tend to believe that the house must be as well maintained if not better. Lawn grass is typically used to project a verdant image, but lawn grass requires a lot of maintenance and has a narrow margin in terms of temperature and moisture to retain the ideal lushness and greenness featured in magazines. Moreover, not all lawns are on gently sloping configurations so popular in literature. Some are hilly, others rocky and some have wet spots. The solution could be landscape design ideas such as installing a rock garden, taking advantage of wild flowers, using retaining walls and French drains, and xeriscaping.
Rock gardens are ideal when the conditions are not: rocky slopes and prevailing drought will kill the typical lawn grass garden if it takes root at all. The idea is to take advantage of the natural rock formations to serve as foundations for hardy plants placed in, above or around the formations in as natural positions as possible. It may be recommended to import different colored stones to provide a contrast to the existing rocks if they tend to be one color, unless they are red sandstone or similar, which are already interesting. A rock garden lends itself well to sprawling properties or confined spaces equally well.
Using wildflowers is also a good alternative to more formal plants for rocky soil. Wildflowers are hardy and grow profusely under the most adverse conditions. Many are also very pretty and look more natural than nursery grown flowers. For houses that are set on top of a hill, front lawns tend to be on the steep side and when rocks are non-existent, the problem is erosion. One solution to this problem is building a retaining wall. It can be made of almost any kind of stone or timber, even salvaged railroad ties, but in the interest of ecology, natural stone can be used. Typically, a retaining wall is about 3 feet in height and is of four types: gravity wall; piling wall; cantilever wall and anchored wall. The choice will depend on the kind of soil it will be retaining. An important consideration in building a retaining wall is the drainage system for eliminating excess water that cold compromise the integrity of the wall. Xeriscaping is simply a method of placing plants together that has similar tolerances to weather conditions and irrigation needs. In areas where water may be a problem, or budgets where low-cost maintenance is the key, using drought-resistant perennials makes a lot of sense. Examples of plants for xeriscaping include aloe, stonecrop, wildflowers and ornamental grasses such as Mexican feather or blue oat. Alternatively, water puddles in the lawn can also be nuisances, making it unusable for planting. A French drain could be the solution. It is commonly built by filling a drain with gravel and rocks to drain off the excess water. Wetland plants and a dry creek bed are also alternatives to wet spots. Landscape lighting design ideas will also go a long way in creating ambiance to an otherwise drab garden especially during nighttime when you can play on lighting fixtures to create the image you want to project of your home. There are a lot of front and backyard landscaping ideas that one can access online, through books and even from friends who have done some landscaping of their own. Take their advice and get on with the project. Associates
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