If this is your first time attempting landscape design, you might feel like you’re trying to take a sip of water from a fire hydrant. Especially if you have grand plans or a large lawn, designing your landscape can be a huge undertaking. We want to save you as many tears and headaches as possible, so we created a list of lawn design tips you can’t live without.
Five Lawn Design Tips Every Noob Should Know
- Picture the big picture.
Developing a landscape that makes you feel like you’re on vacation every time you relax on your front porch is going to be a slow and steady process. Creating a long game plan for it will help ensure that each element you add is cohesive and eventually, your lawn is the envy of your neighborhood.
If you hire a lawn designer, the first thing they will do is digitally capture your property, and then create a visual plan of their vision. Even if you don’t hire a professional landscaper, it’s a good idea to take the entire space into consideration and create a master plan of what you want it all to look like in the long run. This will help you avoid uprooting your hard work along the way when you change your mind about the direction you’re going in. - Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Even though you should have a plan for the grand scheme, don’t bite off more than you can chew. Break your lawn design project into pieces and do a little at a time. After each project you tackle, take some time to live with your lawn and think over the next one. This way, if you do decide that a new plan is better, it’s easier to shift directions than if you put in the sweat and blood to create your entire landscape and then realize you hate it.
By doing a little at a time while creating your lawn design, you also will be able to get used to the required lawn maintenance little by little. Keeping up with your lawn care can be labor intensive, but if you add a little at a time to your landscape, you’ll adjust to it. - Consider a focal point.
Creating a focal point in your landscape is both aesthetically pleasing, and makes planning easier. Develop a fountain, or statue, or tree, or series of flowers that will be the main attraction, and then add every other element to support that. When you have too much going on in your landscape, the eye gets overwhelmed and it feels more cluttered and less attractive than if you create a single focal point that every other element in the yard lead the eye to it.
This also gives you a concise plan while developing your landscape. Identify what and where you want to be the focus, and then you only have to make sure every other element you incorporate falls in line with it. - Consider environmental factors.
Your lawn area will look best if the plants you choose are suited for the amount of sun or shade they are in, the temperatures of your climate, the amount of rain you get, and so on. Not to mention, using plants that are native to your climate will require less work from you to upkeep them. For example, if you live in a hot and dry climate, using drought resistant plants will look the hardiest, while requiring the least amount of work to maintain.Sometimes your lawn will offer a range of plant environments. Maybe one area of your lawn gets more sunlight, and another gets rain runoff due to the slope of the area. You may be able to get away with the variety of vegetation that you want, you’ll just need to consider the placement of each plant and the factors that contribute to it thriving.
- Have fun!
Lawn care often requires a lot of work, but can also be an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding task. Let yourself enjoy the journey to your dream landscape, and you’ll love result that much more.
What’s your best landscaping tip? Please share with us in the comment section below!