How To Choose The Right Landscaping Plants?
July 7th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
The weather has got nicer, and after a cold winter all you actually want to do is liven up your yard with some landscaping plants. However, just one visit to your local garden center revealed to you that there are a lot of choices, so you will need some advice when it comes to choosing the right landscaping plants.
About Landscaping Plants
The first thing you need to think of is the effect that you want your landscaping plants to have. Do you want landscaping plants just for aesthetic purposes, or would you prefer to have landscaping plants that are more for privacy?
Landscaping Plants For Privacy
Whether you want landscaping plants that provide privacy, you need look no further than the ivy vine. If you are unfamiliar with the ivy vine, you have likely seen it in movies or in quaint cottage depictions. This vine is quite hardy and requires only a fence or the side of a house to climb up of.
The thing that you might have to take into consideration is the rate at which the ivy plant grows. You see, when you first purchase the ivy plant at your local garden store, you’ll notice that it is relatively small. However, you might find that over the course of a night the vine will have grown by several inches! 
Therefore, keep this in mind, because otherwise the ivy will sooner or later completely cover over the area that it is placed upon.
Landscaping Plants For Aesthetic Purposes
If you would prefer to use flowers as landscaping plants, you have to consider the overall climate in which you live. Tropical flowers that you see in your garden store can only be placed outside in case the climate is temperate throughout the year. Otherwise, they are meant as indoor plants.
Hence, if you live in a climate that had 4 definitive seasons, you should consider a flowering plant that is known to be quite hardy, and those generally are Impatiens or Chrysanthemums. Both flowers do require watering, but only every other day and they require a mix of sun and shade as well.
If you are hesitant about buying either of those kids of flowers, be aware of the fact that these flowers are available in a variety of different colors.
If you would like additional information about landscaping plants, make sure to ask for advice at your local garden center.
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Landscaping Pictures Can Lead To Great Ideas
May 18th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
While it is difficult to visualize what your landscaping might look like if you plan to make a few major changes, looking at landscaping pictures of houses of a similar design with different landscaping layouts could make it easier for you.
A lot of home improvement magazines as well as those focusing on outdoor living oftentimes have landscaping pictures to use as ideas for your own house’s outdoor landscaping.
One of the drawbacks in utilizing landscaping pictures for ideas is knowing where the pictures were taken, most of the ones taken and published show flowers and shrubs in full bloom under sunny skies. The flowers shown in the photograph might be of a house in a climate far different from where you live and when the flowers don’t bloom as long or as full as the ones in the landscaping pictures, it can only lead to disappointment.
When you look through landscaping pictures it is important to know the types of plants and whether they can grow in your climate. In addition, several photos may depict scenes around a patio or a pool which will not fit into your lot. To make sure any shrubs or trees will not soon outgrow the area you have planned for landscaping you had better check their size expectations.
Another challenge when perusing landscaping pictures for outdoor decorating ideas is discovering a house that closely resembles yours. Numerous pictures may be of large rambling houses featuring large lots and a great deal of space.
Keep in mind that while they may appear gorgeous, they may not represent of how your home will look in the end, when completed. Arrangements may look wonderful surrounding a two-story, five-bedroom house, but may not fit into a small lot around a two-bedroom bungalow.
Many landscaping pictures can also include swimming pools and patio decks, but if your house doesn’t have one, the landscaping will never look the same. The pictures can lead to outstanding ideas, but only if the house and the lot on which it sits closely resemble the one you plan to landscape.
If by any chance you are using landscaping software to design your own landscaping, once you have something you like, you may print the landscaping pictures to take with you to the garden shop to be sure you get enough flowers and plants to fill the places you have designated.
Once there, you may as well receive suggestions on the types of plants, shade or sun, that will work better in the long term and leave a trail of satisfaction of your efforts.
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Hillside Landscaping - Outtask To Professionals Or DIY (Do It Yourself)
May 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
If you want to start hillside landscaping, think of your safety first 
What would you do if your hill is fairly steep? I mean if it is very hard to walk up it because of the angle. You would want to outtask the job right?
Have professionals do the hillside landscaping then and save yourself from a hassle.
However, if the hill is simply an area of your yard that you just wanted to landscape, but have not had any real ideas for it? Just do the hillside landscaping yourself. You should start with a survey of the land itself and its location.
For example, if the hillside is in the front of your home, you can create an ornate landscaping design. First of all, evaluate the soil itself – is it arid? If so, be sure to purchase nutrient-rich soil before you begin. Next, you need to think about the plants that you would like to incorporate in the hillside landscaping design.
The best idea is to forgo plants and plant bushes instead. The reason for this is that bushes are hardy in many different kinds of weather and they only require minimal pruning during certain times of the year. The kinds of bushes that you should consider for the hillside landscaping project should ideally be ones that grow horizontally instead of vertically.
Have you selected the kinds of bushes that you want? I will take it positive so the next step will be to figure out the kind of pattern that you want them in. And for this, you will not only have to calculate the quantity of bushes you will need, but also the area that you want to dig out for the bushes.
Popular shape that many people choose is the square shape, however yours can be any shape you want - you are the owner here. 
Hehe…
Now with design. Bushes can be placed in a linear pattern and equally spaced so that they form the inside of the square like a checkerboard. Or, you could place the bushes in a spiral pattern. You should discuss design ideas with a professional landscaper if you would like a more ornate pattern.
More information on hillside landscaping can be found at your local bookstore, in various gardening magazines. Ask for assistance at your local gardening center too and you are sure to find the right hillside landscaping ideas doing the proper research.
;) Good luck!
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Free Landscaping Software Assists Exterior Design On A Budget
May 1st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
When designing your landscaping on a budget, you might not want to spend a lot of money on 3D software for designing your exterior design. Some companies offer free landscaping software to help you choose the plants and their colors and sizes to get the most out of your living space outdoors. Most have different types of plants, including annuals, perennials and allow the user to change the size of the pictures for a more accurate rendering of how the project will look after completion.
One of the disadvantages of using free landscaping software is it may not allow the user to change the style of the house or the layout of flowerbeds or other gardens. With many of them, there is one major house design surrounded by beds and if it is not the same as your house design the free landscaping software can be used to choose only the sizes and colors of flowers to see how they will look together.
Some of the free landscaping software available offered by companies selling flowers and flower seeds, usually online and their recommendations are usually centered around the products that they offer for sale. However, with some basic landscaping software around 100$, this can be a cheap trade off to the benefits of the software. Although suggestions are made, there is no reason why plants cannot be purchased at a local nursery.
Complete landscaping software usually includes options for adding stones or lumber while most free landscaping software lacks this option. Depending on the company from which you receive your free landscaping software, some options may be included or be eliminated. Often DIY landscape companies offer free software for potential customers that contains more features than the software offered by seed companies.
Many of the free landscaping software offers made online and one of the good things about them is that they do not require registration, are quick to download and, once you see that they will not offer any help, can easily be removed from your system. It may take a few minutes for the whole process, but you will not spend any money.
Mostly free landscaping software will be user friendly and self-explanatory. Rarely will be there any help available, except what is included with the software, but they can provide information on the selection of plants for individual climates.
With landscaping software given for free, it is obvious that basic features will be included, but remember that you get what you pay for.
Click here to learn more about best home and landscape design software
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Implementing Desert Landscaping Around Your House
April 16th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Possibly when most people think of the desert, the only things that come to mind are broiling hot days, cacti, and dry heat. Many deserts are located in high altitude terrain and the hottest of days can actually turn into cool nights. Many deserts experience cold winters as well that can include snow and desert landscaping often reflects this.
The Hot And Cold
The desert can experience such a range of temperature changes and this is why desert landscaping needs to be hardy enough to tolerate heat as well as cold. Evergreen shrubs and trees withstand the heat and tolerate cold, it is why they survive well in high terrain deserts. Many cactus plants are cold hardy too, which surprises many people, because they think of cactus as hot area plants.
If by any chance you have a home in the desert and want to deal with some desert landscaping around your house, the best place to buy plants will be a local nursery. Frequently big box garden retailers have their plants ordered by someone in their regional office. This person often doesn’t understand the complexities of desert weather and orders plants that might not do well in yard.
Choosing landscaping that is locally grown or ordering plants from a local nursery ensures that you will get plants that will thrive and grow in your desert landscaping.
Water With Care
Watering your yard shouldn’t be a problem if you stick to plants that are native to the area that you live in, but if you want to grow flowers, vegetables, or other plants that don’t normally grow in the desert, make sure that you provide a source of water to your desert landscaping.
Before you are going to design your desert yard, check with your local authorities to ensure that there are no watering restrictions in your city or county. When you have decided how much water you want to spare on your yard monthly, come up with a watering plan.
Do you want to water manually?
The easiest way to water your lawn and garden is with a timed sprinkler system. Set your timer to go off in the early morning hours if you plant grass, so that the water can seep into your ground before the sun rises and causes it to evaporate. Choose a drip irrigation system to water ground covers, shrubs and you will see minimal waste.
If you want to cut back on the amount of watering your desert landscaping requires, then consider filling your yard with gravel or rocks instead of grass. Low maintenance alternative to grass such as this looks attractive in a desert setting.
But be aware of one caveat to rocks. It is that light colored gravel will reflect the sun’s heat, causing your yard to seem even hotter each afternoon.
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