Last Updated on October 31, 2021 by Phil
One of the best ways to make your lawn or garden unique is by landscaping. This lets you get creative and make your yard your very own by making it an extension of your personality. For the most part, designing how you garden with look is easy. You can use rocks and other elements. But, plants can be a problem because they need the proper environment to grow.
To help you figure that out, here’s a quick guide on how to choose plants for landscaping. By following these steps, you’ll be able to decide which goes where. And, make sure that they’re in a condition that allows them to grow optimally.
1. Where are You Putting the Plants
One of the biggest decisions in landscaping is where you’ll place the plants. Another is how you’ll arrange them side by side. This can make a huge difference as to how your garden or yard will look.
Also, are you landscaping the front or backyard. Typically, front yards are designed to be beautiful. The goal it to let everyone see how lovely it is. The back yard meanwhile is mostly for yourself, your family and friends.
2. Know How Your Plant Looks All Grown Up
Plants vary in size, shape, texture, color and overall look as they grow. Some completely change how they look once they bloom. For this reason, it’s good to have an idea of what the plants you select will look like once they mature.
You don’t want some plants to overshadow the others. Big plants can quickly do this. And, if you have a lot of them, you may not have enough space.
Similarly, knowing how the plants will look lets you balance your garden. You don’t want to have one area that’s monochromatic or another area that’s overpopulated.
3. Choose Your Colors
This is a fun step. Here, you get to choose the different colors to populate your garden with. And, you also get to decide which ones go where. The key with choosing colors is to figure out how they work together.
Some colors clash while others work well together. For the most part, colors that complement one another or those that contrast each other work best.
4. How’s the Soil, Sun and Weather?
Observe your garden taking note of how much sun it gets in different areas and different times of the day. Also consider the type of soil you have and the weather you experience where you live.
There are all factors that help you decide what kind of plants are well-suited for your garden. If for example you live in a city where the weather can get very hot and humid during summer and frigid in the winters, you’ll need to find plants suited for those conditions.
Similarly, if your garden experiences a lot of sunlight, try to avoid partial shade or full shade plants which don’t like intense, direct sunlight.
5. Choose Natural Plants
Natural plants are those that grow in your area. This means they’re well-suited for the environment and therefore low maintenance. Depending on where you live, there will be different types of plants native to your region.
The goal is to choose the ones that are native to yours. This way, you don’t need to do a lot of work and they’ll still grow well.
6. Add Some Trees
Trees are an amazing addition to any landscape. They grow in different heights and attract attention thanks to their branches and leaves.
In addition to their looks, we like trees because they provide shade and help cool down the surrounding area during the hot summer weather.
When you pick a tree do consider its height, girth and overall size when it matures. This ensures that it doesn’t outgrow your garden. You’ll also want to look at its color, types of leaves and bark to make sure it matches well with the rest of your landscape.
7. Don’t Forget Shrubs
To prevent being one dimensional, add some shrubs to your garden. This gives your garden different looks so it’s not all grass and flowers.
Shrubs are a great addition because the can work in many ways. Additionally, there are evergreen shrubs that have leaves throughout the year. This ensures that your garden never looks barren.
8. Have some Perennials
Perennials are a wonderful addition to any garden. Unlike annuals that need to be replanted every year, these are lower maintenance. They grow year in and year out which helps you save time, effort and money since there’s no replanting involved.
With perennials, you get to choose the size, height, colors and textures. Plus, they vary in seasons. So, you can plant different season perennials so you garden always has blooming flowers.
9. Take Advantage of Groundcovers
For extra character and texture, add some groundcovers. As their name implies, groundcovers are plants that cover the ground. They come in all types including those that flower and don’t flower.
What makes them unique is their ability to cover a surface. This will give your landscape a distinct look thanks to the plants.
10. Stay Away from Invasive Plants
One of the types of plants we don’t recommend adding to your garden are invasive plants. These plants have the tendency to be very aggressive. This makes them invade the space of other plants near them.
Because of this characteristic, they tend to kill the plants around them. To prevent them from naturally doing so, you’ll need to do extra maintenance. Or, put them in pots that sit on the soil or are buried in it. This will help prevent them from taking spaces around them.
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