Have you ever tried to design your front yard or your backyard? Did you feel like everything was hopeless because everyone else is garden looks so much better? I hear you! I’ve been in your shoes and I feel like I’m still feeling that way sometimes. Unless you’re a landscape designer, most of us that are DIY at home don’t know where to start when it comes to landscape gardening. I’m here to tell you what has worked for me in my experience and I try to look to Pinterest for inspiration, or walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes I even like to slow down in neighborhoods that make me go wowwww and I like to look and admire their landscape gardening out front. What plants do they have? How many? How are they grouping them together? It’s a good way to find out what plants work in your area (zoning) and what looks good before you rush over to the local nursery. What you’ll also want to notice is if the garden is in full sun, partial shade, or full shade.
Once you have an idea of the area that you’re trying to design, you may want to bring the measurements to a local nursery. You’ll also want to take a picture of the current area so they can fully assess to see if there are any trees near the area, is it next to busy roads, are you trying to gain more privacy, etc. They should be able to help you pick out a few plants that will work and look good together. When shopping for landscape plants, you want to have multiples of them, preferably in odd numbers. It’s a good idea to stick to a few of the same plants and having 3 to 5 of each of them versus having 15 different varieties, but only having one plant each. For example, if you have a smaller area to design, then you could stick to three plants, but having three of them each. There is something about repetition and uniformity that is really easy on your eyes when you’re taking a look at landscape gardening.
You’ll have to visually think about what these plants for look like at their full size. That can be challenging because when you purchase these plants, they are a little and you have to imagine them at their full potential, which can be very big. That will also help you when it comes to planting time because you’ll want to space them all evenly according to their full size. When you initially plugged them, you may feel that they look sparse and during that time feel free to plant some annuals between them to fill in the area. However, just trust the process and overtime as they grow, you’ll really be happy that you planted them according to the plant tag.
Here are some things to remember:
- Take a note of your zoning. Plants that work for your favorite, YouTube Gardener may not work for you if they are not in the same zoning,
- Make sure you know what the plants environment is. Is it a shade plant or is partial shade OK, or is it a full sun plant? Plants that like for sun usually will not too well if it’s in full shade and vice versa,
- When designing or planting, make sure you plant the plants spaced apart, according to their true potential.
- Be mindful of plants that are non-native that may be invasive.
- Think about the color choices if it’s a flowering plant.
- If you already have existing plants that you don’t like then, don’t feel bad about taking them out. It’s worth reaching out to your neighborhood to see if someone else may want them. Make the garden of your dreams and enjoy it for years to come!