8 Landscaping Ideas Worth “Borrowing”

March 31st, 2015

No sense reinventing the wheel if you’re thinking about sprucing up the ol’ landscape this year.

Wider foundation beds mean more plants and more variety, as the Coopers display here in their Hershey front yard.

Enough gardeners already have come up with enough excellent ideas that it’s easier to just “borrow” (OK, steal) a few of the ones that also might look good in your yard.

Here are eight ideas from uber-gardeners…

1.) Boost Those Bed Sizes

It’s hard to radiate much impact with those tightwad 3- or 4-foot beds most people have skirting the house. Landscapes that turn heads have foundation beds of 6, 8 or even 10 feet or more of width.

That gives you more plants to work with, and that means more color, more texture and more chance for seasonal change. It also opens the door to creative pairings of plants that look good with one another.

Lean toward low-care, hard-working plants that do more than one thing in one season, and layer them back to front, tallest to shortest.

2.) No Fear Out Front

The whole front yard is a garden in this Hampden Twp. yard.

Veteran gardeners have no qualms about planting gardens in the front yard. Under-confident or time-strapped yardeners, on the other hand, tend to be timid about biting off a front-and-center garden where everyone will see their failures and maintenance lapses.

So they stick with the typical, boring, grass-heavy front landscape – maybe with a tree or two and a conservative island bed at most.

Yeah, the pressure’s on when you convert some of that familiar lawn into gardens. The key is good plant selection. Pick compact plants that don’t need much pruning and that are unlikely to run into bug or disease problems.

Also take baby steps. You don’t have to replace all of the grass in one fell swoop. Try expanding the foundation bed first. Then build a garden along the front walk or driveway. Then carve out an island bed or two.

3.) Building Privacy

This Buffalo, N.Y., back yard uses a mixed garden to screen out the neighbor’s yard.

Most people like a little privacy in their back and side yards. The obvious choice is either a fence or a planting of those upright, evergreen arborvitae that line so many suburban borders.

A more “gardeny” way is to plant a mixed border around the boundaries. Instead of planting 37 arborvitae in a straight line, use several different kinds of evergreens, small trees and tall shrubs.

If you have the space, dig enough lawn to allow for two or three layers of these plants – similar to the foundation-bed approach above.

If space is limited, go with a fence. But don’t let it bare. Plant a garden in front of it, using a combination of upright shrubs and evergreens, vines trained up trellises, ornamental grasses and assorted perennial flowers.

4.) Patio Sanctuary

A pergola gives privacy and enclosure to this patio.

So many decks and patios end up being more like open stages when they’re hanging out there naked into the back yard.

Decks and patios should be cozy spaces. Clothe them in landscaping and/or hardscaping.

Think about paver patios, knee-high walls and columns, an arbor, vine-covered trellises and a mix of shrubs, evergreens, grasses and perennials — especially a few that are fragrant.

Pergolas, awnings or trees with overhanging branches are ways to add a “ceiling” and provide overhead enclosure.

5.) Outdoor Rooms

The fence, walls and arbor turn this space into an outdoor room.

Dressing the patio is just one example of converting outdoor space into a garden room – something few people do.

Some of the most interesting landscapes are carved into very distinctive spaces that are divided by walls, fences, hedges and plantings.

Gates, arbors and openings left between two gardens serve as the “doorways” in these outdoor rooms, and stone, brick or mulched paths can be used as “hallways” to lead from room to another.

Start by thinking about how you’d like to use your yard. Then determine how much space you’d like to devote to each use and where it makes most sense to place them. That’ll give you the framework needed to begin placing your outdoor walls, doors and hallways.

6.) Don’t Overlook the Side Yards

Hanselman Landscape turned this Lancaster County sloped, shaded side yard into a beautiful setting with arbors and a waterfall. turned this

Side yards get ignored in most landscapes. When planted, this space can make a nice garden to walk through as you go from front to back.

Consider adding an arbor, gate or other doorway at either (or both) ends of a side-yard garden to help create one of those garden rooms.

There’s no law that says you can’t even turn the side yard into a sitting area or add a water feature there.

7.) Look Up and See the Flowers

Vertical space also is widely ignored in most landscapes. If we think about planting, it’s almost always in the ground and something we look down to see.

What do you see when you look up? It’s especially nice to add colorful plants at eye level or above, such as through hanging baskets, window boxes, planters hung on shepherd’s hooks and vines trained up trellises, arbors and pergolas.

A good place to start is look for big, bare walls and then use one of the above to get some color and life there.

8.) Add Some Eye-Grabbers

A few well placed focal points add that nice finishing touch to a garden.

This one is easiest of all but is also something few people do – add focal points to the landscape.

These can range from elaborate statuary and grand fountains to inexpensive antiques, found objects and recycled oddities.

Think of them as finishing touches or accessories that also can add your personality to the landscape.

Focal points are especially good when placed at the end of paths, in front of windows (or other key views) or as buffers between two different groups of plants.

Don’t overdo it with too many objects, but overlooking them altogether makes it seem as if something is missing from the garden.