Landscaping your Garden

Landscaping your garden is usually a fairly big task, consuming much time and energy. But before you hire that professional, here are some tips that could save both time and money.

Start with considering the look and feel of the final design. You need to take account of the style and function of your landscape. Do you want to include an area for entertaining? A barbeque? Is there to be an area for children to play, a pond or a swimming pool? What kind of plants, shrubs or trees would you like to include in the final design. Focus on the area where you spend most of your time and make this your priority.

Think twice before hiring a pro. An independent designer might cost you hundreds of £s when you may be able to access free plans on the internet or at a nursery.  Many Garden Centres provide a garden design service.  There is usually an upfront charge for drawing up the plan which is then refunded if they get the commission, either in cash or in vouchers for plants for your new landscaped garden. If you have a problem site, such as very steep ground or dense shade a professional landscaper might be able to suggest how best to work this into your design.

The style of your home should be taken into account. Formal gardens would look out of place with a country cottage in a small village.  Think also about your lifestyle. Do you want to spend hours caring for many beds of annuals or pruning beds of roses? If so, go ahead and plant them, but if you'd rather spend your free time on the beach, then go for an easy-care garden and landscape.

Garden Landscaping Styles:

Formal Landscaping: This style uses lots of straight lines and perfect geometrical shapes. Orderly arrangement of plants instead of random positioning is employed. Close arrangement and pruning is seen on many landscaped gardens with this style.  This method of landscaping requires high maintenance - a formal garden does not look good if it is full of weeds and overgrown plants. 

Informal Landscaping: This style of landscaping is ideal for country cottages. Beds with curved edges instead of straight lines and random placement of plants suit this landscape style.

English Garden Landscaping: This style emphasizes the harmony between the architecture of the house and the garden.  This style of landscaping is evident in many English Stately Homes.  Those of us who are members of the National Trust or English Heritage can visit these places for free and get lots of ideas for our own gardens, although not many of us have the kind of house or size of garden to adopt this particular style. 

Oriental Landscaping:  This type of landscaping is perfect for the smaller garden and the kind of person who wants an outdoor area for relaxing in or entertaining, but does not want to spend all summer mowing, weeding and planting.  This style incorporates rocks, evergreens and water. A wide variety of plants create several interesting angles with this style.  The oriental style works best if it blends with the house so the two become one.  It would probably not be a good idea to try this with a country cottage.

Woodland Landscaping: This type of  landscaping would work well in an area with mature trees and is also a perfect solution if your garden is on sloping ground.