Landscaping requires varying amounts of work, depending on how you visualize your backyard and what essentials you want in it. A small job which requires just the addition of more greenery may be done individually, but larger jobs may require you to call in a professional. Landscaping adds to your home’s aesthetics and can help you create a fun, exciting outdoor environment in your backyard. A better looking backyard will not only make you want to stay out or entertain guests for longer, but will also help you get a higher price for your property if you ever decide to sell it. Because it is so important, it needs to be done right. Here are some tips to follow when landscaping your backyard along with some great landscaping design ideas to get you started.
Choose A Focal Point
A focal point is integral to lending your backyard a desirable aesthetic. Our eyes are naturally drawn to focal points and planning your landscaping efforts around a focal point for your backyard will elevate its overall look. You could choose a tree, a sculpture, a gorgeous plant, or even a water foundation as the focal point for your backyard.
Pay Attention To Scale & Pacing
For a pulled together look, you need to rely on scale and pacing. This involves bringing in variety with regard to shape, size, and colour. It’s necessary to find a balance between variety and repetition though. You still want to create a coherent look without it coming across as boring or repetitive. Adding a new feature occasionally can help to achieve this.
Include The Must-Haves
Your landscaping should complement everything else that’s going on in your backyard. While the number of things you can have will vary depending on the space available as well as your needs, here are some landscaping essentials to consider for your backyard:
Useful Plants
Selecting native plants will make it easier to keep up with their maintenance while also helping to maintain a healthy ecosystem. This will ensure optimum water utilization, and it’s better for the environment as well.
Seating
People need to be able to sit and relax in your backyard, so plan to include seating when you’re landscaping your backyard. This will make it easy to relax when you come home after a long day and just want to relax into a seat in the beauty of your backyard. The seating you select doesn’t have to be fancy, unless of course, that’s the kind of appeal you’re going for.
Barbecue Area
A barbecue area is a great choice for your backyard if you’ve got the budget for it. You can whip it out when hosting parties or even when you’re just in the mood to grill.
Privacy
You need to invest in fencing options to plant trees/add shrubs at strategic positions so that you get maximum privacy when you’re out in your backyard. Your neighbors may be friendly people, but that doesn’t mean you want them to have access to everything you’re up to in your backyard.
Swimming Pool
A fiberglass swimming pool must be taken into consideration if you’ve got the money for it when you’re landscaping your backyard. Pools offer an opportunity to have fun, stay entertained, relax, or even exercise.
Plan For The Full Year
Select evergreen trees and shrubs for your backyard when landscaping as these will retain their color and cover all year, so you won’t have to worry about your backyard looking bare or dull at any point of time.
Include A Walkaway
You don’t want people to walk over the greenery whenever they want to get back into the house. It’s a good idea to plan for a walkaway which connects important points of interest in your backyard. When the walkway is constructed using the same/similar material as what is used on the house’s exterior, it will lend a cohesive look to the exterior of the house.
Make Use Of Curved Lines
If you’re adding any edging around flower beds in your backyard, make use of curved lines rather than straight lines to create a beautiful look for your backyard.
Use Lighting Strategically
Lighting is an important aspect of landscaping and serves multiple purposes. It can be used to enhance your backyard’s aesthetics, illuminate sidewalks and walkways; or even draw attention to several points of interest in the backyard. Placing lights at strategic points in your backyard is a requirement of great landscaping.
Check Soil Quality & Maintain Effectively
It’s also important for you to aerate the soil and utilize amendments to improve the soil quality in your backyard. You must also maintain your backyard through regular weeding, mowing, and watering.
Design Tips And Ideas
There are several attractive design tips and ideas that you can follow when landscaping your backyard. Some of the popular design ideas based on previously completed landscaping projects include designing a:
- Multi-purpose yard – the perfect family hangout with greenery, a dining area, sculpture, and seating.
- Woodland garden – a natural setting for you to walk out to from your highly developed home environment.
- Backyard with a calm and informal vibe – featuring lush landscapes and flower beds for you to unwind.
- 2 level yard – making use of stairs and terraced beds.
Adding a backyard stage – the higher patio excites children and serves as a backyard stage. - Backyard with a vegetable garden – if this is something you’ve always wanted to try, landscaping your backyard to include a vegetable garden is a great idea. It may not be the most aesthetic option though.
- An earthy backyard – a transition from your home to natural, rustic beauty.
- A backyard optimized for privacy – using high fencing.
- A circular garden pattern
- A colourful backyard – you can experiment with a variety of colours when you’re landscaping your backyard. Just make sure they balance well together so that you can achieve the look you desire.
A Backyard Built For Space Maximisation
Tiny Urban Backyard
These are just some of the design ideas that you can draw inspiration from when landscaping your own backyard. There are multiple design tips that can come in handy when you’re implementing the design ideas for your backyard. These are:
Curved Sweeps
This uses a curved plant bed or walkway featuring different shapes and colours that will make your backyard more attractive.
Miegakure
This Japanese technique uses the “hide and reveal” feature to create the illusion of distance by hiding some backyard features. This can be done through a strategically placed plant, an angled walk, or even steps.
Pooling and Channelling
This makes use of a narrow walk to direct people through an area to an open space.
Borrowed Scenery
This incorporates a feature’s view lying beyond the backyard so that the eyes can be directed outward.
The Principle of Three Depths
This can be used to segregate the background from the middle ground and foreground in your backyard to create an enticing aesthetic. It’s very important for you to visualize yourself in your backyard and plan the landscaping in such a way that it brings your vision to life. Be patient and receptive of change so that you can create the look of your dreams when landscaping your backyard.
