Creating a Beautiful Landscaped Garden in your Yard

There is nothing more enjoyable in the warm months of the year than to reap the aesthetic benefits of a beautifully landscaped yard and garden area. Whether you have a rambling yard in the middle of the country, a postage-stamp area in the heart of suburbia or a patio garden in the center of the city, an attractive outdoor space can offer many hours of enjoyment. Of course, these beautiful outdoor spaces don't usually plant themselves, so homeowners must jump on the bandwagon to create a landscape and garden of their dreams.

Gardening and Landscaping go Hand in Hand

When you are considering a landscaping plan, gardening will be an obvious element of your arrangement. You can add color and fragrance to your landscaping with collections of flowers and flowering bushes. Or you can add a peaceful retreat with a Zen garden or a relaxing shaded bed. You can include a functional aspect to your design with plans for a large vegetable garden, or plant some fruit trees and bushes for a sweet, homegrown treat. There are unlimited possibilities in adding a gardening feature to your landscape design.

The Natural Landscape and Garden

If you enjoy the natural look in your outdoor space, you can omit the borders and manicured lines in favor of a naturalizing wildlife garden bordering your landscape. You can create this look with wildflower seed that is simply scattered randomly into tilled soil or you can buy an assortment of bulbs, toss them into your bed, and plant them exactly where they land. You can include a meadow grass area in lieu of a tailored lawn, and perhaps some rocks and a tree or two scattered about the natural area. If you are interested in adding a natural garden to your landscape, you can take a look at some of the wild spaces in your area to determine what types of plants and flowers will work best in your soil and climate.

The Manicured Garden in your Landscape

If you like your yard to look neater and well cared for; you can opt for the defined garden beds as part of your landscape design. These beds can be edged with a variety of products; from simple plastic edging that will keep grass out of garden beds, to more decorative edgings using materials like brick, rock or timber. The garden beds in your landscape should be carefully placed about your yard in an orderly manner that is pleasing to the eye and enhances the rest of your outdoor design. The beds can be filled with annuals for those who like to work the soil every spring, or perennials for the gardeners who choose the biggest bloom for their gardening buck.