Spring is here and gardening season is upon us.  You are really excited to get out there and start gardening or are planning to hire a landscaper to set up your garden for you.  Before you decide on landscaping there are a few questions you need to ask yourself so that your landscaping will be exactly as you pictured it.

Here are our top 10 questions to ask yourself:

1) What part of your landscaping do you love and what part do you hate?  Are there other members of your family that will be using the area in question and if so, what will it be used for?

2)  Do you have pets?  If you do how will that affect the look you are trying to achieve? Do you need a dog run or just a place for your pet to lounge and enjoy the outside?

3)  Now take a step back and look at your home.  In what style was it built?  Do you want that style to be reflected in the landscaping or do you prefer a style that will compliment it rather than duplicate it?

4)  What is your landscaping style of choice? Do you love the formal or English garden look?  Are you a fan of Japanese or Natural?  Look through magazines and clip pictures of the look you would like to incorporate in your landscaping.

5)  Now thinking of color scheme.  Do you prefer landscaping that is full of bright, vibrant colors or a more uniformed landscaped design of one or two colors.  Would you like more greenery with touches of colored flowering plants or more flowering plants and a touch of greenery?

6)  Allergies!  This is not generally thought of when landscaping but if you or a family member has, for instance, severe allergies to bees you will want to try to choose plants that are less attractive to bees.

7)  Hardscaping or paving surfaces, would you like to incorporate a patio, deck or walkway in your landscape design?  What is your surface of preference?  Wood?  Concrete?  Stone?  Brick?

8)  When thinking of plants, do you want to try and attract birds, butterflies or any other type of “wildlife”?

9)  What about your neighbors?  Do you need privacy or a division between properties?  Don’t forget to take any neighborly issues into consideration when planning your landscaping.

10)  The very last thing that should not be overlooked when planning your landscaping is zoning regulations.  For instance if you are planning on building a deck you may need a permit.  If you are planning on putting in a parking pad, a permit is usually required. Take your time to research this.  If contracting a professional landscaper have them look into any permits required.

Typical landscaping does not have to be boring. If you want unique ideas on how to spice up your front yard and make your house stand out in the neighborhood, you can definitely match your landscaping to the current season in your locale. The practice of decorating the yard based on the season is actually quite common. For some, it is even a hobby and it is their way of welcoming the new season ahead. There are a lot of garden ideas that can be matched with the seasons. Here are some tips on how to go about the execution.

• Yard for summer – summer is one of the best seasons to decorate your yard. The weather will be perfect to add little ornaments around the lawn. Landscaping for summer is important because the weather is perfect to stay outdoors. Since the weather is warm and the sun is out, summer is the perfect time to put some plants to the front lawn. You can even put lanterns and hang them on tree branches. Pinwheels placed on flower pots can also add that special spice to the lawn.
• Springtime yard – the season of spring is the best time to plant flowers in your yard. During this season, flowers of different colors and sizes can bloom and they will add depth and sophistication to your house. You can add a small water fountain in the front and surround it with flower pots.
• Fall Yard – as the season of fall approaches, people are already preparing for the Halloween. This will be a great time to decorate your house with different Halloween ornaments. You can carve your own pumpkins and put scarecrows right in front of your lawn. You can have walkway designs that are lined with different tombstones. But if you are not a fan of Halloween or you just don’t want to scare the kids, you can opt for simple autumn decorations like flower wreaths and haystacks.
• Winter yard – decorating the front yard for winter is basically focused on the holiday season. You can out a snowman right in front or even an outdoor Christmas tree. Christmas lights can be installed to add brightness to the house and the lawn at night too.

The front yard of your house is a very important aspect when it comes to improving the curb appeal of the property.

When it comes to landscaping design ideas for the front lawn, there is one priority that homeowners and designers must take into consideration. And that is to make the front door the focal point of the design. This process would definitely include both landscaping and hardscaping. People can actually do this by themselves but since hardscaping is involved, you might want to call on professionals and use their help.

The Landscaping

Landscaping requires a lot of planning. Having a plan will help you create a vision for your front lawn and it will also aid you stay within the budget.

The surrounding structures and the sides of the lawn are quite easy to do. But then again, the focus is on the front porch and the focal point is the main entry door. So what better way to emphasize it than to build a walkway that leads straight to it?

Walkways

Walkways are actually quite common in many landscaping options. Although the main purpose of these is for people to walk in without ruining the grass, walkways should also command attention.

There are many walkway designs that can instantly highlight the front door and can also improve the curb appeal of the house.

Here are different approaches in making a walkway:

• You can create a straight walkway that connects the sidewalk straight to your front porch.
• You can also choose to have a walkway that stems from your driveway leading to your front door.
• One of the methods for walkways to create a dramatic statement in your lawn is to make them wider.
• The material that will be used will also matter. If you want it simple, you can just use concrete cement but you can also use bricks, stones and pebbles to add beauty and depth to the design.
• Do not forget to line different plants and shrubs of different levels on the sides of the walkway. This can divert the attention of the visitor straight to the front door.

A lot of gardeners always look forward to spring gardening. These people would already want to execute their landscaping design ideas that they have thought of during the cold season. Proper preparation for spring gardening are always carried out even before the season begins.

Ways to Prepare

There are a lot of things that you can do to prepare for spring gardening.

• One of them is compost treatment. A lot of people would gather all of the dead leaves and twigs and pile them in one of the corners of the backyard. These can be used in garden composting.

Composting

• Composting is a very good way to revitalize the soil.
• Composting also provides the soil with a lot of nutrients and the decayed items on the compost can serve as fertilizers too.
• The organic compost can be prepared ahead of time so it would be ready in time for spring.

• Another step to do before spring gardening is the preparation of your power and gardening tools. You do not want to use equipment that won’t start. So even before the yard is ready for gardening, make sure that the tools are still in working condition.

• The garage or the shed needs to be prepared before spring.

• You should start de-cluttering the area and make way for garden equipment.
• It is important to start gathering the necessary things that you will need for gardening even when the snow is still outside. This will help you get right to gardening and landscaping as soon as the ground dries.

• Spring gardening preparations also include careful consideration of seeds and plants.

• There are certain types of garden plants that need to grow for at least a foot before they will be ready to be planted on the ground.
• Another good way to make sure that you have enough plants for your landscaping design execution is to order them ahead of time.

• The yard must also be prepared by cleaning and clearing it out. All unnecessary debris must be raked. As the temperature begins to rise and the weather becomes hot, you should be ready to do mulching too.

Beautifying your house and its surrounding for Christmas and other celebrations is not an easy thing to do. Planning is very important, more so if it involves complicated electrical wirings for outside decorations. Landscaping for holiday season normally focuses on the lightings, however certain plants are playing essential roles to feel yuletide atmosphere such as evergreens like holly and others that produce red berries.

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Winter landscape pictures may always look good on paper, but many homeowners still balk at creating one. After all, one heavy snowfall is all that it needs to cover everything in ice. The following can help you ease into the project:

1.  Choose plants that work the rest of the year.

Plants that thrive through the seasons are flowering dogwoods, evergreen holly and pine. If you want other varieties, go for those with branches that can take the weight of snow, have leaves that would not fall and those that will remain green throughout the season to add contrast to all the white.

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Creating that lush landscaping design need not depend on toxic chemicals and fertilizers that can harm the environment and possibly your family and pets. You can start going green with a few simple changes:

1. Water wisely.

If your county has advisories on the times you can run the sprinklers, do comply with these. Too much watering is both a waste of the valuable resource and not healthy for the plants.

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Landscape pictures of hillside homes always evoke a quiet and comfortable lifestyle that everyone is striving for. With the  ground being not perfectly level, your backyard may have those breathtaking views of the city below. Slopes on the front yard can be the ideal foundation for dramatic drives and whatever other features that your topography will allow you. Just remember that to have a cohesive look on the yard, you have to repeat the elements you apply like plants, bricks, rock size and color and the like.

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