A well-designed and functional home landscape can add to your family’s joy and increase the value of your property. Modern landscapes are meant to be beautiful and useful. A well-planned landscape provides your family with recreation, privacy, and pleasure. Conscientious homeowners know that the landscape should also have a positive environmental impact. Figures 1 and 2 depict the front and back yards of a Southern home. Throughout this publication, each step of landscape design is illustrated using this sample landscape. If you want to jump ahead, Figure 33 shows the completed landscape plan.
Professional Help
The idea of designing a home landscape can intimidate even serious gardeners. Wise people know their limitations. Consulting a professional when necessary can prevent costly mistakes. For this reason, don’t let the cost of a designer keep you from asking one for help at any time during the design process.
Keep in mind that you can hire a professional to help you during a particular step without hiring one to do the entire design. For example, you might need help developing your base plan and site analysis, or you might ask for a consultation when you have the first draft of your landscape design to get a professional’s opinion and input. Safety is always a consideration for constructed items, such as retaining walls, arbors, and steps. A licensed landscape architect can help you create a design to ensure these items are safe (see Working with a Landscape Architect at http://extension.msstate.edu/working-landscape-architect). Landscape contractors can help you build and install your ideas (see Working with a Landscape Contractor at http://extension.msstate.edu/working-landscape-contractor).
Develop a relationship with the staff of your favorite garden center, and involve them in your plan. They can certainly tell you about the plants they grow and sell.
Sources of Inspiration
Don’t be afraid to scour landscape design books, the internet, other residential landscapes, or other sources of information. Use them to spark your imagination and help you formulate design ideas that will work for your landscape. You can find a list of regional books and references at http://extension.msstate.edu/books-and-references-for-deep-south-gardens. Attend garden and patio shows in your area. You’ll find everything you need, from professional services and building materials to plants and scores of adaptable ideas.
But, by far, the best source of landscaping ideas is your memories of gardens, landscapes, and natural places. You may want to recreate that corner herb garden that you remember so vividly from your grandmother’s yard. Or it may be that secluded garden bench tucked away under a bower of sweetheart roses that holds nice memories for you. It could even be those wild muscadine grape vines you climbed as a child to reach the plump, juicy fruit—all these memories could be recreated and mixed with the desires of other family members to create a landscape that you and your family will treasure for years to come.
You may do most of your initial landscape planning in your head. But to capture those ideas most effectively, write down these observations, ideas, and expectations as they come to you. Take pictures of plant combinations, landscapes, or gardens that are particularly appealing. You can even take pictures of magazine or book pages that show plants or landscape ideas you like. Then you could create a home landscape idea file on your computer to reference later when you start the actual design process.
Value of Landscaping
An ideal home landscape design should have value in four ways: aesthetically, economically, functionally, and environmentally.
Aesthetic value can be achieved in many ways: by enhancing beautiful areas, creating new ones, or screening unattractive parts of the property. Using features in a landscape that impact all five senses can add to your pleasure and enjoyment of the landscape.
Economic value can be achieved by increasing the value of your home and property by as much as 15 percent. Landscaping can also reduce energy costs by buffering seasonal temperatures. Research indicates that heating or cooling bills could be reduced by as much as 30 percent with proper placement of plants around the home. For example, proper placement of shade trees could provide cooling in summer, while evergreen trees could block cold winds in winter.
Functional value is also important in landscaping. Well-placed trees, shrubs, turf, and construction features increase the amount of the property you use. A little shade in the right place, a little sun in another, a place for the kids to play, a private patio, pool, or deck—all these add to the enjoyment of being outside.
Landscaping helps you solve problems and cut down on maintenance. For example, groundcover used on a steep hill in the yard can help you avoid lawn maintenance headaches, and groundcover on a very steep slope may be essential to prevent erosion.
Environmental benefits of a good landscape design include climate control and many other energy-saving measures. For example, trees and shrubs can influence wind, water, light, noise, and temperature around the home landscape. Water can be conserved and used more efficiently. Plants can provide erosion control and a habitat for wildlife. In addition, plants in the landscape help clean the air of dust and some pollutants. Proper plant selection and placement can deter fire and criminal activity.
Developing a Landscape Plan
All good ideas begin with a plan. Homeowners who begin installation without a developed plan may end up unhappy with the results. An unplanned home landscape built in separate steps sometimes does not coordinate well together when completed. Form a detailed overall plan before beginning installation. A good landscape design can provide a plan for phased installation, allowing a large or expensive landscape to be completed in stages as money and time allow