Finding Front Yard Landscaping Ideas
Trying to come up with front yard landscaping ideas can be difficult and taxing on the brain sometimes. That's because it requires some imagination, and I believe it also requires some travel. Yes, you are going to need to get up and outside! Landscaping your yard can bring hours of fun and exercise. It is also a great way to add beauty and value to your home. The return on your investment of time and money can bring a great deal of satisfaction. So will the knowing that you did it yourself and also getting compliments from your neighbors and passers-by. There are many things you can do for not a lot of money as well as larger projects that may cost a little more. A good landscape design will still add more value to your home in the form of added curb appeal. You may plan to live in your home for awhile or you may be considering a basic landscape project to get more interest from buyers and help your house sell faster. Whatever your motivation, there are many things to consider in your landscape design.
How I Get Front Yard Landscaping Ideas
Okay, so you ready to generate some front yard landscaping ideas? Here's where you need to get off your duff. When considering what you want to use in your landscape you need to go look at your neighbors' yards. Grab the dog, your bike or just put on your walking shoes and get off your street. Go take a look around the neighborhood. What do you see? What kind of plants are being used? What looks good to you and what doesn't? Pay attention to how the colors mix. Are there different hardscape items that are pleasing with certain house colors? Pay attention to how the various types of plants and their foliage work together. Some houses with good landscaping may have a mix of spiky plants like tall grasses and lush, broad-leafed plants. There are thin leaves and wide leaves, big flowers and little flowers, vertical plants and plants that grow more horizontal in form. You won't really get see all of this very well from a car. By just walking or biking around at a slower pace you see all of the stuff you may not have noticed otherwise. It also helps if you can learn to pay attention to it all in a way that you decide what you like and what to avoid without spending a penny. Let your neighbor's mistakes and triumphs in their yards work for you by saving from making the same blunders yourself.
Now, back from your walkabout, you should have some ideas of your own about what you feel that works and what doesn't. You are now going to need to take a look at your own yard...I know, you live there, you've seen it plenty of times. This time slow down. Walk around your yard with a critical eye. Maybe you already know you want to get rid of those overgrown shrubs or you need to kill all those weeds and plant something, but you need to look at everything again with a fresh eye that you recently trained using your neighbors efforts. Look at how the house sits on your lot and how the land lies. Does your yard slope? Is it hilly? Are there fences and driveways that you have to work around? Keep in mind that it really is wide open as to what you can change. The only real limiting factor for most of us is budget. Obviously tearing up your driveway is expensive, but there are things in your yard you can make disappear with little more than a shovel and a little hard work. If you're in need of a clean slate then, depending on what kind of plan you are leaning toward, you'll take these things into account.
Your landscaping project can be as small or as ambitious as you want to make it. It's not rocket science, but some things do require a lot more effort than others. It is only now, after having looked around the neighborhood, that I would recommend browsing photos in magazines or online. Try not to get too stuck on having one type of plant or anything like that. You need to be thinking in broad strokes, so that you can be flexible. For instance instead of thinking along the lines of: I want to have a banana tree here and blue fescue there, it is better to note that a tropical palm type of plant would be an appealing focal point here, and a low-growing bluish grassy plant would be nice there. This way, if you find that your area does not support the type of species you thought you wanted, it is easy to substitute a different plant.
You may now find that after getting all of these different front yard landscaping ideas, you are now ready to create a plan. There are some specific steps, as you might have guessed, that need to be followed to ensure this part goes well. Just like coming up with landscaping ideas, there isn't anything terribly difficult about it, but you need to proceed methodically and carefully. The next hub on Garden Design Plans should help you to complete this process. Hopefully you've enjoyed this well enough to continue following along.
