Landscape design?

[mightymoo]

We bought a brand new house last year. TheI'm builder of course put a few shrubs and a tree in front of it, but other than that there isn't much in the way of landscaping. We can't afford to do some elaborate professional landscaping job. I would like however to make the yard look and feel nice. I have been thinking that if we had a comprehensive design plan - we could work on various pieces of the yard year after year, the plan would be the goal and we would know what we were doing was moving in the right direction. In addition we could do things like plant trees first, knowing they will take the longest to grow, etc. We would need more than just plans, we would need some hardscaping - the front yard is a story above the back and we definitely need some kind of path or steps from front to back.

So I'm wondering if anyone has gone through this? I'm thinking we have two avenues - we could go to a landscape designer and ask them to put together a design for us, but I have any idea how much that would cost. Second, I could try to do it myself, but I feel very overwhelmed in this area, I don't know where to start. Has anyone (who has little experience in the area) used landscape design software to make a design?

[SleeplessMommy]

You need to know what works locally - talk with the local (small) garden centers. For about $100, they will plant the tree for you, usually with a one year warranty. (well worth it if you are getting "expensive" trees.) :::

Bring in a drawing of your lot, with north marked, the house drawn in, driveways and dimensions marked. Tell them your objectives (shading, fruit, wildlife habitat, native plants, pretty flowers, etc) and they will help you pick out some trees.

I personally like crab apple and rhododendron.

Avoid English ivy like the plague!

[Pinoikoi]

I would do some local research and start compiling lists from there.. what plants are native to your area that you like? If you see something in someone else's yard that you like ask them what its called..

Once you get a set of plants in different categories- a tree category, a shrub category, etc.. then you can start looking for environmental options that work in your area.. In our situation, we have very skinny outdoor spaces that wrap around our house but then the end of it has a fenced yard area.. the skinny spaces we put native shrubs and trees in rock. It was fairly inexpensive, the trees get lots of runoff from the roof (no need to water them), and we aren't importing plants into our habitat that shouldn't be here.

Also, are there regulations for your housing area? Some areas require a minimum amount of lawn, but in dry areas, it can be a LOT of watering.. personally I would rather do a large stone patio with plants around the edges.. it would take a lot less water.

Dandelions for instance are NOT native to Alaska and are killing off other plants.. little by little..

[mightymoo]

I am in MA here - there are no regulations, no HOA, but we have a very large yard (not for here, but as opposed to other areas) - we have nearly an acre, though some of that is woods, probably half acre of grass. Watering around here isn't a huge issue - everything grows pretty well in the summer. Although it might need watering to get it established. Part of the reason I want to get more landscaping is to reduce the grass somewhat and reduce the mowing time. Right now its just all grass, which means that we are mowing a steep slope, right up against the fence (which then looks awful and needs weed wacking). Our house was also built behind two other houses, and we want to get some trees to screen us from them.

[MidnightCommando]

When we bought it was a blank slate like yours and what helped was a design software set we bought at best buy. I think we got it for around $20 and it's been great.

If you have a sprinkler system or plan on putting one in, make it a priority and scape around it. Little trees will grow tall and interfere with the water paths, etc. Your local extension office might be of help too as far as good hardy varieties to plant. If you have a local soil conservation district, check to see if they have a spring tree sale. We scored around 40 trees for cheap - planting them was the hard part.

[Pinoikoi]

http://realestate.msn.com/article.as...0799&GT1=35000

Saw this today!