Backyard Oasis Design contest

 backyard design  5 Responses »
Mar 162011
 

Successful backyard design adds to the comfort and use of your outdoor space and home. With proper planning you can manage your available space to its best space use.

I’ve lived in cities where the only available space was container gardens or windows. I rented and had to work out a system where you get a landlords permission to do any backyard activity and I’ve been blessed with unlimited space in a rural setting. All situations have challenges and steps to make the best use of any space available.

So even if you live in a city or town you will be able to find a way to use some of the space available to you even if it’s a windowsill, patio, balcony or rooftop.

One step in backyard or garden design is to simplify your work. You want a beautiful garden and living space but setting up an easy design with multiple uses for each space will give you more time to enjoy the yard and family activities.

So as a starting point consider these questions to help you design the perfect backyard oasis.

1. Uses for the yard. Is it mainly relaxation where a garden, patio or swimming area will be a focal point?
2. Ages that will use the yard. And will these ages be changing in a few years. This will determine if a backyard area is childproofed, if a pool is a useful option or if outdoor buildings such as a workshop or potting shed would be handy.
3. Is the size of your available space a major consideration? Will each area need to serve a variety of uses to encompass everyone’s needs? Is your available space limited to a porch or small space by a garage? Small spaces create challenges but make beautiful hideaways.
4. How to blend the new design in with your home and any design elements currently in place.
5. And most important is the amount of money and time you are willing to devote to planning a design for your living space.

Backyard Oasis is offering a contest from March 16th to 23rd to help you with backyard design. Just place a comment below this article on what area of your yard you would like to have a fresh new look for. Three selected ideas will have a design made for their yard. The designs will be made with cost effective plans.

Posted by Denise at 2:40 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Why Perennial Plants Survive Through The Winter

 backyard design  No Responses »
Dec 022010
 

Perennial plants are popular for ease in care and more important, there ability to survive year round in most weather conditions. Perennials live on through rain, drought, sleet, or snow, making them a perfect addition to the garden areas.

What is it about a perennial that enables it to survive a wide variety of weather conditions and still thrive? Annuals and biennials add to any garden but they do not hold up to climate changes like the hard perennial. And with a perennial plant lasting for years it will add beauty to a garden at a very reduced cost.

The perennial plant is able to thrive year after year due to a few survival tricks in its traits. Trees and shrubs drop their leaves and protect their next year’s growth with waxy scales. Examine the bud of a perennial plant and you’ll see that it covered with a sticky looking waterproof wax. When the bud begins to bloom, it scars as its scales fall off and the distance between its scars are an indicator of how many times a year that perennial plant grows.

The perennial plant gears up for the winter by draining its own food supply from its leaves down inside its trunk, branches, and twigs. As the weather gets colder, the tissues of the perennial plant will slowly change and become cold resistant in a process called “hardening.” During these changes, the chlorophyll of a perennial plant will decompose and lose its propensity to project a green hue – leaving the tree with its trademark red, yellow, orange, and brown autumn leaves.

And as with all plants, perennials also have their weaknesses. You need to study the climate areas that the plants will grow in and select plants accordingly.

Here are a few traits to look for:

  • Some perennials are not as hardy to cold or heat.
  • Most perennials have a shorter flowering stage and will need other perennials or annuals to add color or texture to the area when not in bloom.
  • Some perennials are spreaders and need to be retained so that they do not take over a garden or yard.
  • There are short life and long life perennials.
  • For perennials to grow well they need to be divided every 3 to 5 years.
  • Most perennials do better with a compost or ground cover applied around them. This keeps weeds down and lets the plant thrive.

A basic rule of thumb to any plant is to do research and know its strengths and weaknesses. This will let you know if the plant will be a good addition to your landscape.

Posted by Denise at 1:17 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

The Joy of a Well Planned Garden

 backyard design  No Responses »
Nov 302010
 

A well-kept garden is a joy to behold. And a well-planned yard is versatile and yet will not overtake your free time. By carefully choosing garden accessories, colors and plants you can match or contrast with the style and color of your house and add flair without breaking the budget doing so.

Whether you are a weekend flowerbed gardener, or whether your garden is planned to feed your family through the winter, fanciful accessories will add to the enjoyment of the outdoor living space and the time you spend caring for your garden areas.

Here are two ideas often overlooked in garden planning that will add to your decor and landscape

Garden in three dimensions

Well-planned flower, vegetable or herb gardens do not have to stay at ground level. If your square footage is limited, cube it by the use of attractive and functional trellises or rails to bring plantings into the air. Small spaces can make use of vertical space and add privacy to the home in the process. Hanging baskets will also create a growing wall effect.

Make use of your windowsills, both indoors and out with small plants, flowers and vegetables.

Surround a tree with vinyl-coated wire and bring climbing roses or flowering vines into view.  Create a secluded outdoor room by trellises covered with decorative flowers, vines or even vegetables. Small ornamental gourds will add color with the blossoms and later the multi=colored gourd crop. I like to mix scarlet runner beans with any vine or near sunflowers for more color and a quick snack. Scarlet runner beans are extremely nutritious to eat.

Five senses

Plan your garden to include all five senses. You see the beautiful colors in the plants, flowers and accessories. You feel the texture of the earth as well as the crisp vegetables that are picked for culinary enjoyment. You can smell the perfume of the flowers and trees. Tasting fresh produce from the garden is a bonanza for your taste buds.

Finally, your sense of hearing is able to pick up the sound of the wind in a set of wind chimes.  Wind chimes are decorative and can sound melodic or mournful, tinkling or hearty. If you don’t have room for a large fountain, a table fountain will add the sound of water to a patio or balcony area. Running water drowns out noise from traffic or neighbors.

And a moonlight garden, set up with night lights and flowers that glow in the light evening light will add mystery and more time for relaxing to your backyard and patio area.

Plan your garden accessories to appeal to each and every human sense and your garden will be a place where your spirit is uplifted.

Posted by Denise at 10:45 pm  Tagged with: , , , ,

A Mini Landscaping Lesson

 backyard design  No Responses »
Nov 242010
 

Landscaping has often been likened to the painting of a picture. A good picture should have a point of main interest, and the rest of the points simply go to make more beautiful the central idea, or to form a flow in the image that in way links all the pieces together to form a silent harmony.

So in landscaping design there must be in the gardener’s mind a picture of what he desires the whole to be when he completes his landscaping project.

Should you include lots of bare open lawn in your landscaping theme? A large extent of open green lawn space is always beautiful. It is restful. You can use the wide open green to emphasis the garden areas and other points of interest or activity in the design.

This type of open landscaping adds a feeling of space to even small grounds. If you cover your lawn space with many trees, with little flowerbeds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. You want to create an area where you can relax and enjoy the yard.

Trees, shrubs and plants are an easy way to change your backyard design or give it a fresh new look.

Trees
A single tree or a small group of trees is not a bad arrangement. Just make sure you do not center the tree or trees in the lawn or design. Let them drop a bit into the background or make a focal point with them. In choosing trees for your landscaping project, keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree. The tree should have a good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit.

The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech all these are beauty points to consider when planning your overall landscaping arrangement.

Shrubs
Shrubs look best when planted in groups. They have a more natural look. Keep in mine, the biggest mistake most gardeners make when planting shrubs is not giving them enough room to grow without looking crowded when grown. Note the size they will grow and plant accordingly. If you have bare spots while the shrubs are growing fill the space with perennials or annual flowers.

Plants
Perennials, annual plants and container planters help to add interest and tie the different landscaping areas together. They are also one of the easier landscape design areas to change or move for a fresh look.

In conclusion, plan for open lawn spaces in your overall landscaping design and keep a visually appealing tree to blend in the background. Think balance and you will come up with a beautiful landscaping design for your yard.

Posted by Denise at 11:04 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Landscaping a slope with a small retaining wall

 backyard design  No Responses »
Nov 162010
 

A stone retaining wall is an attractive way to make up the difference in grade. It gives much more character to a garden than a terraced slope does. When properly laid out it takes the average terraced slope and gives it an artistic flair. Believe me, with by yard I know all about slopes and trying to make them more manageable.

But there are two questions to ask before starting a project of this size. Is it a design addition that you will want to live with for a long time and what, if any zoning restrictions will apply to a retaining wall?

If the stonewall is the project you want to undertake for your home, climate is your next concern.

A wall, shelter or outdoor fireplace made from brick or stone set in mortar will not stand up in Northern climates unless it is on solid concrete footings. These footings need to go down below the frost line. This can make the wall too expensive for many properties. I live in a zone 5 climate so I have to plan for the effects of frost when creating any outdoor hardscape design.

Provided the drainage in the soil is good, a dry stone wall – one without mortar can be set on a footing of coarse gravel or crushed stone 8 to 12 inches deep and 15 to 18 inches wide. Good drainage in the soil usually means more sand and less of a clay base in your soil. If need be add sand to your mix. This is the style of stonewall I am adding to my home.

If you need a footing, dig a trench for the footing deep enough for the lowest course (layer) of stone in the wall to be buried 2 to 3 inches below the lower grade. For best appearance, build a wall of flat-bedded lime or sandstone from 2 to 4 inches thick, with an occasional thicker piece to avoid monotonous horizontal lines. Always place the bed or grain of the stone horizontally and level, with the trimmed face showing.

As you lay each course in place, to a tight line running the full length of the wall, use a straight-edged board and carpenter’s level to make the courses level. Fill in with earth packed firmly behind each course. Set every fifth or sixth stone with a short face to the front so that the length of the stone goes back into the bank as an anchor.

Note: For safety’s sake, do not build a wall like this over 30 inches high. And for the top layer use broad, flat stones set in concrete mortar. This is the part of a wall I like creating the most. I look for unique flat rocks that will add flair and personality to the wall. I have interesting shapes of flat rock nearby, many with fossil designs.

The rocks set in mortar may crack if the wall heaves from frost, but they will settle back in place afterwards. A good footing should help prevent this or make the problem much smaller.

Also, for strength and river rock landscaping, it is a good idea to build the wall with a slight lean toward the back of 1 to 2 inches for each foot of rise. This will help prevent the rocks from moving forward from frosts or settling.

And as a final consideration is when planning the steps, build the steps into the wall as it is put up, rather than setting them in later. The steps and wall will work together and there will be no hidden surprises. For the steps, have each tread all of one stone, if this is possible, and wide enough so that the step above can overlap the one beneath by 2 to 3 inches.

I mixed stonewall with wooden tiered steps that were 13 foot long. It gives the slope a mixed feeling of stonewall and terraced garden. The steps are dived in the center with a matching wood rail. And the wood raised terraced garden is carried in other areas of the yard and gardens.

Posted by Denise at 12:39 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,
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