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.

One the country road I grew up on, every house had at least one lilac tree. Spring had arrived when the lilacs bloomed. But this was the problem. Lilacs bloomed in the spring and then they silently blended into the backyard.

Now there are three varieties of Lilac’s that rebloom again during the same year. They do not bloom with the same exuberance of the first bloom display. But you will be able to enjoy the fragrance and color of the lilac for a longer period.

Lilacs such as the ‘Josee’ will bloom intermittently throughout the growing season after the first early bloom. It is considered a dwarf lilac and will grow 4 to 6 foot tall and about 5 foot in diameter. It will grow in zones 2 through 9.

The Josee has the capacity to rebloom 3 to 4 times per year if the summer is warm and long. It has even flowered as late as October in some cases. To improve the bloom capacity, remove the faded flowers as soon as they dry up. Shearing the plant each year will improve branching and stimulate new growth.

The Bloomerang is another reblooming dwarf lilac. It does not have as many blooms as the Josee but still will add color to the landscape. It also grows in zones 2 through 9.

The advantages of the smaller lilac are that they will work better in a small landscape design, or as a focal point in a small garden area. Have small leaves they would also work well near a pool or pond.

The Superba Littleleaf lilac is a little larger lilac that will rebloom in late summer or early fall.

Lilacs are traditionally large shrubs that can reach 20 feet tall and tends to spread outward with age. The above-mentioned cultivars are smaller and are more compact.
Lilacs can become quite dense so they are often used as a loose hedge or as a screening plant. With their seasonal flowering its best if you want a colorful yard to add flowers near the shrub base or garden art to add interest and texture.

If you are planning to add up a decorative area to your home, like a patio, to host your barbecue parties then you must have the proper concrete tools to be assured of a great finish on your patio long before the party.

Many people consider doing their own concrete because of the large cost savings. It is a good idea to do your own concrete if you can. It is helpful to understand what tools you will need and what they are for.

You should be sure that you can obtain in some manner the following tools in order to do your own concrete finish work. It is best to make sure that you have these ready to go long before the first cement truck ever shows up. These tools can help you create a beautiful patio that you can enjoy for years to come.

One of the tools that you will need is called the jointer, or groover. This tool allows you to intentionally put lines in the concrete that act as breaking points. This allows you to control where the concrete may crack. Another tool that is helpful is called the radius or edger. This tool puts a rounded corner on the edge of the concrete to give it a nice, finished look. It also helps to prevent chipping on the edge of the concrete.

The main tool that you will use to finish the vast majority of the concrete is called the float. The float allows you to push the rocks into the cement while bringing the soupy part to the top of the surface to give it a finished surface on the top of the concrete. A trowel is used much in the same way as a float, though it is used in smaller spaces and along the edges where a float has a hard time getting because of the concrete forms.

Then finally, there is the broom. Brooming can be a bit difficult. If you do it too soon it could give an unpleasant finish causing you to have to repeat the trowel process again. If you Broom too late, then you may not be able to achieve the anti-slip finish that you were after.

These are some of the most basic tools that you will need in order to finish the concrete pour. It can be helpful for you to do some research online or perhaps someone else do their concrete pour so that you have a better understanding of how to do it.

The weather and temperature are factors that you will need to pay attention to when you are scheduling a time to do your concrete pour. It is best to make sure that there is no rain in the forecast for a couple of days, if possible. If it is a hot time of year, be sure to do it early or late to make it more pleasant and easier to work with the concrete. Pouring your own concrete for the first time can be a scary thing. Be sure to get a lot of help, especially someone who has done it before to make it easier for you.

In Eastern Canada, the trees that have been used most successfully as street trees are the hard, or sugar, maple, the Norway maple, the European linden and the red and white oaks – though the oaks are rather slow growing. In the north and west, where the climate is more severe, the best street trees are the American elm, hackberry and green ash.

Because trees need to be in scale with the houses, modern homes call for much smaller street trees than the large ones named above. Shingle oak, hornbeam and smaller forms of European linden are excellent. There are also selected forms of Norway and red maple that do not grow as large as the natural species. These are more suitable for modern subdivisions.

Windbreaks and Screens

Exposed home sites, such as farmsteads or suburban properties, often need rows of trees to protect them against wind. Here the need is for rapid, dense growth. The exposed position naturally demands the utmost hardiness and, because the planting is close, the shape of the individual tree does not matter as long as the mass is effective.

The requirements are the same for trees used to shut off the view of unsightly objects, or to form a background for the more colorful displays of the garden. In the country or on suburban properties, poplar, willow, ash, pine and spruce trees make the best windbreaks and screens. In the city, there is not usually room for trees larger than the Chinese elm or the native cedar; on small lots screening is usually done with shrubs or single trees of attractive form.

Framing

Trees on larger properties are used to frame the view of the house. Similarly, the view from the house, of distant objects of interest or portions of the garden, may be framed by trees to create a more pleasing picture. As the view should always be more interesting than the frame, such trees should be chosen for their ability to “play second fiddle” gracefully. Those with average habit of growth and color of foliage are most pleasing.

Specimens

Trees may be used as specimens or as accent points to emphasize the design of the garden. Trees used singly or in groups for these purposes are chosen for their distinctive characters: for example, an unusually attractive habit of growth, as in Camperdown elm, weeping birch, or pyramid cedar, a colorful foliage as in Schwedler’s Norway maple, golden cedar or copper beech; or the particular grace of hemlock or the fall brilliance of the leaves of red maple and red oak. These qualities and the more obvious charm of abundant bloom or fruit, as with Japanese lilac or flowering crabs, make trees worthwhile specimens.

Conifers

The taller-growing conifers and natal mahogany tree are used in all the above ways. All sizes of conifers and natal mahogany are becoming more useful as the knowledge and appreciation of garden design increases. Because of their dense, evergreen, fine-textured foliage and their definite forms, conicrs are the most solid-appearing plants at our disposal. They are the best ones with which to build architectural form into our gardens. They clip well and can’ be held to constant form. Using them as a framework to emphasize divisions and accent points heightens the impression that the garden and house are related.

Conifers may be used to accentuate any sort of architectural line. The classic column is matched by the pyramid cedar or Swedish juniper, and the spreading lines of Savin’s or Pfitzer’s juniper carry out to perfection the lines of a rambling bungalow. The definite lines of good architecture can be brought out by the definite shapes of well-selected conifers planted at strategic positions.

There is, however, a great danger in using them indiscriminately or in too great variety without regard to the architecture of the house. Often deciduous shrubs are much more suitable.

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.