What do you love doing outdoors?

It’s probably not yard work! Your landscape is going to need maintenance. It’s always alive, but we can start with low maintenance plants and lawn.

Do you only see work? Don’t worry about the tasks involved, focus on your ideal outdoor room or outdoor living space!

Small Front Yard and Backyard Ideas

Entertainment – Keep lawn space open for easy movement. Create an entryway for interest. Entryways focus our eyesight on a focal point ahead like a statue, sculpture, table, etc.

Relaxing – Back to the low maintenance thing. Choose a minimum amount of shrubs with wide spacing and a shade tree for the western summer sun.

Sunbathing – Southern and West facing landscapes. Add privacy with evergreens.

Sports – You need lawn space, don’t choose too many plants. Keep it simple. I like to see the backyard encircled with plants to frame the garden room, then add green space in the middle. Shape your lawn in an oval, rectangle, or square to make an ideal playing field.

Attracting Wildlife – Butterfly garden, Wild birds, brown hares, turkeys, white tail deer…Certain plants bloom at certain times. Choose plants that bloom throughout the year to attract pollinators. If you want to keep wildlife away from your edible plants, build raised beds.

Photography

Edible gardening – Choose a sunny location. It’s very difficult to grow veggies in the shade.

As Little As Possible (low maintenance), Landscaping as an Investment, Easy to Take Care of – Choose slow growing evergreens like Taxus x media (Anglojap Yew) and space them appropriately. Don’t install too many items at once. Plants need TLC for the first few years then become self sufficient.

Energy Savings – Shadetrees for Cooling

What do you think? Do you have additional ideas? Share them on the Facebook page!

Once you have this figured out, go to Step 2 to fine tune your landscape project budget!

By now you see the journey before you. This isn’t instant gratification. The delayed gratification will be tremendous. You’re going to be so glad you started two years from now!

It feels like work at first. I know that. I have felt the feeling of chores. However, you’re setting up a memory making environment.

Some of my favorite memories occurred outdoors, like throwing the baseball with my dad. I’ll never forget the prickly Rotunda Chinese Holly that I had to reach under to get the ball! I hate that plant! No wonder I like Japanese Holly better…

Instant gratification is overrated. Follow the first six steps to save time and money then stop and smell the roses. By biggest weakness is that I don’t take enough pictures.

Continue to sharpen the saw (learn more) by walking your landscape and appreciating all the fine details. The best gardeners and homeowners can see all the intricate detail about their landscapes. If something is amiss, a quick problem can be corrected before major plant decline or death.

Your landscape is always alive and changing. You have different natural processes occurring each season. Start small and good luck. Fail early and often. It’s the best way to learn!

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, give me a call or email me to schedule your FREE site audit. If you need a task calendar simply search on google.

Now that you have a working design and budget, it’s time to shop!

Buying Plants comes down to three things. Price, selection, and time.

Price – Save the Most Money

Trees, shrubs, edibles, and flowers are priced based on their age. The older, the more valuable. The most expensive plants are usually the oldest and largest. Japanese maples and boxwoods cost more compared to similar size and age plants because they grow more slowly. You will always pay a premium for slow growing plants. You’re paying for time!

To save the most money, find a wholesale source for your most common varieties. Google wholesale nursery near “your town and state”. Call them and see if they sell to the public. Some wholesalers charge a minimum order so figure out your design first, then you’ll know what you need.

If the wholesale nursery has a price list, catalog, or inventory with prices on the website, they’ll sell direct to you. Call them if you like the price and see if you can pickup or have delivered. Pickup is going to be less expensive, always.

If you can’t find anything or the wholesalers won’t sell direct, save money by shopping the box stores first. The most common box stores are Lowe’s and Home Depot. Depot usually has better quality material, but it can be pricier.

If the garden center has multiple sizes of the same variety, buy the smallest size container. It will grow and appreciate, turning a $5 shrubs into a $50 plant into a $500-5,000 specimen.

Treat your landscape like the investment it rightfully is! Your landscape appreciate at 9% over the life of your homeownership (click here to scientific journal article).

Time – Save Years of Frustration

To save the most time and skip buying a potentially weaker plant, shop your local garden center. Call ahead if you’re just looking for one plant.

You’re usually going to pay more from a local garden center but 99/100 times, the local garden center has better, healthier plants. So you pay for what you get. This is more true in live goods than other kind of product. Low price live goods (plants) must be grown with cheaper inputs or be younger. Local garden centers purchase from smaller, family owned nurseries and national brands, so their plant material is superior.

If you need to save money, buy fewer plants and space them farther apart. It’s ok for gaps between shrubs. When I view properly spaced plants, I know an intelligent designer and/or homeowner did their homework about plant spacing.

If you’re just looking for a single specimen, start at your local (independent) garden center. The bigger and older the plant, the more expensive it’s going to be.

If you’re shopping for edible plants, check out the local garden center or farmer’s co-op in your area. They have the best selection and the price is reasonable. You’re saving so much money growing your own food! For more on growing and landscaping with edibles click here.

 Selection – Save Time and Money

Garden centers always have superior selection to Lowe’s and Depot. Call or check the local garden center website for specific varieties. If they don’t have what you’re looking for, they will know where to get it.

Local garden center employees have great knowledge and may have a replacement for you if unable to source the variety.

Spring offers best availability of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Cool season edibles are best found in the Fall. Click here for help deciding when to install.

Ebook

I go into more detail regarding exact plant prices in my ebook 7 Steps to Landscape Success.

In addition to design and install, I can help you find wholesale priced plant material! Call or email me elliott@mylandscapeguide.com to get started!

Now it’s on to Step 5, Site Prep and Install!