10 Steps to Stunning Landscape Design
Your yard is a very important natural resource that adds value to your home and enjoyment to your life. It contributes to a desirable, healthy community. Several important concepts will help you create an aesthetically pleasing, functional, and sustainable design.
The landscape design process includes the consideration of environmental conditions, your desires, and the elements and principles of design. The goal is to organize the natural and man-made features in your yard into an aesthetic, functional, and environmentally sustainable landscape.
The process begins with a site inventory and analysis of soil, drainage, climate conditions, and existing vegetation. This is a critical step for both plant selection and placement and locating family activities and functions. It’s important because the same climate conditions that affect the plants—temperature, humidity, rain, wind, and sunlight—also affect you, the user. The next step is to make a list of your needs and desires—this helps you determine how your yard and landscape will be used. The site and user analyses will also help you establish a theme for the form and style of your design. The functional diagram is then used to locate the activity spaces on the site and from this diagram a conceptual plan is developed. The last step is a final design that includes all the hardscape and planting details that are necessary for installation.
When designing a residential landscape, the most important step is to put a plan on paper. In the article Landscape Design: Ten Important Things to Consider the author provides ten important points to ensure a stunning landscape design. We invite you to give this great resource a read!
Mulch: The Key to Low-Maintenance Landscapes
Mulch can be one of the gardener’s most valuable tools and an essential component of low-maintenance landscapes. 
Earlier this week we posted an article covering frequently asked questions about mulch. If you found it helpful, we’d like to share with you another article that also provides some great information, tips and answers for problem scenarios.
Mulch reduces the amount of water lost through evaporation by shielding the soil from the sun’s drying rays. It keeps the soil cooler during the summer and acts as an insulator through the cold winter months lessening the effects of fluctuating temperatures on plant roots which in turn decreases their susceptibility to frost heaving.
Did you know that mulch applied too thickly can cause problems? Water may be unable to penetrate the mulch and reach the soil and plants fail to receive adequate moisture. It can also lead to root and stem rot problems in plants. It’s best to place mulch 2-3″ deep and replace it more frequently than placing it too deep.
For more valuable tips, types and problems read the full mulch article here.
