Finding your landscaping style requires matching the looks you like to your daily needs for your outdoor space. Thankfully, there are easy ways to meet your needs. These landscaping priorities and respective aesthetic types can help you find your ideal style direction.
Define Your Landscaping Priorities
Understanding your priorities when it comes to landscaping will give you a head start on planning and making the best choices for your yard and needs.
- Eco-Friendliness: Opt for native plants and pollinator-friendly blooms to keep your garden and yard blooming without needing extra fertilizer, water or pesticides.
- Pet or Child Use: Use strategic fencing and opt for a lush lawn with grass or clover, or an easy-to-clean space with playground rock to ensure a lot of fun without a lot of mud. Avoid sharp plants like cactus or roses around small children, and verify which plants are toxic to your pets.
- Entertaining: Creating a space for entertaining guests or simply your household will require some landscape planning. Opt for a flat space where you can create an outdoor fireplace and chairs for relaxation. Don’t forget a space for eating and enjoying outdoor BBQs.
- Maintenance Level: From no-maintenance xeriscaping with minimal plants, to low-maintenance options with local natives, to high-maintenance options with out-of-climate blooms, you’ll need to plan your yard accordingly.
Decide on Your Aesthetic Ideals
While choosing your landscaping and plants based on looks alone is inadvisable, it’s still vital to take your aesthetics into consideration.
- English Cottage: A classic and romantic look for a yard that incorporates climbing ivy, roses, with colorful flowers and stone paths or garden statues.
- Zen Garden: A Japanese-inspired look utilizing raked gravel or sand, bamboo or maple plants, and water features like koi ponds or natural-looking fountains.
- Modern Minimalist: Clean lines are the hallmark of this look. Utilizing structured plants like topiary shrubs and lawns, this high-maintenance precision approach to landscaping looks minimal and sleek when paired with hardscaping (like concrete patios or geometric fountains).
- Coastal Garden: Evoking the feel of the beach, this look uses ornamental grasses and succulents alongside sandy or pebble paths. Driftwood and stone can be utilized as accents.
- Naturalistic Garden: A true reflection of nature, this look deprioritizes uniformity and focuses on plants that naturally thrive together. This concept utilizes a mix of native blooms in a way that feels organic and flowing rather than structured or formal.
