Amazing Landscaping Ideas - Turn Your Yard Into an Oasis

If you have an interest in the landscaping that surrounds your house but you are at somewhat at a loss for not knowing exactly where to begin, then you can quite easily discover many different inspiring examples. It might be simply driving around your neighborhood and stopping the vehicle to take a picture of a landscape design that is appealing to you. You may even knock on one of the doors and see if the homeowner will give you some advice on whether they use a professional or if they did it themselves.
Resources of Inspiration
Another good place to get many different ideas for your landscaping projects would be the numerous magazines and books that are published on the topic of design landscapes. Also, nowadays there are numerous different resources that are available online for designing and embellishing the landscape that's around your house. Quite a few of these websites even offer sample landscape design plans, numerous pictures of various ideas, as well as tips from experts for do-it-yourselfers, and contact information for professional landscape design that are around your area.
Some of the most common features in landscaping for homes are patios and decks. Patios and decks not only provide beauty and are a type of centerpiece to overall landscape design, but they can also add a functionality to your house and furnished outdoor living space as well.
Decks and patios provide you with an excellent place to host family gatherings as well as other types of entertainment. While at the same time, a small patio can be added to a special garden area to make a place for you to get away to relax and be refreshed by the beauty of your natural surroundings. Adding patios and decks, or making different improvements to existing ones, is also an excellent way to add more value to your home as well as increase your equity.
Fountains and Rock Gardens
Nowadays, more frequently, fountains are steadily becoming features of home and garden landscaping. There are the more traditional types, multi-tiered fountains that are reminiscent of European villas and country estates which can add an old world charm to your surroundings.
There are also more modern types of fountains that use specific types of rocks and stones or large ceramic pots which are steadily becoming very popular in different types of landscape architecture. Naturally, there are numerous other creative and beautiful styles that are available on the market today to meet any style and taste.
Rock gardens are also becoming quite popular. These type of gardens have the benefit of being highly attractive, however they generally integrate very few, if any, types of plants. The end result of this is that they are very low maintenance as they need either no watering, or very little, and virtually no weeding, and generally speaking need almost no attention, except to simply sit back and admire how your rock garden adds to the beauty of your overall landscape design.
English Cottage Gardens and Lawns
Emulating an English cottage landscaping garden is an additional home and garden inspiration. These type of gardens are notable for their overall lack of a formal plan. There is very little rigidity in their design with English cottage gardens since the whole idea behind them is to let the plants themselves "just grow" and to let them develop in a more natural, or organic method. These type of gardens have a specific charm to them and very often make individuals feel more relaxed as well is embraced by nature.
Lush green lawns are, in all probability, the most common and largest component of most of the landscaping design plans. A beautiful lawn is very popular since it provides for homeowners with an area where the family can enjoy numerous different types of activities. Lawns are also one of the simplest of the landscape components to maintain as well as staying beautiful for many years afterwards with basic maintenance routines.

Listen to Korbin Newlyn as he shares his insights as a avid writer in the field of gardening and home. If you would like to learn more go to Building Koi Ponds [http://www.uniquepondspro.com] advice and at Garden Ponds Designs [http://uniquepondspro.com/garden-ponds-designs-are-open-to-imagination] tips.

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The Contemporary Cottage Garden

To begin, let's explain a bit about the history of cottage gardens. The cottage garden has its roots in 18th century England. At that time it was very practical with folks relying on their gardens to supply them with their family's needs. It included not only a variety of plants but animals too. The cottage garden's purpose was to supply food, medicine, and dyes. The cottager's small plot allowed for no wasted space. This ended up in packed abundant garden growth which was well maintained also preventing waste. An integral part of a cottage garden is a fence or compact hedge growth. The original purpose of this was to keep the livestock separate and away from eating the produce. Cottagers planted what they knew would work, often using plants passed along by their neighbors.
The modern interpretation of this old style is the contemporary cottage garden and it takes on many forms. There are no hard and fast rules, but a few general principles remain from the old purposes of the garden. There is a variety of different plants offering different resources. Many times the variety factor makes a pleasant display of many colors when in bloom. The plants might be used for decorating, eating, or medicinal. Whether or not the present day gardener uses the plants for all these purposes is questionable. There is also abundance evident and continual growth. The modern cottage gardener still is concerned about the look of packed yet healthy growth. And lastly, there is a delightful informality about the cottage garden present always.
As do all gardens, the contemporary cottage garden needs plenty of water. The 18th century English cottage garden most likely was watered by hand with a watering can that was filled by the well or rain storage bin. The modern-day cottage garden is more likely to be watered with a hose that is stored with a garden hose reel.
Some might argue that it's not a cottage garden without a fence or a hedge. But this style of gardening is open for plenty of interpretation. One must keep in mind and allow for the gardener's climate, surroundings, and personal preference. Also because of the informality of it, as was noted above, there are no hard and fast rules.
Remembering this, the cottage garden can contain the plants its owner likes growing and knows work best on the site. It is a casual style of gardening allowing for individual freedom preferred by many current day gardeners. Among the plants commonly found in the cottage garden, with substitutions made for different climates, are the following: rose, lavender, cottage pink, delphinium, foxglove, lavatera, cornflower, love-in-a-mist, poppy, salvia, sweet pea, morning glory, moonflower, iris, lily, zinnia, black-eyed Susan, sunflower, Queen Anne's lace, coneflower, nicotiana, mignonette, heliotrope, cosmos, cleome, bee balm, butterflyweed, aster, goldenrod, nasturtium, flax, daisies, hollyhock, bachelor's button, marigold, forget-me-not, pansy, larkspur. snapdragon, canterbury bells, cockscomb, hydrangea, phlox, and lamb's ear.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

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