Perfecting your home to reflect the image that you want isn’t limited to the interior only. The exterior of your home plays just as big of a role in portraying your aesthetic as the interior does. There is nothing better than having a nice lawn, garden, or outdoor space that you can enjoy during the summer months. It not only draws guests in before they’ve even entered your home, but it also increases your home’s curb appeal.

Just as you use various elements to add warmth and feel to your home, you can use colour, texture, and style to do the same with your lawn, garden, or any outdoor space. For every space there is a unique landscaping design that you can use to help draw some attention to it. It is not necessary that you have sprawling acres of land in order to do some landscaping and bring some creativity to your outdoor space.

A Closer Look

There are many ways to make your home look inviting and appealing with well-maintained outdoor spaces. This can include anything from growing flowering shrubs, and planting annuals and perennials, to simply deer-proofing your lawn or garden. If landscaping seems difficult and out of your element it’s nothing to worry about. You can still manage to landscape your space without the assistance of a professional crew. All it requires is a bit of creativity and attention to detail.

Some of the simplest ideas can enhance the look of your outdoor space, this can include adding planters and baskets that add height or creating living spaces where you and the company can sit and enjoy. Some of the best landscaping ideas are those which are both aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.

10 Ideas for a Fresh Start

The following are ten ideas and tips to help you make the most of the warm weather and turn your lawn, garden, or any outdoor space into a lush and inviting space.

1. A Flower Full Welcome

A simple yet beautiful garden landscape with creek pebble, flowerbeds, sculpture and sign: this garden is watered using tank or reclaimed water
A simple yet beautiful garden landscape with creek pebble, flowerbeds, sculpture and sign: this garden is watered using tank or reclaimed water

Flowers are a great way to make your home seem more welcoming, warm and draw guests in. Beautify the entrance to your home with annuals and perennials to keep your home looking warm and colourful all year round.

Snapdragons, Petunia, Lily of the Nile, and Gertrude Jekyll roses can be an amazing addition to your entryway for a colourful and homey welcome. These plants are great even for smaller yards and entryways and they can be great to use to create some curb appeal for your home as well.

In addition to this if you have a relatively smaller space between the street and your house, you can use the addition of flowering plants to give the illusion of more space. Try making a low fence in front of your yard, this creates the image that your house is further away from the street than it actually is. You can then plant flowers and vines along the fence to enhance the look and brighten up your lawn.

Another good idea is to opt for perennials, if you are looking for low maintenance plants. Due to their tough nature they are easy to maintain and once you purchase them, they keep coming back year after year. A good example is “hens and chicks”, which are tough plants that grow well in rocky areas and in challenging spaces. Just a couple of plants can fill a space with their impressive leaves that are spiky in nature.

2. Wonderful Vines

Beautiful house yard with different plants
Beautiful house yard with different plants

Another way to spice up your outdoor space is to incorporate some sprawling vines in your landscape. By planting vines, you can add depth and feel to your garden or lawn. They are great for winding around fences, columns or even along walls.

The draping tendrils of green vines can definitely make a statement and can give romantic look to your outdoor space. Especially when the vines are chosen carefully, you can choose the image that you would like them to convey. By choosing delicate flowering vines such as clematis, which are also known as one of the showiest vines you can create the look of a delicate and romantic garden.

Clematis are great for your garden as they offer a wide range of colours in their flowers; red, blue, purple, pink or white. They are also quite versatile in their growth and can be grown on a trellis, on a fence or even in a container. Or if you would prefer a more laissez faire style you can just let sprawl all over and around your perennials and shrubs.

Quick Tips on Planting Clematis

  • When to plant them: The best times to plant clematis vines are during fall and springtime, this is because the weather is cooler then.
  • How to grow them: Clematis prefer cooler roots so choose a spot that allows for the leaves to get some sun but provides shade for the roots. Also, loose, fertile, well-draining soil is ideal for clematis.
  • When to fertilize: Clematis should be fertilized monthly during the spring and summer months. Fertilizer that is designed for roses or tomatoes works best.
  • When to prune them: Depending on the type of Clematis you have they will bloom differently so when purchasing them ensure to ask the nursery or garden center when you should prune them.
  • Where to purchase them: Clematis can be purchased at local garden centers and they generally carry a variety during the spring. You can also get them from mail order sources.

3. Driveway Essentials

Front view of luxury home with circular driveway
Front view of luxury home with circular driveway

One of the most prominent outdoor spaces of your home is your driveway. As the driveway leads up to your home, you want it to portray a welcoming atmosphere and provide an attractive view to your home. By carefully selecting the right materials and plants, and forming the landscape you can completely transform an unattractive driveway. It only requires a few simple steps to turn your less than perfect driveway into any gardener’s envy.

One of the biggest things is to ensure that you have a clean and sharp driveway, whether that is asphalt, interlocking, or any other form of a driveway. Make sure there are no oil stains or other marks, this can lead to a cleaner and crisp look.

You can start by making an island of lawn in the center of the driveway that is slightly raised. After that add a low hedge made of boxwood towards the back. You can add flowers to it such as roses, annuals, and perennials. These can be used to add colour, texture and height to enhance the look of your driveway.

4. Easy to Plant

Beautiful Pink Crinum Lily Flower

Another way to ensure that your landscaping is easy and low maintenance is to opt for plants that are easy to plant and grow. When considering strong and durable plants you often think of plants like crinums. Crinums hardly require water, or fertilizer and they enjoy warm humid summers. They also have a perfume like smell and flowers that resemble lilies.

Over time the crinums grow into large blubs and are very resilient to any kind of damage. So, if you are looking for plants that are not only low maintenance but also look good and smell good then crinums are the way to go. They also some in a large variety of colours which means you can have a very vibrant and low maintenance garden. They like the sun and are not picky about the type of soil you plant them in, so they are very easy to plant.

5. Deer Prevention

Natural stone landscaping in home garden with steps and flowerbeds
Natural stone landscaping in home garden with steps and flowerbeds

Another idea to maintain good landscaping habits is to ensure that no one else or nothing else is undoing all your hard work. You can keep pests and animals out of your garden and lawn by learning how to keep them at bay.

One of the biggest issues you can have with animals is deer, eating up all the flowers you worked so hard to plant. The best solution to this issue to find flowers that are very attractive to people but highly repellent of deer. Although this might seem quite difficult, it is quite easy to actually do.

It is a good idea to choose perennials that deer are not keen to eat such as globe thistle, royal red butterfly bush, purple cornflower, or butterfly weed. Deer will not even touch these and you will still be able to maintain a beautiful garden full of flowers, blossoms, and leaves. These can be easily found in various varieties at garden centers or nurseries but ensure that you plant these in well-drained soil.

6. Pretty Planters

Many flower pots decorating home in city
Many flower pots decorating home in city

Another way to add some dimension to your lawn or harden or even patio or deck is to add planters. You wouldn’t want to decorate your home in a one-dimensional manner so why should your landscape be any different. You can add some lovely layers to your garden with planters and hanging baskets that attract the attention of any visitors.

This is a very effective strategy that creates a visual effect and draws attention with almost no effort at all. By adding elevated planters and hanging baskets you create a dynamic look between the ground and the space above it so that it visually stimulates viewer. This makes a wave like impression of flowers and colours all across your lawn or garden.

If you want your garden to look impressive and grand this is definitely one of the key steps to take. It creates an immersive experience for both you and your guests. In addition to this using elevated planters can result in increased drainage and aeration for your plants which helps them to grow better.

A Basic Guide to Basket Planting

Although you can easily purchase hanging baskets and planters that already contain flowers and foliage. It is a good idea to create your own baskets and planters too so that they can follow any theme you might have or just better fit in to your landscape. The following is a general guide on how to put together a flower basket.

There are three types of plants that any flower basket should contain. The first type is what can be called a “spiller”, this essentially means that it spills over the edge of the basket and hangs down. These can include plants such as variegated sage or begonias.

The second type of plant should be a “filler” plant, which is something that conforms to the shape of the basket or fills up the center of it. These can be plant like Kong coleus or other variety of flower plants.

Finally, the third type of plant required is a “thriller”, which are usually eye catching or centerpiece type of plants that attract attention. This can be plants such as purple cordyline.

7. Shrubs in the Spring

Blooming beautiful white flowers in the summer garden. Viburnum flowering bush on a bright sunny day.
Blooming beautiful white flowers in the summer garden. Viburnum flowering bush on a bright sunny day.

One of the easiest ways to change and enhance the look of your outdoor landscape is to add greenery, more specifically blooms. Flowers, shrubs, and trees that are blooming can greatly up lift your lawn or garden’s look. They can be long lasting bursts of colour that impact the whole yard.

One such shrub you can add is the Chinese snowball. The Chinese snowball is one of the flashiest shrubs, it has blooms of white flower clusters that can grow up to six or eight inches wide. They are amazing to look at and draw the attention of any passerby. The plants themselves can get quite big and can grow to become twelve to twenty feet tall and wide. Although they can tend to look like hydrangea, they are actually viburnum.

8. Outdoor Spaces

garden landscape with fish pond, bridge and waiting shed

Another key feature of outdoor landscapes can be sheds, garages, and other outdoor workspaces. These however may not always the most attractive additions to our carefully designed landscapes. You can both hide these structures and use the space they have to offer by using them to exhibit beautiful flowers and plants.

You can add some brackets and a wooden plank to the exterior of your shed, garage, or other space and create a shelf above the entrance or windows. You can then place lightweight planters filled with flowers on to the shelf and hide the structure as well as add some more personality to its entrance.

You can also add potted ferns on the ground near the structure to create an earthy feel and even add an accent of color. By adding plants near and onto the walls of the structure it makes the structure seem more complementary to the landscape and prevents it from sticking out like a sore thumb.

9. Surprise Your Guests

A simple yet beautiful garden landscape with creek pebble, flowerbeds, sculpture and sign: this garden is watered using tank or reclaimed water
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If you have a little bit more space, you can lead your guests to a small surprise at the end of your garden. You can turn your garden into an escape or secret retreat by making meandering streams, intersecting trails, and hidden areas.

You can make small hideaways for your guests and family to hang out, drink, or have a meal. It can be great for formal and non-formal gathering alike. You can use this element of surprise to create visual tension and each pathway can bring its own little surprise to the mix.

But if you have a smaller space, do not fret you can also create an element of surprise by saving one element of surprise for the backend of your garden. This can be a fountain, a statue, a special flower display, or even a bench. Instead of placing it right next to the house of right at the start of your garden you can save it for the furthest spot in your garden. You can even place low hedges or flowers beds between your surprise element and your house to make it look more distant and suspenseful.

10. All Season Flowers

a garden that has an outstanding landscape and colorful flowers

One key way to keep up your landscape is to have blooms all year round. For those who are fortunate enough to live in areas with warmer climate, it is ideal to have flowers blooming all year round. Blooming flowers are a treat for not only the eyes of keen gardeners but almost anyone.

One of the benefits to year-round planting is to see colourful flowers, berries and leaves in gardens for all the different seasons. You can have plants that love the hot summers, also thrive in the mild winters. The flowers are a great addition to our lawn, backyards, front yards and even our porches or patios. The following is a small compilation of plants by seasons.

Seasonal Flower Guide

Plants for springtime: daffodils, forsythia, dogwood, mandevilla, wisteria, bearded irises, peony, azalea

Plants for summertime: hydrangea, gardenia, daylily, crinum, crepe myrtle, lantana, zinnia, impatiens

Plants for fall time: pansies, asters, mums, beautyberry, ginger lily, sugar maple, sasanqua camellia, autumn crocus, holly

Plants for wintertime: winterberry, crocus, amaryllis, rosemary, Lenten rose, saucer magnolia, Colorado blue spruce, flowering quince

 

Conclusion

These were some ideas and tricks to help you landscape and enhance any outdoor spaces that you have. Whether you have a small front lawn or a large back garden these ideas to help you spruce up your outdoor landscape are sure to come in handy. We cover many different areas of outdoor spaces ranging from elevated planters to rumbling vines and attractive driveways. Which ideas out of these are you looking forward to trying? Hopefully this article will help inspire you and give you the ideas you were looking for to enhance and beautify your garden, lawn, or driveway.

The Best Landscape Design Ideas and Tips