It is good exercise and make a home’s landscaping look well-kept and inviting. The easiest way to tackle an overgrown yard or spruce up one that has been neglected over the summer is to give it a thorough clean-up. Use powered maintenance equipment to make the job easier.
Preparation
Pick up any trash or small, hard objects, such as pine cones, from the yard. Put them in the trash can or compost pile. Move any furniture or vehicles out of the way. Send any children or pets inside for their own protection. …

One of the beauties of small formal gardens is the versatility of their placement. They can be placed anywhere in a yard, and they are by no means limited to small properties. In fact, very large yards that otherwise appear overwhelming to the eye can be subdivided into zones of interest by planting small custom gardens in strategic areas.
Small formal gardens are arranged around symmetrical designs and geometric shapes such as circles and squares. They rely upon clipped hedges and very small squares of greenery …

Landscaping and its maintenance to keep it looking neat and manicured can require a lot of expense and time. A home’s “curb appeal” is important, not only for homeowner pride but for home value. For a business, the exterior appearance is as important as the interior to draw customers inside and to communicate that image of professionalism and attention to detail. With so much riding on it, it’s well worth keeping it looking fresh and appealing.
Though it doesn’t get the attention of beautiful flowers and sculpted shrubbery, mulch is an …

Landscape spring cleaning is the time of the year in which homeowners get to clean up after a long harsh winter for their lawn. This means there is much more to do than to simply pull out the lawn mower, dust it off and start it up. In fact, the springtime is the one time of the year that the most attention should be paid to the lawn. Those who have a big yard will want to solicit help by way of their children, neighbors or even a professional lawn …

Back yards used to be just that, yards. There might be a patio and barbecue grill, a tree and a bit of landscaping, but back yards mostly served as a simple, green separation between one house and the next. It offered a place for the swing set for the kids and dog house for the dog, but it was limited for real outdoor living.
That was yesterday’s back yard. Today’s back yard is becoming an extension of the home interior offering comfortable outdoor living options that weren’t even imagined a few …

Garden design ideas can be based on a number of things. One of these is geometry. Geometry is important to the establishment of relationships between architecture and landscape elements. Since architecture is by nature inorganic, the best way to link its form to the living forms of Nature is to find repeating shapes that occur in both and magnify these forms in the shape of a garden.
Another basis for garden design ideas is the type, or style, of the garden itself. This refers primarily to two …

The intention of swimming pool design is to improve the property in several respects. First, it creates an exceptionally popular and practical focal point for outdoor entertainment venues. While not everyone may enjoy swimming in a pool, almost everyone enjoys gathering around a pool to relax. Poolside events can be formal or informal and can consist of large or small groups of people.
This makes a swimming pool patio the ideal setting for any type of outdoor gathering. Aesthetically, the presence of a pool contributes much to …

The French formal garden was, and still is, intended to inspire a sense of awe and wonder in the visitor in much the same manner as the facade of a grand, elite chateau would produce in the viewer. Its carefully sculpted and tightly controlled vegetation becomes a form of organic architecture, and its tight, linear control of all plant life emphasizes man’s complete dominance of nature.
The French garden is built around a sheer passion for rigid geometry that emerged out of 17th Century discoveries in optics and …

Garden designers working in Houston landscapes typically come from the two major lines of thought for gardens: formal designs and natural designs. Those specialists who work at the top of their game possess high levels of knowledge and discernment when it comes to design principles, plants and ecological systems.
The ultimate goal of these professionals is to develop a yard landscape design that will meet the needs and goals of their clients. And in the process, create a thing of beauty.
They should also pay attention to the long-term aspect of …

Many people do not realize that a contemporary patio is actually less expensive to build than a deck. This is particularly true when more standard costs materials are selected, and when no masonry walls are built around its perimeter.
This not only makes such a custom patio a true money saver to construct, but also to preserve. The materials used to build it tend to be very tough, and they will provide decades of enjoyable outdoor living without having to be reworked or maintained.
Another advantage that these …