By Lee Dobbins
Landscaping can be very flexible. You can keep it simple as a starter. Later, you can re-do the area, or do design another area differently as your knowledge increases. It's easy to get started and there's no shortage of things to try. Professional designers who have been doing the job for years are still learning and experimenting!
Start with the basics. Decide on the areas where you want shrubs, flowers, trees, walkways, and whatever else you think of. Don't be frightened by the size of the task. Keep your first efforts simple and easy to do then work up to the harder things.
Once you have a good idea of what you want then make some sketches. It doesn't matter if you can't draw well. You just need some rough outlines like a few simple circles, triangles or rectangles so that you can lay out an approximate area. If you are ambitious then you might want to consider some landscape design software.
Ask yourself what will look best into the areas you've sketched. You may have the idea of a rectangular garden near one wall of the house, for example. Take some rough measurements, and think about which plants should go where within the space. You might want to have taller flowers in back, with shorter ones in the middle, and ground cover in front and between. That makes everything easier to see when you're standing in front of it.
If the area is rectangular don't think you're restricted to smaller rows or rectangles within. You could always put a birdbath in the center. That small circle might be the hub from which spokes radiate outward in a sun pattern. You could use bricks for the spokes and divide the rectangle into a series of triangles of different shapes and sizes.
You might want to have different types of plants in different triangles - cherry tomatoes in one area, foxgloves in another, thyme over here, chives over there, yarrow in front, tansy in the back.
This example has not only an arrangement that varies the space to make it visually interesting, but allows each plant to be seen from different angles. This means that whatever side you are at, the view is different.
If you vary the color arrangements it adds another level making an already interesting design even more so. A nice contrast to pink foxgloves for example is yellow tansy and chives, with their thin green stalks and lavender flowers gives some extra variety.
There is no limit to the number of designs you can have. You may have a kidney-shaped area that needs filling or maybe you'd like a short, white picket fence with some pleasant shrubs. Some people like to have a shade tree in the center of the yard, and some bright flowers poking up along the side of the house.
Just get creative and give your imagination free rein in the garden.
About the Author: Lee Dobbins writes for Backyard Garden and Patio where you can get more tips on gardening and learn more about great landscape design.
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