When you look out over a great landscape design, it should all flow together seamlessly. But that doesn’t just happen — it takes skillful planning.
Hardscaping and softscaping are common parts of any thorough landscape design, and a creative landscape designer knows how to use them together and soften the edges between them so they blend.
That's where the right selection of plants is key.
Don’t let your small yard get you down.
When you don’t have as much space as big yard boasters, you just need to be smarter about making every inch count.
Maybe you just moved into your great new house, but the landscape is bare.
A couple ideas to fill it with new life:
Palms are majestic and colorful cannas are cool, but sometimes you just need a great groundcover.
Groundcover plants are short, quick-spreading perennials that don’t need much care.
What are the best tropical groundcovers in Florida?
Kids don’t care about prize-winning roses, a four-tier fountain, or an intricate paver patio, so artistically designed Michelangelo would swoon.
You need to focus on different elements to make your landscaping appealing to kids.
It's pretty exciting when your new landscape designer shows up to discuss re-doing your backyard. You pour some coffee, get all your Pinterest photos out, and prepare to make some amazing plans.
There’s talk of landscaping, hardscaping, softscaping and you suddenly realize you’re not completely sure you know the difference.
What’s the difference between hardscaping and landscaping? What is softscaping?
It’s hot out there, and you don’t have time to move to Michigan to get out of the Florida sun.
So, how to shade your backyard?
If you have a typical yard, it probably takes some abuse.
Maybe you have a kid practicing for the Olympics soccer team, or your dog is obsessed with chasing squirrels.
Maybe there’s that one area where your neighbor always cuts through to borrow your hammer, or where the mail carrier takes a shortcut. (Note to self: get the neighbor a hammer for Christmas.)
Those aren’t places for prissy plants. What to plant when things might get walked on?
You probably think the most impressive layer of your new paver patio or driveway is the top layer. It looks amazing.
But the stuff you can’t see is just as impressive, from the layer underneath that helps it drain to the edging that keeps it from falling apart to the sand that holds the pavers together to the sealer that protects the whole masterpiece.
Have a big Central Florida backyard? Lucky. Not everybody does.
“Big outdoor spaces offer a lot of options, but not many people have that luxury with the current lots being sold in Orlando,” says Ground Source Landscape Designer Eric Frisch.
Larger lots are typically outside of town, he says, and often much of the property is weeds and some scruffy Bahia grass. Sounds like it’s time for some large-area landscaping ideas.
