Flick through any glossy landscape magazine and it’s pretty easy to let your imagination run wild. This is unfortunately often far beyond what your budget will allow. It is, however, possible to have the garden of your dreams without breaking the bank. We all have the ability to do a little residential landscaping of our own if we follow a few simple rules. Below are some residential landscaping design ideas that you can apply to your own garden.

Make Use of Available Materials

The secret to residential landscaping design on a budget is to re-use many of the materials which are already lying around in the back yard. Also, if you focus on a select few leading elements and utilise some inexpensive techniques, you can create that “wow” effect without dinting your bank balance.

Decide on the Shape

Landscaping is all about just a few key things. First of all, you need to decide upon how you will shape your garden using solid structures and patterns. You will be able to utilise even some of the most mundane and weary elements in your garden with just a little hard work and imagination.

Consider Fencing

Fencing is far more than a back-drop or a way to separate your garden from your neighbours. It can provide a fabulous feature too. A well maintained, exceptionally designed and treated fence can help to elevate an ordinary looking landscape into something truly delightful. Perhaps a horizontal fence will make more of an impression than sticking to the traditional vertical style. This makes a good back-drop for a garden benched with a few planters around the patio or attached to the fencing itself.

Add Some Features or Inanimate Objects

A well placed fountain, stones or arch as well as a water feature can also help to provide focus for your garden. Once you have decided upon the general shape and inanimate focus, it is time to really bring your garden to life with well chosen plants.

Choose and Position the Right Plants

One thing which new gardeners often fail to remember is that plants grow. Okay, it may sound obvious but it is important not only to choose and place plants in the position where they look good now, it’s also important to think about how much their growth will change the whole aesthetics of your creation.

There are many ways in which plants can alter the appearance of your garden. You need to think about the following:

• Height – Some plants grow taller and make a terrific backdrop for other smaller flowers and plants
• Spread – Some plants spread like wild-fire, so they only need to be planted sparingly. Others grow outwards to provide a bush-like appearance and are terrific for filling in unsightly holes
• Colours – Choose your plants according to the colours of the foliage and not only the colours of any flowers they may have
• Borders – Some plants are just perfect for borders and help to soften the edges of even harsh, straight lines. Choose varieties like Alyssum. This annual plant is available in a variety of colours (lavender, pink, cream or white) and can give a continuous bloom right through the growing season if you maintain to cut them back every now and then.

Think About Borders

When you design a border, you also need to think about creating an entire spectacle rather than simply planting a few of your favourite flowers.

How about some vivid green ivy growing up a smartly varnished fence behind smaller shrubs with beautiful purple or reddish foliage and a selection of bright green ferns in the foreground? The effect is truly remarkable and will provide a good feature all year round.

Make it Easy to Maintain

It’s also a great idea to have some plants which provide good ground cover. A beautiful carpet of plants can not only create a good visual effect but also prevent weeds from growing and spoiling your handiwork. One of the secrets to successful landscape gardening is to make the whole creation as user friendly and easy to maintain as possible.

Determine the Colours

When you think about the colours of the flowers, you may find that choosing one or two dominant colours provides the best effect. Remember, however that whereas some flowers create a splendid and attractive display for just a few short days or weeks, your garden is there year round. Make sure to plan your landscaping design so that your garden looks beautiful year round.

Don’t Forget the Herbs & Ornamental Grasses

Don’t forget that many herbs make delightful and fragrant addition to a garden as well as having a fresh supply close to the kitchen. Thyme is drought tolerant, aromatic and also incredibly attractive when used as a ground cover. It also thrives in full sun.

Ornamental grasses are a staple of the professional landscapers but often overlooked by newcomers to landscape design. If you look at many of the Landscape Construction Macedon Ranges have created you’ll see that ornamental grasses can be incredibly beautiful, relatively fast growing and incredibly hardy.

Residential landscaping really is a lot of fun. Plan out your space on paper, look at what you already have to work with and enjoy yourself. That’s what gardening is all about after all.

Your landscape is a big part of your property that’s why, it should be aesthetically pleasing. In order to get the positive results that you are looking for, consider employing a garden design expert. Unfortunately, there are many people who decide to go with mediocre landscape solutions, thus wasting them a lot of money; the amount that could have been redirected elsewhere more important.

Employing a professional garden expert greatly matters. If you don’t want to waste your time, money and obtain unsatisfactory results, don’t ever disregard the ease of hiring a professional landscape construction company.

Professional

The very first tip is to go with a pro! There are too many people who are willing to cut corners when it comes to the professionals that are being sent their way. Don’t go with landscape construction services that are not good enough because there is a lot more at play.

You have to ensure that the professionals are as you want them to be. This all begins with how they are in person and how they are presenting themselves to you. Make sure they are as professional as they can be because this plays a huge role throughout the whole process.

Patient

Collaborate with the best and most patient service provider as you may come up with some changes and requests during the process. The team must be patient enough to deal with these scenarios. Some people do not pay much attention to this, after all this is not something tangible where you can gauge it immediately.

Allot time to read the reviews of their previous customers in relation to this service and what people have to say about them. Are they patient with their clients or are they always in a rush to make a quick buck?

Proven

Employ a team with a proven service because that is going to end up working in your favour. There are just several individuals who are not proven, and this can be quite frustrating. Don’t just go with any old solution.

A proven service will save you a lot of money that would otherwise have gone to waste. Don’t get stuck in this kind of rut.

Credentials

The credentials that are being presented in relation to the company should be spotless. You should be willing to take a look at them as most clients don’t until it is too late. Make sure that you do ask for them as they are often obligated to hand them over. If they are not willing to do so, take your business somewhere else.

This is a big part of the service, and they should be confident to make their credentials available. The best services are always going to be willing to do exactly this.

Experience

Landscaping requires comprehensive experience, and most people even get confused as to what the right landscaping approach is. This can cause more worries than benefits, which is never a good thing. Don’t get stuck in this miserable situation by making sure that you are going with a service provider with the right experience. Work with a reliable team with years of proven experience in this field. They should have sufficient experience to provide you excellent landscape design, as that is what matters most in the end.

Rates

The final but not the least tip is the rate. Always get an estimate before any work is done. You might be surprised to pay beyond your budget if you don’t ask the quote beforehand. Also, go for reasonable rates. There are several companies that provide high-quality service in an affordable amount. So, take time to research such companies. Now, this does not mean you should start bargaining them into the ground and then get mad when they don’t give in. There is a limit to which a company is going to remain flexible after which, the margins just don’t make sense.

Try to be reasonable (by researching) and ensure that you are willing to go down to a price that is good for both parties. You shouldn’t be making any sacrifices, but neither should they as that is not going to create good will.

These are six of the most important tips you’ll come across when finding the best landscape construction services. There are indeed many factors that come into play when you are in search for the best solution in town, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Be sure to do enough research into the solution being presented to you. Of course, you don’t want to go with landscape construction services that are not good enough and are just going to end up becoming a real waste. Hence, keep these helpful tips in mind.

Landscaping can add immense value to any property. However, it’s important that this is done by professionals who are reliable, and able to work in conjunction with the property owner. This ensures that the result fits the owner’s goal.

Professional landscape gardeners are able to put into reality, the vision of those who have hired them.

Successful landscaping can add up to 15% to the value of a property, easily covering the costs of the landscaping project itself. One of the joys of having a garden of your own is the opportunity to be creative, and to express your artistic sense of style and taste.

There is a misconception that you need to have a large garden with rolling lawns in order to have landscaping done. This is not true at all. Regardless of the size of your garden, there is a way to design and landscape it to make it look better. A good landscaper will be able to help you to adapt your vision to suit the size and shape of the garden you have.

A garden can be a wonderful retreat – somewhere you escape to when life gets stressful; and it can also be a wonderful place to entertain. Hiring landscape gardeners to turn your garden into a place that expresses your individual personality, taste and style is one of the great joys of entertaining as well as spending time alone, appreciating your surroundings.

Very often, landscaped gardens include water features, and various garden accessories. There is so much choice available now that there is always something for everyone, regardless of their preferences. If you have children, it’s a great idea to allow them to contribute ideas to the planning of your garden as well. Adding a small patch of kids’ garden to the plan is an excellent way to get children active.

Allowing your child to design their own garden, and to plant vegetables or fruit is a wonderful learning experience, and can also work miracles in getting fussy eaters to eat more healthily. Very few children would be able to resist eating something they have grown themselves.

Ask your landscapers for advice and help in arranging and designing your garden. You may have some excellent ideas, but they have the experience, and they will be able to tell you whether your ideas are practical, and if not, what you can do to adjust them in order to make them practical.

Take some time to look through examples of gardens that have been landscaped that you really like. This will give you additional ideas you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

There are many different themes you can choose for landscaping your garden as well, and some of these take more planning, and cost more than others.

Be sure to do plenty of research before you get started on the project, in order to get the most out of the landscaping opportunity, and to ensure your success. Having a clear image in your head, of what you really want is a good start. The next challenge is getting that image across to those who will be doing the landscaping work itself.

Get input from your family and friends.

This does not mean you have to go with what they say, and their opinions and advice, but hearing different viewpoints and opinions can open your mind to new ways of thinking.

Input from friends and family can help spark ideas you would not have thought of otherwise. It can also help provide solutions to problems preventing you from achieving the results you want.

Record everything that is important to you: comments from loved ones as well as the landscapers that may have an impact on your decisions and choices. This is so that you have something to refer to throughout the process that will keep your mind fresh and your perspective of the landscaping project open and creative.

Thinking out of the box is important in any creative project, and landscaping is no different. If there is something you want to achieve as part of your new garden, and it seems impossible, try looking at those challenges from a different angle, and ask the landscape gardeners for their professional opinions as well.

Having a great home means nothing if it does not look great on the outside. Curb appeal is just as important as the house itself. If you are not very talented in the gardening department, it would probably be a good idea for you to hire a landscaper.

The following list of dos and don’ts should be very helpful while you are going through the hiring process.

DO make sure that any company you are considering is licensed to operate a business in your state

This is important because those that are not will not be able to secure business insurance. The last thing you need is for someone to be on your property doing work and there is an incident, yet there is no insurance to cover the damages.

DON’T forget to call several companies to schedule estimates

It is usually tempting to hire the first inexpensive landscaper you come across, but this can turn into a disaster. The price may be low because they are not very skilled at what they do and/or there may be another company out there with more competitive rates. Either way, you can avoid issues if you request quotes from several companies before making a choice.

DO ask to see a sample of the work they have done

Any good landscaper has a portfolio of their work. Looking through it can give you an idea of whether or not they have the skills necessary to do the job you have in mind. It also helps to verify that this is their work by making some phone calls to some of their previous clients. If you are told that there is no way to show you any samples, it would be best to consider another contractor.

DON’T forget to ask for everything in writing

This will help safeguard you in the event that there is some type of dispute later. Even if you have a good idea that things will go well, it is always a good idea to have paperwork completed. It should detail the job that is supposed to be done, the duration and the amount they expect to be paid.

DO look for someone who has a good amount of experience

One thing you may notice is that newer landscapers will charge lower prices in order to get their foot in the door. Do not allow this to result in you making a mistake you will come to regret. While it is not necessary for your landscaper to have a minimum of 20 years’ experience, it is always best to aim for at least two to three years at the very least.

DON’T hire a landscaper that seems overconfident

This is usually someone who is not very good at taking directions and you may have some problems with them in the future. It is important for homeowners and landscapers to work together to create a masterpiece. An arrogant contractor is one who will not be able to help you as much as you would like. Yes, they are supposed to be confident in the work they do, but if they are boastful and otherwise arrogant it would be best to hire someone else.

DO verify all insurance information you are given by any potential landscapers

Unfortunately, there are many people out there who will continue to work once their licenses have expired. This is a huge liability and it needs to be avoided at all costs. Never take their word when they say they have insurance. The best thing to do would be to jot down the policy number and call them yourself. Once you are sure that their insurance is current, you can proceed with the hiring process.

DON’T forget to ask your neighbours for recommendations

Most of the time it is best to have landscaping that is similar to that of your neighbours. The best way to ensure this would be to use the same contractors for your landscaping needs. Since they have direct experience with them, you will have a good idea of what to expect.

A great landscaper is not very easy to find. Use the tips here when you are in the hunt for the right one.