When you think designing our garden or landscape, the most important consideration is how you and your family use your outdoor area. Plants, trees, a lawn area – these are all part of the total landscape. But beyond that, there are other issues. Outdoor lighting will help you enjoy your garden in the evenings. Irrigation lines are the best way to get water to those thirsty plants. If you like privacy, fencing is essential. If you want shade, retractable awnings are a must. If you love entertaining, consider an outdoor kitchen barbeque area. If you are lucky enough to afford the cost of a pool and spa, make sure you incorporate these features into your design. And of course, you also must consider outdoor furniture placement.

Plants, Trees and Lawns

When you think of a garden landscape, you first picture lots of green, with wonderful splashes of color. But as water costs rise, that big lawn may be something you want to rethink. Many people are replacing lawns with more water-efficient areas, such as succulent gardens. This also applies to plants, whether they are in containers or planted in the ground. Besides their water needs, the types of plants you choose also depends on how much sun or shade you have naturally in your garden. When you design your layout, think about how the colors will go with each other, and try to incorporate different textures too. Consider your soil too. If you have very dense clay soil, you may want to avoid delicate plants or at least use a tiller to amend the soil before planting.

Irrigation

You certainly don’t want to spend all your time in the garden with a watering can, so irrigation is a must. Figure out where the lines can run from your original water source when you plan your landscape. When you layout your garden design, think in terms of irrigation zones, too, so you can water certain areas that need more water more frequently.

Outdoor Lighting

Once the sun goes down, you really need outdoor lighting. For most of us, lighting should blend in nicely with the overall landscape. There are different options. LED lighting is cost effective in the long run. Solar lighting is becoming more popular as energy costs go up. Lighting can also be used to illuminate specific parts of your garden, such as unusual trees, or an interesting collection of plants.

Fencing

They say good fences make for good neighbors. This is certainly true. Fencing is especially important if you have a pool or water area. Even if you don’t have children, your neighbors may, so you want to keep everyone safe. Wood fencing is often the least expensive option for privacy and security. Composite fencing can be less prone to termite and weather damage. Fences can also be decorative, for example wrought iron fencing can truly enhance a garden landscape.

Retractable Awnings

We’re all aware of the dangers of too much sun, so if you love the outdoors, you will want retractable awnings or some type of shaded area. The retractable awnings are great because they can roll back in when you don’t want shade, such as in the early morning or the evening. Electric awnings are easy to operate too. Just push a button for instant shade.

Outdoor Kitchen Barbeque

For the chef in the family, why stop at a barbeque, when you can have a whole outdoor kitchen center. These centers are built in, providing not only a BBQ grill, but counter space, running water and other features to make cooking a breeze.

Pool and Spa

If you can afford the cost of a pool and spa – or if you already have one – they can not only be something to entertain the family, they can also be a beautiful part of the landscape. One thing to consider in designing a pool is that unconventional shapes can make it more difficult to use a pool cover. When you figure the cost of a pool, don’t forget maintenance. You will need to keep the pool clean, you will have to maintain chemical levels correctly, and you will also need to redo the surface of the pool over time. A spa can be less work, although cleanliness is still essential for good health.

Outdoor Furniture

Finally, you need furniture to enjoy the outdoors. Before buying any outdoor furniture, consider how you and your family use the space. If you entertain a lot, you’ll need multiple seating areas, perhaps a larger table and chair set. You’ll want to place table and chairs close to the cooking area. You may also want to look into lounge chairs, gliders, outdoor swings or other types of seating.

There are many things to think about when designing a garden landscape. But when it all comes together, the result is a garden you and your family will enjoy for a long time.

For more information on garden and landscaping tips see your local home improvement or garden store.

Landscape maintenance presents several unique challenges during the winter months. When the temperature drops and the precipitation starts falling, someone needs to clear the snow and ice accumulation from sidewalks and parking lots and handle other cold-weather aspects of maintaining your property. Although you may think of a landscape contractor as a summer service, hiring experienced professionals makes sense in the wintertime as well.

Whether you need to maintain your home, office, retail store or corporate establishment, professional landscapers can provide complete winter care for your property.

Snow and Ice Management

Snow removal is serious business, as heavy snowfall can make walking and driving on your property difficult and dangerous. When the driveways, roadways, sidewalks and parking lots are blocked by snow, it must be cleared so that people can get where they need to go.

Many commercial landscape companies who have little else to do during the winter months often have the equipment necessary to get the job done quickly and efficiently. In fact, many are available around the clock, ensuring that your property is kept clear whenever snow starts to pile up.

Keeping your pathways and driveways free of snow is important, but it is just as necessary to take care of the ice that can accumulate during winter storms. Anyone can slip and fall on hazardous patches of ice on your property. By contracting with a professional company, you can ensure that visitors and employees alike enjoy clean, safe surfaces for walking.

Professionals may use salting, sanding and other ice-management techniques to ensure that your walkways, steps, and driving and parking areas are safe and well-protected.

Decorating for the Holidays

Are you planning on giving your home or business a festive look for the holidays, with outdoor lights, greenery and other ornaments? Hanging strings of lights and decorations is a great way to put people in the holiday spirit, but climbing on ladders and icy roofs also puts thousands of people in the hospital every year.

Stay safe and warm indoors by having professional landscapers handle your holiday decorating. Everything from designing a creative display to putting up the decorations and even taking them all down at the end of the season can be done for you, giving you a beautiful, merry look without any of the effort.

Protecting Your Landscaping in the Winter

As the frigid temperatures set it, some of your landscape elements probably need some extra protection to survive the weather. Winter services from a professional landscaping company include measures to keep your trees and plants healthy through the cold months.

Burlap protective wrapping is used at many homes and businesses to shelter shrubs, bushes, trees and other plants from the hazards of snow, ice, wind and below-freezing temperatures.

Dormant pruning is another technique used to benefit your trees and shrubs. When the leaves have fallen, professionals are easily able to inspect branches for signs of fungus, disease, and pest infestation, pruning as necessary to keep the landscaping healthy and growing attractively.

Watching the snow fall can be peaceful and calming, but taking care of your property during the harsh winter weather is anything but relaxing. Save yourself the hard work and keep your home or business safe by contracting with a professional company for your winter landscape maintenance services.

How to hang art can be baffling to most so here are some steps to help you hang your art if you are finding yourself in that baffled situation. The first step to hanging your art is figuring out where you want to put it. What room or space are you going to decorate? You want to consider scale, color, and the number of pieces or art you are hanging on a particular wall.

The next step is to select your art. Find something that goes with the location you’ve picked out. You have two choices here you can go with your own custom look or you can choose something you like that’s already laid out for you. Don’t think you have to just do artwork either you can use other decor such as mirrors, plaques, sconces, shelves, wall planters, architectural plaques, or wallies. You can even to more then just one which is highly recommended. You don’t want to just throw some framed art work in the middle of your living room wall and call it good you can add sconces to it for some additional flavor or a shelf to bring out the artwork better.

Framed art sets the mood and style of a room. Smaller pictures can be used anywhere and work great as fillers on bookcases, hallways, or a tabletop. Mirrors are another form of wall decor and a source of motion. Mirrors can stand alone or be clustered together in different shapes and sizes. Using the same mirror in multiples will create a dramatic effect. Mirrors also can bring in sunlight to a room in the daytime and reflect candlelight at nighttime which in turn can create a little romance.

Sconces and shelves add a whole new set of decorating options to your print or mirror. Once you start to add these you start decorating in three dimensions! Planters and shelves will add depth to any flat surfaces of pictures and mirrors. It is great to add these when you decorate a wall with no furniture nearby.

Another thing you will need to think about when picking out your art is colors. To heat things up you will want warm, red-based colors, they can make a room seem more cozy and intimate. These colors can stimulate passion, energy, and appetites. For this color I would try abstract art in tangerine, floral art splashed with some red or landscape art in some yellow. If instead you want to cool things down go with some blue-based colors they tend to lend rooms an air of serenity and calmness. They can even give the illusion of expanded space so these colors are great for smaller rooms.

Now you want to hang the artwork you’ve picked out. Contrary to popular belief, hanging artwork isn’t just pounding a nail in the wall and making sure things are level. Hanging prints in a vertical line suggest formality and adds some feeling of height in a room on the other hand prints hung in a horizontal line tend to have a calming effect and can give a narrow room the illusion of some width. Prints have a greater impact if those with dark mats are hung on light walls and prints with lighter mats are hung on dark walls. When hanging a print on a papered wall you will want to cut a “V” slit in the wallpaper and lift it up to insert the nail. You can always glue the paper back in place if you ever want to remove the print. You will want to keep your prints from becoming crooked by placing self-adhesive rubber discs on the back of each corner. This helps tremendously with slipping and sliding.

Remember your home is an expression of who you are, and your walls are your gallery. You will want them to reflect your memories, your interests, and your personality. I love to fill my walls with the faces I love.

If your looking for “rhythm” to add to your room? Creating a certain rhythm depends on the shape, size, and spacing of the objects. When all of the objects are the same size and equally placed, then the rhythm is more placid. If larger objects are placed by tall, vertical rectangles, then the rhythm would be staccato, setting an emphatic tone.

You want to also find “balance” which is deeply important. If you don’t have a balanced arrangement then the arrangement may look top-heavy, bottom-heavy, or as if its side was falling off. You want a symmetrical arrangement where each half of the arrangement mirrors the image of the other half.

If you’re looking for a display with “impact” then you want to start with your largest frames being in the center, as the focal point. From there you want to surround the larger frames with smaller frames giving a balanced grouping. You can add visual interest by hanging frames at varying heights.

If you want to create a visual drama you can hang your frames following and upward angle like a staircase. Use larger frames as an anchor, and then complement them with some smaller frames. Make sure spacing between the frames is equal to create a balanced look.

You want to hang your art at eye level where it can be easily seen, which means it can be either at standing or sitting level your choice. In general, you want the artwork to be hung so that the center point of the picture or grouping is at about eye level for the average person.

Never just hammer a nail into a wall, choose the appropriate hanging device based on the composition of your walls and the weight of your art. Always hang your art on two hooks and two wall hangers for more level, even support. For heavier pieces use D hooks. Place the hooks, lay your frame face down and pull the hanging wire in the back toward the top of the frame in two spots the same distance from the top. Remember the further apart they are the closer the art will be to the wall. Measure the distance between these two spots, as well as the distance between one of them and the top of the frame. Transfer these dimensions to the wall starting with your center mark first. Install the wall hangers at the two hanging spots you have chosen. Begin hanging with the center piece, using it as a reference point for all the others you may have.

I hope this information has been helpful!