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Get inspired with photos, seasonal tips and expert solutions for your landscape

Backyard Dimensions Infographic

Having trouble remembering how tall to make a seat wall? Not sure about the dimensions of a fire pit? Use this handy infographic to quickly look up the measurements of the most popular backyard amenities.

Backyard Landscape Dimensions (PDF)

Backyards have become a true extension of the home. When properly landscaped, a backyard will provide additional outdoor living space where you can spend time with family and friends. Backyards have become areas for recreation as well as relaxation. And many amenities that used to be just for the indoors, such as fireplaces and fully equipped kitchens, are finding their way into backyard decorating ideas.

With good planning, design and construction, your backyard living space can become a multipurpose area for relaxing, entertaining and playing. In addition, custom backyard landscaping can add to the monetary value of your home. When tackling a backyard landscaping project, it's always best to start with a plan in mind, so spend some time gathering landscaping ideas and looking at photos before jumping into your own backyard overhaul.

Get these tipsIn this section, you'll find tips from landscaping professionals on:

Do you rarely spend time in your backyard? Is your backyard lacking space for entertaining or recreation? A good backyard landscape design will create a series of outdoor rooms that serve different purposes, whether you want to entertain, play, or simply relax and enjoy Mother Nature.

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Backyard Ideas | Landscape Design Ideas - Landscaping Network

Follow our simple steps to learn how to landscape, then transform your outdoor living spaces. By Kelly Roberson

You don't need a degree in horticulture or even a green thumb to learn how to landscape your yard. What you do need is patience and a little bit of inspiration. Nationally known garden designer and author Jon Carloftis breaks it down for gardeners of every skill level.

Interested in adding a water garden to your yard? Find plants, plans, and inspiration.

BHG: Evaluating a yard -- whether it has some landscape elements or none at all -- can seem overwhelming, particularly for the beginning gardener. How do you even begin to learn how to landscape your own spaces?

Carloftis: If you are just starting out and are not feeling secure with how to landscape, drive around different neighborhoods. See what houses and yards appeal to you and take photos if you can. That really is the best way to start.

BHG: There are so many styles of landscaping -- contemporary, traditional, cottage, to name a few. If you're learning how to landscape and want to pick your style, are there any common elements?

Carloftis: Yes. If you step back and look at the yards that appeal to you, they likely have a good mix of all the various plant types: evergreen and deciduous trees, perennials, annuals, vines, and shrubs with four-season interest. You don't want your house to look bare in the winter, but you'll also notice that the old rules on how to landscape -- only green out front and no flowers -- are out. Nowadays you can do whatever you want.

BHG: That might be what is overwhelming: You can do whatever you want. How should gardeners break down their outside spaces when they are figuring out how to landscape?

Carloftis: There are a couple of things to remember when starting to landscape. First, you need to create a focal point; everything else will work around it. Trees are a good place to start. Go to a nursery and look at specimen trees. You can create a focal point with shrubbery, too. At the same time, consider your neighbors and focus your efforts on your front yard. You don't want to be the one house that brings down the look of the neighborhood.

BHG: After a homeowner has created a focal point, what comes next on the landscape list?

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How to Landscape Your Yard - Better Homes and Gardens

Fill It with Flowers

Planting colorful bloomers is a surefire way to make your yard feel more welcoming. Use bold, bright hues to create a big impact even if you don't have a lot of space.

Test Garden Tip: Check your municipality's rules for planting on the parking strip (that patch of ground between the street and the sidewalk). Some communities may have restrictions on how tall plants can be or how far away you should plant from a fire hydrant.

Another great way to give your yard a more welcoming feel is to add a patio. Just like the front porches of days gone by, you can sit back and wave to neighbors while enjoying a cold glass of lemonade on a summer evening.

Test Garden Tip: Decorate your front yard patio with a skirt of flowers or a small hedge to help it seem more intimate and enclosed -- without making an unfriendly barrier.

Transform your front walk into a stylish statement by edging it in easy-care plants such as variegated hosta and boxwood. Conjure even more magic by putting a gentle curve in the path; it will offer your walkway with a soft, gentle look.

Test Garden Tip: Choose an interesting material to make the trip to your front door even more memorable. Bricks, flagstone, and pavers all lend more charm than traditional cement.

Grassy slopes can be hard to maintain, so turn your front-yard hillside into a beautiful display and keep it easy to care for by covering the slope with your favorite plants. The plantings rising up to the house make a home appear grander.

Test Garden Tip: Mix groundcovers, grasses, evergreens, annuals, and perennials to create a planting that looks good all year.

Answer the call of the wild in your yard simply by following nature's lead. Select plants and other landscape materials native to your region. The birds and butterflies your front yard attracts will enchant you and your guests.

Excerpt from:
Front Yard Landscapes - Better Homes and Gardens

You will learn how to develop a logical landscape plan for your yard.

When landscaping your backyard, your options are nearly unlimited. You can dedicate some of the yard to a productive patch of edibles,...

A welcoming front yard landscape is one of the most important factors in creating your home's unique personality. This is especially important...

Landscaping your front yard can be a bit intimidating. What will the neighbors think? Will if fit with your house? How difficult...

Plan carefully to make the most of your landscape dollars. Sketch out your yard and include the contours of your home along...

Preparing to landscape your backyard takes time and thought. You have fit what you want and what you need into your plan....

A successfully landscaped yard is an extension of your indoor living space that incorporates artistic elements with principles of design such as...

Natural or artificial stone gives your yard a natural and fresh look. Also known as landscaping stones, the stones are typically sold...

Whether your re-doing your existing landscape or starting with a clean slate, making sure your landscape project ends up being everything you...

You can make some extra cash by pushing around a lawn mower just as you did when you were a teenager and...

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How to Landscape Your Yard | eHow

Free Landscaping Ideas

In need of landscaping ideas? Are you looking to add to the beauty of your home, increase the value of your estate, or update your overgrown landscape? If you've had enough of looking outside your window day after day and seeing the same boring, tired yard, a new landscape design is the answer you've been looking for. We are your guide for turning your bland, ordinary property into a luscious landscaping dream, with all the style and features you've always admired on other properties. Our easy-to-use website, Great Landscaping Ideas, provides you with all of the yard and garden designs, inspirational photographs, and helpful, professional landscaping advice you're looking for, whether you're just starting out with your very first project or you have been a vigorous landscaping enthusiast for many years. No matter the size and scope of your next project, you'll find a comprehensive approach in developing great landscapes in the many helpful articles listed on our website.

Prepare to get your hands dirty, because we have great landscaping ideas for every section of your home. From the simplest front yard landscaping ideas meant to showcase your home to complex pool or garden landscaping, to themed landscapes like dessert or Oriental, we can help you tackle the problems you may be facing, or simply give you the inspirational push that you need. Our wide selection of free landscaping ideas has something for everyone, making it easier than ever to improve and invest in your home, no matter how much money, time, and experience you have available to put into the job. We know you'll find our free landscaping articles and resources very helpful for your next project.

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Landscaping Ideas | Landscaping Tips | Landscape Design

Saturday November 2, 2013

Yeah, I know: you've just barely taken down the Halloween decorations (you procrastinators out there are just starting to think about doing so), and here I am talking about Christmas trees, right? However -- and much to the disapproval of any self-respecting procrastinator -- some things in life require thinking ahead (they just do).

Cutting Christmas trees in national forests is one of those things. The experience can be wonderful for the whole family. But don't wait for the Christmas spirit to hit you to begin thinking about the blue spruce tree that will find a home in your living room: start planning for it now. Steve Nix discusses cutting Christmas trees in national forests in this blog post.

Don't have the space for a big tree? Some folks buy those little Alberta spruces that the supermarkets sell. Decorate them for Christmas as you would a larger tree (but on a smaller scale). You can plant them outdoors after the holiday, but if you live in a cold climate, this also entails some planning. Since the ground may be too frozen in late December for digging, dig your hole now to have it all ready for the post-Christmas planting. Water your Alberta spruce after installation.

Photo 2006 David Beaulieu, Landscaping Guide (licensed to About, Inc.)

Thursday October 31, 2013

A battery-powered lawn mower that packs a punch and doesn't need constant recharging -- that's what we've all been hoping to find someday, right? Well, I won't say that Remington's cordless electric mower satisfies me completely on these points; but it does offer hope that the "lawn mower of the future" is not just a distant dream....

And for good measure, this cordless electric mower allows you to switch over to corded mode, in case you can't quite finish mowing a large lawn on battery power; instead of waiting for a recharge, you can just plug in and finish on the spot.

But once you experience the freedom of going cordless, you won't want to switch back to corded under any but the most dire of circumstances. And if you have a small or medium-sized lawn, the battery charge should hold just fine. In fact, in my test, this cordless electric mower held its charge for longer even than advertised.

The one issue with this mower is that, once the battery dies its final death with you, it may be difficult to replace it.

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About.com Landscaping - Landscaping Ideas - Landscape Pictures ...

Design for front yard landscaping ideas and plans for backyards usually have different purposes. Most front yards generally follow a purpose of accessibility and invitation. It's where we enter and leave are homes but spend very little time. So usually most of the thought process goes into creating walkways and driveways. Then the design is created around that.

Creating front yard curb appeal is a good idea for adding value, a sense of invitation, and to frame the picture of your home. But you shouldn't have to spend a lot of your budget creating landscaping ideas for most front yards. A simple functional design works best. Then, since the backyard is where most people spend most of their time, you can spend more energy and money on the back.

On a major scale, landscaping front yards is kind of a new thing. It's really one of those American ideas that has only gained popularity in recent years. If you look at pictures of European gardens, you'll notice that generally there is just a small courtyard and entry in the front while most of the focus goes to designing inner courtyards and landscape designs for yards in the back.

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Curb Appeal Landscaping Pictures Page 2 | Front Yard Ideas Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14

New Landscaping Ideas Gallery

While this new gallery of front yard landscaping pictures is a great resource for getting ideas and examples, I encourage you to visit my original pictures directory. In a way it's a much better resource as it links directly to hundreds of talenteted professional designers sites.

I also invite you to look at the ideas gallery which showcases several of my own designs with explainations and guides as to how they're created.

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Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

Simple landscaping ideas to detailed project descriptions that will help you easily create your own finished designs and plans without having to hire a professional designer or contractor. Each of the following categories offers advice, tips, and pictures for backyards, front yards, gardens, patios, swimming pools, hardscaping, planting, and all simple do-it-yourself landscaping and yard projects.

With a little study and patience, your end result will be a savings of time and money, fewer mistakes and frustrations, and a beautifully finished inexpensive garden or yard. It's all free so take your time looking through our front yard, backyard, patio, pool, and garden ideas, pictures, and tips to some of the best do-it-yourself residential landscaping resources available.

Borrow or steal ideas from actual designs and projects we've done. Beautiful front yard and backyard examples. We'll be adding new stuff all the time.

Pictures galleries categotized by different garden styles of professionally created designs and designers portfolios.

Pictures of front yards, backyards, patios, walkways, ponds, swimming pools, entryways, and much more.

A gallery of front yard pictures. Hundreds of front yard plans and layouts for your landscape and gardening projects. Look through pictures of many different themes and styles.

A few of our own backyard plans and designs. Xeriscaping, hillsides, small yards, big yards, and yards for children.

Pictures of backyard garden ponds. Get ideas for different ways of designing, building, and planting around ponds and inground water features.

Patio design, plans, and pictures of patios. Browse through slide shows, explanations, flooring, and materials of each plan.

Garden path and walkway pictures for your inspiration. Flagstone, decorative concrete, paver, and step stone paths to add access and invitation to gardens and landscaping plans.

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DIY Landscaping

1901 Hopefield Rd
For more details click here: http://www.visualtour.com 1901 Hopefield Rd Silver Spring, MD 20905 $350000, 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 2770 SF, MLS# MC7980022 Great margins for investors. Wonderful floor plan with abundant space. Professionally landscape yard with mature trees. 2 car garage, main and upper level hardwood flooring. Separate dining room, fireplace in family room off kitchen with large eating area. Family room exits to a generous enclosed rear porch. Convenient main level laundry room exits to garage. Master bedroom has large walk-in closet. Finished basement with additional storage space, and updated hot water heater HVAC system. Presented By: Patrick Rutledge, Llewellyn, Realtors patrickrutledge.com View My Inventory http://www.visualtour.comFrom:Patrick RutledgeViews:0 0ratingsTime:02:50More inTravel Events

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1901 Hopefield Rd - Video

Hopefield Rd, 1901
For more details click here: http://www.visualtour.com 1901 Hopefield Rd SIlver Spring, MD 20905 $350000, 4 bed, 2.5 bath, 2770 SF Great margins for investors. Great floor plan with abundant space. Professionally landscape yard with mature trees. 2 car garage, main and upper level hardwood flooring. Separate dining room, fireplace in living room off eat-in kitchen. Convenient main level laundry room exits to garage. Finished basement with updated HVAC system. Presented By: Patrick Rutledge, Llewellyn, Realtors 301-424-0900 patrickrutledge.com View My Inventory http://www.visualtour.comFrom:Patrick RutledgeViews:0 0ratingsTime:00:23More inTravel Events

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Hopefield Rd, 1901 - Video