Landscaping for Functionality and Aesthetics

While most of us think of landscaping in terms of making the area around us more beautiful and appealing, a well-planned landscape can offer much more than pleasing eye appeal. By understanding the layout of your home, you can make your landscape not only aesthetically pleasing but functional as well.

What does this mean? Quite simply, it means your landscape can serve a useful purpose that goes beyond being pretty.

To understand how best to achieve this, you first need to understand the areas of your home and what you would like to accomplish. Some of the things you want to consider are lighting, privacy, and the elements.

When considering the types of trees and plants you want to use to landscape your living space, consider first your end goal and then the horticultural characteristics of the plants. Some of these characteristics include texture, height, spread, and branching habits. Being aware of some of these characteristics and how to utilize them will give you the edge when it comes to identifying ways to make your plants as useful as they are beautiful.

Some of the ways that trees and plants can serve a purpose include combining a variety to create a perimeter for your home (a living wall that can be appealing and provide some privacy from neighbors.) This wall can also be useful in combating winds if you live in an area where wind is intense. Of course, controlling the combination of sunlight and shade is another way to make use of some of your favorite trees and plants. Trees are a good way to help diffuse the bright light of the sun, which can help relax the glare of light on bodies of water. By choosing the appropriate, you can make an artificial climate control that can help decrease the amount of sunlight that gets through to the ground in the summer months or that allows more light to get through during months when the sun isn’t as strong.

These are just some of the ways you can use trees and plants to add both beauty and functionality to your property. The task may seem daunting at first, but by understanding the characteristics of your property (its strong and weak points), you can look for trees and plants that will work well accomplishing the goals you set. Contacting a reputable nursery is the best place to start. They can help you understand the horticultural characteristics of trees and plants and assist you in choosing a landscaping plan you can use to successfully transform your property into a lush and functional living area.

Buy quality landscaping plants online, go to http://www.treesforsaleonline.com

The better perennials

Perennials are by far the best type of flower and plant to place in your garden or landscape area. They will save you money each year instead of having to buy new flowers each season.  Additionally, most of them are easy to care for and maintain.  Here are some great choices for perennials that you should consider adding to your garden or landscape.  The Blanket Flower is a great choice.  It is very heat tolerant and drought resistant and will give you color for the entire spring through the summer. They will bloom in reds and golds with three inch blooms that are similarly looking to that of a daisy.  Garden Phlox is another great choice.  It is a wonderful bordering plant and can grow up to four feet tall. The flowers this plant produces are fragrant and will bloom from the summer months of the year all the way into the fall.  It is also great to act as a ground cover in some areas.  Russian Sage is also great.  It is a larger perennial that is perfect for larger landscapes.  It will be about five feet tall and about three feet wide and will produce beautiful blue blooms during the summer months of the year.  They love lots of sunlight and are very tolerant of heat.  They are also drought resistant and will be breathtaking in your landscape.  Peonies are also beautiful choices.  They produce very fragrant and lovely blooms during spring through the fall.

They can grow anywhere from two to four feet and grow in clusters to form a shrub-like appearance.  Irises are another great choice.  They have a shorter blooming period but will take your breath away. They grow in any color one could imagine and will multiply each year when they return.  Daylilies are also beautiful and even though their blooms only last one day, they bloom all spring and summer long.  They are also low maintenance and can grow in a variety of conditions.  Try one of these perennials in your garden today!

Rose Gardens

Making an area in your garden that is completely devoted to the beauty and splendor of roses is a great idea and will give a very sophisticated feel to that particular area.  These flowers have been and will remain popular among homeowners and gardeners simply because of their classic look.  Just like other flowers with many cultivars, there are hardy rose bushes and not so versatile ones. This type of garden will require more preparation than others and also will need more care and maintenance to encourage these beauties to reach their potentials. Make a beautiful rose garden right in your backyard.  When choosing a location, make sure to pick one that gets anywhere from four to seven hours of sun if the soil has good draining qualities. The pH needs to be slightly acidic of anywhere from 6.2 to 6.8, but roses will also do just fine with pH readings of up to 7.5.  Preparation also helps and in the fall months of the year, and this is a prime time to mix in fertilizer the following spring.  Anything like grass clippings, leaves and coffee grounds will have a wonderful effect of adding much-needed nutrients.

When planting the roses, make sure to loosen the ground so its an easier time of adjusting and branching out in their new homes.  When planting, make sure to about two to three inches of mulch to help keep water in the soil, weeds away and give the area an overall finished look.  Adding compost regularly is also recommended by experts to keep the entire area healthy and full of nutrients.  Follow these tips to a healthier and happier rose garden and enjoy the fruits of your labor each spring!

Organic Gardening

A new gardener needs to not have some experience.  All of probably planted our little seed at some point in elementary school and watched it grow.  Gardening is all about trial and error. Some things work and do not, so you have to readjust what methods you use.  Here are some simple and effective ways to introduce yourself to organic gardening and all of the benefits that come with it.  To start, you will need to make your bed. It needs to be done about three weeks before planting begins.  You will need to loosen the soil about a foot down into the ground and rake the surface until all the weeds, clumps and other debris are gone.  Until planting time arrives, make sure to keep the area weed and debris free.  Doing this weeks before planting makes sure that weed seeds that were deep in the ground and sprouted will be removed before planting begins.  Also digging shallow furrows or holes for planting your seeds is the best way to go, and you can design your garden however you want it to look.  Also watering at just the right amounts is important. Soils need to be kept moist, but not soaked. Watering the soil before planting is the best way to go because the seeds will not be soaked or wash out of the soil. Allow for room to grow when planting seeds and properly spaced. Follow instructions on the packets that were purchased.  You can also put two or three seeds in each hole for better and fuller results.  Also, when planting the seeds, realize that they need shallow ground and not deep. Just barely covering them with soil will be sufficient, and they will flourish and thrive and exceed your expectations.  Keeping the soil and seeds moist is key, but note they only need to be watered as the ground is dry needs extra care until all the seeds are sprouted.  Just remember that organic gardening might seem like a lot, but not too much for anyone!

IPad Giveway!

Who doesn’t love winning FREE stuff? At Online Plant Nursery right now we are giving away a FREE IPad! Yes, you heard me…I said FREE! Go to our website and sign up for the newsletter. Sign up for Online Plant nurseries newsletter for an entry. But, wait each person can get up to several different entries. Go to your twitter, put a good review about Online Plant Nursery on your account and then put our link. Here you can also go to our Google + page and give a good review put our link in and be entered. But, wait it doesn't stop there! One can also go to their Face Book page and do the same! 1. Go to your Facebook page and give us a good word, putting our link in – to be entered 2. Go to your twitter page, give us a shout out, putting our link in – be entered 3. Go to our Google+ give a good review, put our link in – to be entered 4. Sign up for our newsletter – to be entered 5. Sign up with your email – to be entered It’s that simple! The drawing will be done on August 1st. IPads are the new trend in electronics. They are versatile and handy it can be carried anywhere, but they can bring hours of entertainment to your whole family. One can watch movies, play games, work from home, check emails, read books or do school work all from the IPad. It’s smaller than the size of a 1inch notebook and can fit in a pocketbook, book bag or drawstring bag. The only downside to IPads is that they can be pricey, so why not win one for FREE? Sign up here

Clearing a Lawn of Wild Onions

I am sure that there are some gardeners and home owners that just despise those pesky wild onion plants that appear on our lawns during the early fall months every year.  There are several ways to rid a lawn of these terrible weeds.

Gardeners and home owners can use a wide variety of chemical solutions that can be purchased at a home and garden center.  These solutions will need to be applied to these weeds at certain times so it is best to get all the information needed when purchasing these.  Also it may be hard to kill these weeds with chemicals because their stems or leaves will grow straight and will allow chemical solutions to roll right off of them.  They are very hard weeds to kill so it might talk some work.  It is also a good idea to mow over these before it gets really cold one night and that may help to kill them out if it is going to frost real heavy that evening.

Another way to get rid of these weed is if you only have a few in the yard they can be dug up but you need to make sure that they are dug up completely and none of the bulbs are left.  If there are any bulbs left from the plant they will come right back in no time at all.  Also the bulbs from these pesky weeds can grow under the soil about 6 inches deep.  Do not try to pull them up because you will probably not be able to get roots and bulbs out this way.  They will need to be dug up individually and taken care of.

Getting rid of these weeds can be a very big job and it may also help to mow over them and open up their leaves so that any chemical solutions that are used can penetrate the leaves and stay on them.  They have a really smooth leave and liquids seem to run right off of them.  Gardenersand home owners can check with a local home and garden center to find out the best way to get rid of these.  Also when they are mowed they will put off a strong onion odor that is just terrible unless you like the smell of onions.  These weeds haunt all gardeners and home owners every year if they are not properly removed when they are seen growing.

Walking and Enjoying Nature

Nature has been a part of human lives for ever since the first human. We have constantly been surrounded by nature and its glory. Living off the land has been a major part of life for ever since the first plant was planted. But here of the recent times advanced nations are getting further and further away from nature and further into electronics and items of the modern world. It can be extremely stressful and can grieve the body viciously. Every once in a while a good time spent outdoor will help release the stress and reset the body.

Walking and enjoying nature is the best way to do this, but simply walking outside may not be sufficient. There are many things you should look for on picking a route to walk. You should take into consideration many things including traffic, weather conditions, accessibility, and surroundings: because taking a stroll through the middle of town is not going to be as relaxing as you need. Traffic involves both cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. If your walking on the road you need to be aware of blind spots for cars such as hills and curves, these places are very dangerous as the car may not see you until its too late. Always remember to be walking into traffic when on the road. When walking on private paths you should take care of not running in to's cyclists and pedestrians. Also be sure to carry a phone at all times in case something happens, a relaxing walking path will involve little traffic so that you can be alone to get fresh air.

Weather conditions should be took into consideration especially if the path you follow involves a creek that may flash flood in the example of a thunderstorm. Your walking path must be accessible and easy to get to so that you don’t strain yourself to the point its no longer relaxing. The last major thing is to make sure that your surroundings remain natural and peaceful so that you have little interference from man-made objects.

With all of this took into consideration good walking path can be found, so that you can start walking and enjoying nature as it is meant to be enjoyed. So look into finding you a relaxing walking path.

Plants for Winter Wildlife

Summer days with the droning of cicadas and the sun warming the green fields are almost over. Late spring and summer are times of plenty for people and for wildlife. Bushes are replete with sun ripened berries, the grass grows tall and green, the boughs of trees offer shade and shelter to a myriad variety of birds, mammals, and insects, and there is plenty of browse available for the animals of the forest. Soon though, the winds will blow chill and whip the winter bared branches of fruitless trees over fields that lie stripped after the harvest. Winter is a time of want for wildlife, but with a little forethought the gardener can supply a twelve month harvest of food and shelter for the wildlife in their area.

When planting trees the gardener should keep in mind that deer, squirrel and chipmunks, in those areas where the smaller mammals do not hibernate, trees such as the oak and hickory bear and abundance of food in the form of acorns and hickory nuts. Deer especially love the acorns of the white oak and will gorge themselves on this natural source of nutrition for as long as possible while squirrels will seek out hickory trees and will begin to harvest and ‘squirrel away’ the fat-rich nuts for as long as they can be found. For smaller animals such as birds the highly popular dogwood is very useful for the tiny red berries it bears in late fall and into early winter.

Evergreens, such as pines, firs, and cedars, as well as practically any varieties of evergreen shrub should not be overlooked. While most evergreens bear very little in the way of food, except for the tiny nuts found in pine cones, they do provide much needed shelter to smaller animals which are very susceptible to the cold weather. In more rural areas deer will even use groups of evergreens

which have been placed as borders and hedges as handy places to shelter themselves from the storms of winter.

Bird feeders are fine, and hay or corn left out for larger wildlife is good, but with a little thought and planning a gardener can easily landscape an area to not only supply themselves with a spring and summer bounty of shade, fruit, and flowers but also provide for the native wildlife in the area. A spring spent growing lovely flowers and a summer spent taking in a bountiful harvest can easily become a winter spent watching the birds, squirrels, and other wildlife as they enjoy the food and shelter the gardener has provided for them.

 

Backyard Landscaping Ideas- Try Using Vines

Adding vines to your garden or out door sitting area goes a long way with minimal maintenance when decorating an outside space.  Most vines thrive in a USDA climate zone between 4-8, with plants like the Strawberry Vine on the higher end, preferring a climate zone of 8-11.

Here are a few ways vines can be a beneficial addition to your backyard landscaping project:

Add Some Color

Fences and gazebos can look bare standing alone, so why not spruce them up with Humming Bird Vines to attract wild life as you enjoy your outside sitting area.  Purchasing vines for your backyard landscape does require a bit of research, so be sure to check your soil type and climate zone before planting.

Easy to Care for

Not much goes in to caring for vines except basic watering and sometimes pruning.  When growing vines such as the Honeysuckle Vine, expect to see rapid growth in a climate zone of 4-9, and even during winter months.

When working with longer vines it is necessary to 'train' them as they get bigger.  Adding some gardening wire to give them something to attach to is an efficient way to gain foliage and color to any outdoor structure.

Added Ground Cover

If your backyard landscaping project entails covering large, bare areas such as a hill side, there are many affordable vines that provide large ground cover.  Snow on the Mountain provides great ground cover with its leaf span and thrives where grass is normally difficult to grow.

Vines will add color and style to your outdoor leisure area without breaking your budget.  Beautiful and low maintenance, they are a great way to spruce up an existing backyard garden.

If you are looking for backyard landscaping ideas involving vines, try contacting a reputable nursery specializing in vines to find the right plant for your climate area.

Photo credits:
 Summer Field Design Blog

Landscape Without Spending A Fortune

Don't Allow Landscapers To Rob You Blind, Here Is Some Do It Yourself Tips

Landscaping without spending a fortune is simple if you understand the process. It is relatively simple and offers great results. Landscaping plants, affordable trees are available at your local plant nursery where a nursery grower is able to offer some guidance as you proceed. Planning is important and so is homework. Here is a guide.




Help

After you design your blueprint for the landscaping you can begin at your local nursery. There you can get the plants and trees that are needed. Ask your gardener there about getting a good deal on wholesale trees. This can help you save money on your landscaping cost. There you can ask about the type of landscaping plants that work well for your area and design ideas.

Tips

1. One tip that most people don't know about is the type of plants and trees that do well where you live. Your local landscaping yard or nursery sells the type of plants that you need. Very few sell plants that will easily die where you live. Otherwise, look at the information that comes with each plant or tree. They are labeled for your needs and show care instructions as well.
2. You can get seasonal deals on all plants and trees.
3. Sales are great too when you buy in bulk.
4. Look at other places for deals. There are places to buy your needs at more places than nurseries. Affordable trees can be found from individual growers. The same thing applies to plant nursery deals.
5. Obviously since there are individuals that sell, you can find great deals through a nursery grower in your own neighborhood. Wholesale trees can even be found Online.

Design and Work

Many of these locations offer guidance on workers that can help you get your design dreams accomplished. If you have the basic blueprints, then you can get it done easily. Some people might need to find a landscaper at a good price. Ask around and you will be amazed at how much money you can save.

Final Thoughts

Have fun with your project. Most people enjoy landscaping and design. Creating your own space is part of home ownership. It is creative and shows who you are in your neighborhood. You might even win an award from your neighborhood home owners association. Either way, you will feel great knowing that you made it happen and it didn't have to cost you a fortune.

Online Nursery