Create a Backyard Landscape Design for Relaxation and Entertaining

Modern backyard landscape design takes the traditional, simple lawn and extends the enjoyable living space of your home into the natural appeal of the outdoors. Today’s outdoor living spaces incorporate all the elements of indoor living, from purposeful living areas to detailed accents, to create a true estate home that is enjoyable throughout.The most important thing to remember when designing your outdoor living space is to blend the look and feel of your home’s interior into the exterior.
Choose a garden style that complements the style of your home and integrate the same color scheme, furniture style, and even add similar outdoor accessories.
Another way to define the unity between the inside of your home and your backyard landscape design is to connect the two with entrance ways.
A kitchen doorway may provide access to a sunny terrace with a fresh herb garden or the dining room could extend to an outdoor eating area. Consider connecting your bedroom to a romantic, fragrant flower garden.

For more information on backyard entertainment areas view our page on creative landscape design for backyard entertainment.

Extending Home Life by Creating Outdoor Rooms

Just like the inside of your home, your outdoor space should have designated areas for the many different things you and your family may do, from hobbies and relaxing to entertaining and recreation. Decorate your outdoor rooms just like you would the interior of your home, with fine patio furniture, weatherproof accessories, and integrate the same overall color scheme.

Consider these outdoor room and living area options:
• Dining areas and outdoor kitchens are common elements of a modern backyard landscape design. This may be as simple as a grill and picnic table or as elaborate as a custom outdoor kitchen with stainless steel accessories and fine patio furniture.
• Outdoor living rooms can serve many purposes and many upscale homes incorporate more than one outdoor living area to serve these functions. Plan this living space with consideration to the time of day it will be used and the amount of sunlight desired. These areas can be used for relaxing, lounging, entertaining, and even recreation and may integrate interesting decks, beautiful patios,or terraces into the design plan.
• Outdoor areas designated for recreation will depend on the hobbies and interests of you and your family. Swimming pools, outdoor spas, workshops, and backyard sports areas are all possibilities and can be tastefully integrated into your backyard landscape design.
• Living spaces designed specifically for sitting, lounging, or simply enjoying the beauty of the garden are equally important. These areas are often centered around a focal point of your landscape design, like a fountain, pond, or sculpture and are usually accented with comfortable seating.

Creating Indoor Comfort With Outdoor Accessories

The typical modern backyard landscape design truly reflects the comforts and beauty of luxurious indoor living right in the natural elements of the outdoors. There are a number of accessories designed to resist rain, sun, and other weather conditions that are traditionally found on the interior of the home.

• Fine patio furniture is an excellent way to add comfort and style to your outdoor living area. From traditional tables and chairs to more contemporary outdoor couches and weather-resistant recliners, outdoor furniture is a necessity.
• Outdoor rugs add safety as well as beauty to your outdoor area. Select colors and designs that blend with the rest of your outdoor design. Bright, vibrant colors are often an appreciated contrast to the neutral, cold hues of outdoor flooring.
• Curtains, shades, and other privacy accessories are designed for outdoor use as well.
• There are many other decorative accents found on the inside of your home that can add comfort and personality to your backyard landscape design as well. Candles, artistic wall hangings, and throw pillows are among a few of the accessories you can find designed for outdoor use.
• Incorporate your own personal tastes into your outdoor living space with your favorite patterns incorporated into furniture and accessories, unique water features, and majestic wind chimes.

Lighting in Your Outdoor Living Area

Just like indoors, lighting options are a great way to create the right ambiance and atmosphere in your outdoor rooms. The romantic flicker of candles is a backyard landscape design favorite, but there are several other possibilities to consider as well.

• Most modern homes feature convenient outdoor electrical outlets that are ideal for the many different styles of outdoor lamps currently available. Choose lamps that match your outdoor design style, blending with the colors and decor inside your home.
• Custom lighting design plans that incorporate just the right amount of light throughout your yard are also popular.
• Outdoor lanterns, lighting along walkways, and cozy outdoor fireplaces are other options.


Creating an outdoor living area can be as simple or as complicated as your home, budget, and tastes allow. It is important to remember that your landscape is an extension of your home and should reflect a similar style and appearance. The best backyard landscape design is a plan that allows you and your family to enjoy the beauty of nature and your favorite outdoor activities, while adding function and value to your property.
Our landscape design members are available to help you with every aspect of design and installation of your outdoor living area.


To get started complete just go to our Member Directory where you can choose from landscape architects, installation experts and other landscape related professionals who would be happy to help you with your landscape project.     http://www.landscape-design-advisor.com/backyard-landscape-design.html

Gardening

  Containergardening is the hot new form of gardening (but what weforget is that it all started back with Nebuchadnezzar and the HangingGardens of Babylon.)

What goes around– comes around. :-)

Soils and Stuff

Bestsoil for container gardening . In any case,you’re probably looking for practical hints and tips onhow to grow great plants in containers. I constantly doexperiments to evaluate soils). Which plants work incontainers (which plants don’t?) :-) And even some plans foryou to tryon your own.

Specific Plants in Containers

Rosein containers. My guess is that many gardeners want to growtheir roses using container gardening methods.There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t do thisand I’ve done it forthe past twenty years or so – growing almost every kind ofrose you canimagine in a pot (sometimes just to say I had done it) :-)

Containervegetable garden is a good idea if you have limited space. There's nothing like a fresh salad out of your own garden,even if you live on the 25th floor of downtown Manhattan.

Freshcontainer tomato gardening is probably number one oneverybody's list of things to grow.

Herbcontainer gardening. Once you grow the vegetablesand tomatoes, you're going to want to grow your herbs this way as well.

Organiccontainer gardening. Here are a few tips onspecialized gardening.

BulbContainer Gardening. There are few things in thespring nicer than seeing a fresh container full of flowering builbs. Here's the timing you need to do this in youir own backyard.

Serious Container Gardening (it's all containers)

Note that many are simply one kind ofplant per pot- it's the massed effect that is stunning. You can easily do this(and it's relatively cheap to do. Just use pack annuals in placeof the fancier plants and you're able to inexpensively create astunning massed display.



 http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/container-gardening.html

Patio Gardening

Patio Gardening is an excellent way to achieve a peaceful and relaxing outdoor space.
There is a vast movement of "indoor space being brought outdoors." So with attention to your overall patio designs, one can acquire this, and a private, relaxing, entertainment area. Even lofts, condos, balconies, etc., can have a Patio Garden Design that will meet all the aforementioned needs.

What Do You Need?
What Do You Want?

There are few things to consider and keep in mind. Here are a few questions to jog your memory.

• Is the garden intended for ornamental reasons?
• Do you want color? If so, what colors?
• Do you want privacy? How much?
• Will the Containers need to be movable?
• How much sun or combination of sun/shade is in the area?
• What is the weather like? (4 seasons, dry/hot, cold)
• Would you like a Culinary Container Garden blended in (ex: herbs/vegetables)?
• Would
• you desire a water feature? A tranquil garden deck/patio often times
• includes a patio water garden. Patio ponds harboring exotic fish can be
• a superb eye-catcher!

All "yes" or "no" answers, or a combination of both, to these questions is alright. Explore the many options and choose what's best for your situation.

Use this check list to help remember some key points as you shop:

purchase the right plants and flowers for your climate

the sun/shade conditions of your patio

how many plants will be needed

what size of plants

watering needs of plants

Annuals and/or Perennials

climbers/vines for privacy

containers (how many, color, size, shape)

Patio Garden Plans

We strongly advise a Patio Garden Design. (No drafting involved unless wanted.) Just merely sketch something on paper that resembles the size and shape of your patio.
Pencil in areas that need shade plants, climbers, roses, annuals, etc. Make notes of water features, patio landscaping rocks, or flower boxes.
Taking this on your shopping trip will help in the purchase of your plants and flowers, while keeping your needs in check. Trying to remember and visualize your space when miles away will be difficult. You'll have a lot to remember, so take the time to plan it out.
Here's a few more tips to help along the way. Outline the sides with containers to frame in your patio.
Use containers with 24"-36" tall shrubs or grasses to border a part or the whole of your patio.
Utilize any built-in flower boxes that might be present.
Use Vines and Climbers on Lattice or Trellis, and/or raised planters and pots, to achieve needed privacy.
If the containers need to be movable, container holders with attached wheels will work nicely.
Don't forget to add trays underneath the containers to catch much needed water for those hot and dry days.
Try to find plants that will accommodate the space you have regarding the amount of sun and/or shade.

Need some visual ideas? Click ONLY ONCE on the small arrow at the bottom-left-corner of the screen to watch this short video that contains several different design ideas and placement instructions that will be sure to spark your creative side.

   http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com/patio-gardening.html

Tips for Patio and Container Gardening

Pot Gardening is quite popular for many reasons. At the top of that list is the fact that in comparison to the total population, only a few people have a big garden or yard where they can actually plant flowers and plants in the ground.
Does this mean that everyone who has small gardens or lives in high rise buildings shouldn't enjoy the beauty of flowers and the pleasure of gardening? It certainly doesn't.
If you don't have a garden or yard, there is no need to give up your gardening hobby! Pot gardening, or container gardening, provides the solution. You can have plants and flowers on a patio, a balcony, or even in your house. You can also grow vegetables in containers. 

Container Patio Gardening

Just remember how beautiful balconies and windows can look with flowers in pots and containers.
Patios can look barren without any plants, but placing a few lovely containers around with flowers in them will change a patio completely and bring a bit of nature to your balcony.
You can position them so they are in the perfect spot, where they have enough sunlight or shade. And when you fancy a change, just move them around.
This way it's actually much easier to be a gardener: you can provide perfect conditions for the flowers and plants, including choice of soil type, and pest control, which are much harder to take care of and control in a big garden.

Container Gardening Flowers

Naturally, pot gardening is useful for other reasons as well. Most flower species don't survive in the winter if they are left outside: and why it's a good idea to bring them into the house in containers until the cold winter days are over.
Some gardeners prefer to plant young flowers in containers before spring comes to get some early growth established, and then plant them outside when they are a bit stronger.
If you have plants in containers, you can also just move them around in the house as you like, and take them with you even when you move home - you can certainly not do that when they are planted in a garden.
I have quite a few trees planted in containers that I fully intend to take with me when I sell my house. I have purple Beech trees, Maples, Pines, and even some Dawn Redwood and Swamp Cypress, all in pots or containers.

Type of Container

For pot gardening, there are many types of containers that you can buy. They can be made of wood, terracotta, ceramic, metal, concrete and so on. Some of these materials are porous, while others are non-porous.
This means that while some of them let the roots of the plant breathe and water evaporate, others are very solid and don't let water in or out of the pot.
Containers made of metal or ceramics are like this: make sure that they have holes in the bottom, because otherwise they might trap too much water and kill the flowers through waterlogging of roots and lack of air circulation.
You can get containers in all shapes and sizes and you can always be creative; you don't necessarily have to spend money on containers.
You can use many things in decorative ways, barrels, pottery, buckets or anything else you think that might fit. I even planted flowers in a pair of old workman’s boots once. I also stacked some old books, made a hole in the middle, and planted a vine in them. After a season of rain and sun the books reverted back to being a lump of book shaped wood. It was an interesting effect!
Pot gardening is also very convenient because you can hang them on the wall, or put them on a stand. Window boxes and hanging baskets are very popular, since they immediately catch the eye with their beauty, and they are never in the way.
If you have pets or small children and you are worried that they will knock over the containers, you can just use these baskets and keep the flowers safe and out of the way at all times.   http://www.easyshadegardening.com/pot-gardening.html

Herb Dow's inspiring and colorful patio transformation

After reading an article on the Biggest Little Garden in Town balcony planters, (what I consider the ultimate balcony planter), avid backyard gardener Herb Dow emailed The Home section some inspiring before and after pictures of his own balcony and patio garden along with a note:

I enjoy your articles and I just wanted to share some pictures of my garden. I moved from a half acre garden where I planted 500 tulips every year to a town home. I now plant everything in pots (the Hollyhock is 3 years old). I still start every Saturday morning by visiting the 3 nurseries in my area. As you can see in 3 years I have turned my two patios into nice small gardens. Please enjoy.

I did enjoy. Very much!
There is nothing this writer loves more than transformations of all kinds--front yards, backyards, living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, pools, sheds, you name it! If you have any before and after pictures of your own, please send them to me: deborah.netburn@latimes.com
More before and after shots of Dow's garden after the jump.

--Deborah Netburn
Photo credit: Herb Dow   http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2009/05/reader-mail-herb-dows-inspiring-and-colorful-patio-transformation.html