What Your Front Lawn Should Do for You

Statues like the Nakoma add Character and Structure

So many of us design our front lawns and hope that it will work for us but what should it really do? Well, a front lawn should be designed for those who will enjoy it the most and this usually means it has to work for the family who lives with it. For instance, it must work for the homeowner who needs to park and have the space to haul the bags of groceries to the front or back door of the house. And it must be designed safe for young children who use it during playtime. In short, a lawn must be functional and also aesthetically appealing.

Every home has its own set of cues which need to be addressed in the landscaping process. One of those is of course parking and finding extra room and space to house newer cars which can be larger and in need of wider driveways. If your home is close to a busy road, you may then consider designing walls and hedges to lessen the noise and hustle which comes from passing traffic.

Your yard does not have to look like the others. With a bit of creative style and a reasonable budget to lean on, you can design a project plan for your lawn and garden that works with the style and architectural inclinations of your home. Consider different approaches and get feedback from your family members when designing your project plan. Think through the changes you make. It is always better to erase and start anew with another project plan than to dig out a plant and move a walkway.  

Changing Trends in Residential Landscaping

Fountain Statues add Character to a Landscape

Over the last century or more, the development of homes has become so familiar. For instance, the front yards have been made to look familiar with a lawn, a few shrubs and a tree or two which could be set up affordably and quickly. However, all this has done nothing to boost what we would call residential landscaping since the look of one house is now no different from the other. Additionally, many families now spend less time in their manicured lawns than they have ever done before.

There has also been a greater dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides with frequent irrigation used to ensure the plants and trees are continually watered. What it has done is to remove the manner gardening was engaged in back in the old days when compost and marsh sludge were applied and weeds were manually pulled out by hand. Today, we put up with fewer weeds with more dependence on chemicals to treat our lawn and garden landscaping projects. It is little wonder why rainwater has become so intensified with chemicals that it has now caused pollution in our waterways.

However, homeowners are now finding creative and environmentally friendly ways to develop their front yards. Many communities are now keeping their neighborhoods cooler with tree-lined streets while natural drainage swales reduce the amount of water carried away by storm drains. There have been pathways built with shared green spaces to support neighborhood activities in communities from basketball to outdoor activities like potlucks and community affairs. All these increase the diversity of plantings thereby boosting the development of more unique lawns and gardens to admire.