How Can I Make My Yard Look Nice?

But, if you want to go all out, you might want to have a landscape company make your yard a work of art. Landscaping professionals add features like plants or ponds or walkways that are both usable and aesthetically pleasing. A professionally landscaped yard will also add value to your home.

If you are considering making your yard a work of art, and want to find a professional landscape design team in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, look to the experienced landscaping experts at MDM Landscapes. Find out how we can help you improve your yard by calling 817-396-0125.

How do I design landscape?

Whether you plan to hire a professional or do it yourself, landscape design requires a lot of planning, even if the design is simple. Think of a landscaping model as you might an interior home remodel.

At the very least, when designing a landscaping project, you’ll need to sketch out landscape map of your property that includes all features from buildings to trees so you’ll have an idea of your work area. You can then use tracing paper and draw over the map to create your design. This is where you get to play with various ideas to make sure they’ll work with what you have in mind. Here, you can sketch out not only the basic design but figure out where traffic patterns are and where lighting systems, irrigation, and access points go.

After you’ve sketched out a workable plan, you’ll then draw the final plan. Your plan will also have to factor in climate and the types of plants you’ll want to put in along with features. Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to develop a budget and select the materials. After the materials are selected, you’re ready to get into the physical work of landscaping.

Is there an app for landscape design?

As with almost everything else, landscape design has apps to help you plan. Even if you are going to hire a landscaping team to do the job, an app can help you come up with ideas for the design and see if they work with your property. Some apps that are available are Houzz, iScape, and Microsoft Pix Camera. Each of these apps have different features and many are free. Some like iScape and Landscaper’s Companion are available only on iPhone and products running the Apple operating system. Many are available for both Apple and Android users.

Why landscape design is important

Whether we want a simple or complex design, when we are trying to make our yard look nicer in some way, we are generally doing it to improve our well-being and quality of life. In this way, landscape design is like putting up a work of art in our homes. Landscaping can give you places for quiet retreat or reflection on one hand or create a place for socializing. 

At the same time, landscaping offers practical aspects as well. Good plans will help prevent erosion, especially when you add retaining walls. Quality landscaping can also help you prevent flooding, and depending on the type of plants you have, improve air quality, and even improve the environment. Adding native plants for instance will get their nutrients from local soils without needing added chemical fertilizers, and will be a great environment for local birds and other small animals to thrive. Landscaping will often improve your property value as well.

While landscaping can help prevent erosion and flooding, your home’s gutters are also essential when it comes to drainage and protecting your home from problems like erosion. If you have clogged or damaged gutters, you will want to call gutter services to get help with them.

What are the elements of landscape design?

As with other types of design, landscape design involves some basic elements as outlined below. Each element will influence the other, so the design elements need to be considered carefully.

• Mass: This is the description of the space occupied by a single object or a group of objects. l Components like planting beds or even the individual plants in a garden are sized according to the surroundings.
• Form: This is the shape of the objects in the landscape and different shapes ranging from rectangles and triangles and circles to irregular shapes will appear.
• Line: Lines carry the eye through the landscape to create flow.
• Texture: Adds interest and richness to the design.
• Color: Color also adds interest and richness to the design.

Landscape design and maintenance

In the same way that a home needs maintenance for it to continue to look nice and for all of its elements to function properly, your landscape design will require some maintenance. The levels of maintenance will vary however, depending on the complexity of the design. Native plants will require fewer fertilizers, for instance, than non-native species. You’ll have to keep elements like irrigation systems clean so they’ll run properly. Other maintenance will include trimming and weeding and raking.

Landscape design and gardening

Landscape design and garden design share many elements. They take planning and consideration of elements like line, texture and form. In fact, a garden may be part of your landscape design, in particular for your backyard. Gardens will consist primarily of softscape elements such as shrubs, trees or flowers, but gardens may also have hardscapes like gazebos or benches. All of the elements will work together for a great design.

How much does it cost to hire a landscape designer?

For the most part the costs to develop a landscape design will vary depending on the size of the property and location. To work out a detailed plan could cost anywhere between $300 and $15,000. Projects may be charged an hourly rate, area rate or flat rate. For a consultation, you might expect to pay $50 to $100 per hour or more. Activities like soil testing will cost between $20 to $100.