When the skies are clear and the weather is warm, yard beautification comes to our thoughts.  Well of course, who wouldn’t want to have an attractive lawn at home? A good lawn is an inexpensive way of making the whole exterior that creates the first impression when someone pulls up to your house. So here are some ideas on how to have the perfect lawn designs especially for new homeowners.

Choose a Design for the Landscape

There are some elements in every landscape design that should be put into consideration, where most people forget to think of, prior to designing their landscape. Sketch out your ideas before doing anything else.

There are few things more discouraging than spending time and money on one area of the yard and then realizing that when you want to make some changes you need to pull out the plants causing to destroy them. When that could have been avoided with a little future planning. Also, remember that the outside of your home should reflect your personal style as much as the interior of your home.

Vines and Climbers

One way to beautify your yard is by planting lovely rambling vines. This way, you can add colors, fragrance, texture, and a new dimension to your vertical spaces with the easy-to-grow vines.

There’s nothing more romantic than the beautiful trumpet vine. For this adds summertime burst of red, yellow, or orange to your structure. Perhaps this is a perfect plan for attracting hummingbirds, consequently bringing color to your hot and dry spots. Another kind of vine to take into consideration is the Clematis. It offers blossom of pink, purple, red, and white. It is recommended to grow this type of versatile vine on a fence, trellis, or a container. And, for a more laissez-faire gardening style, let them ramble and scramble over your shrubs and perennials. Furthermore, you can brighten up a plain patio wall with the sun-seeking climber, like bougainvillea. Where its twining vertical vines will give balance to the bushiness.

Pot Hangers

Hanging pots filled with colorful flowers and greenery is a beautiful addition to your deck and porch. You won’t need a lot of space to display them. At the same time, it can give your garden an elegant and adorable eye-level look, without the fuss of digging, weeding and rabbit fighting.

Growing in hanging baskets has several advantages over in-ground gardening too. One of this is solving the problem of poor soil. The tight plantings do not only offer solid balls of color, but it also eliminates weeds. You can hang old canvas or over-the-door shoe organizer on a fence or a wall and fill the compartments with the plants of your choice. As well as attach clay pots to a pallet with nails and stainless-steel cable ties for a living art display, and plant in your favorite herb. Then, voila! Perfection.

Frame and Archway

Make a grand entrance by putting a frame or an archway over your front walk to dress up your front yard and making it a memorable one. For we all know that graceful frames and garden arches will bring beauty and function to landscapes of all sizes.  Choose an arbor that fits with the style and scale of your home to give you the most impact garden. Another suggestion is forming a curve trellis on your lawn for a stunning floral display.

While arbors are traditionally painted white, or may it be left with their natural wood color, you can add extra eye-appeal by painting it with bold and bright colors to match your home or other garden decor items. Add a sense of surprise by incorporating arbor into a hedge, or use a mix of materials, such as wood, metal, or stone. You can also clothe a sturdy frame and create a landscape masterpiece by putting some drapes on weeping conifers.

Elevated Steps

Adding DIY steps and stairs to your garden or yard is a great way to enhance your outdoor landscape. On the other hand, steps and stairs on the garden offer effortless access to go from one level to another. Hence, they lead the eye through the garden and give it structure. You can also DIY steps and stairs to make it not look flat. Some homeowners make use of old timbers and make something like railroad steps or hillside sidewalk. Broken concretes can also be of use. Just let your imagination work on it.

Stone Walkway

Stone walkways are the fastest and the easiest casual paths. It is inexpensive and easy to make. You would only need a very little digging and simply set them into the grass. And since there is the distance between the stones, you won’t worry about leveling them with one another. Meanwhile, you can use different kinds of stepping stone paths like concrete patio blocks, washed gravels, crushed shells, or crushed stones. These materials would last and would only need occasional weeding to make it look at their best.

Floral Walkway

Designing a walkway gives you the opportunity to express your creativity in the garden. For a beautiful visual impact, flowers lined in the walkway is a must have in your lawn. The maintenance is simple and yet you will have a welcoming garden that will last until frost. You can have a multi row of flowers, a flowerbed and even boxwood filled with flowers. Also try creating a little mystery by putting some interesting colorful, fragrant flowers on the path that would invite you to gently brush up against them.

Kitchen Garden

Who says you can’t have your kitchen in your garden? The idea of bringing edible and ornamental gardening together certainly isn’t a new concept. Because, yes!? It is possible and can be done beautifully. One of the easiest ways to dazzle the eye in this setting is to throw flowering ornamentals into the mix where color plays an important role. Choose a mixed kind of plants and go for the option that offers a wide range of textures and colors. Like for example the blue-green cabbage, purple basil, and golden sage.

When it comes to kitchen gardens, a stylish enclosure is a finishing touch for an intimate setting. You can turn your own kitchen garden into an outdoor sanctuary. Just keep in mind that whatever edging and pathway materials you choose is sure to complement your house and the rest of the garden.

Outdoor Seating

We never get enough of outdoor living spaces or sitting areas. So, it should be no surprise that there’s a bench or a chair in plain view, in most of our gardens. A totally adorable and perfect place for an afternoon read and an ideal place to settle back with a glass of wine while watching the colors of the garden change, as the sun sets. Consequently, provides an outdoor escape.

One way to perk up a patio is to relocate pots of lush flowers, upgrade the chair and top it with a couple coats of a brightly colored paint. Concrete will do too, or you can use stones or pavers. You can also build it near trees or tall flowers to give the area some sort of privacy. After all, garden sitting area should provide a sweet retreat at the end of the day. So, let your imagination run wild for you to come up with a magical-like garden set-up.

Add Some Shape

Try to play with different shapes around your lawn and you will be pleasantly surprised by the change in pace. One suggestion when you have a rectangular lawn is to add contrast, by simply putting some concrete spheres. You can make the yard a hip piece of contemporary art by adding square stone pavers on the gravel. Anyway, the concrete spheres are simple to roll away when you mow. It can also be placed easily afterward to reduce the amount of trimming. Landscapers often add edging around the usual lawn gardens by installing some curves rather than perfectly straight lines. Thus, adding an appeal and character to the usual straight and boring green lawn. The edging is permanent, so it enhances the landscape all year long and it’s an easy way to go from boring to beautiful.

DIY Planters

You can always DIY a lot of things. Especially when decorating your home. But did you know that you could make use of the soda bottles, wine crates or barrels, old tires, or old pallets to grow your flowers or vegetables? Buying is not always the solution for us to get something. Enhance your creativity skills by making use of your old stuff at home so you won’t anymore buy raised beds or planters from a gardening store. Another inexpensive but contemporary way to recycle your planter is by painting them in a bold color. You can also make use of some crates. Just stack them artfully. You can paint them too if you like to add some colors.

Use Gravel to Accentuate

Sure, you could spend several days and money putting in a walkway made of cobbles or bluestone, but a simple gravel trail won’t hurt your back or your budget.

Gravel is relatively cheap, durable, and low-maintenance. You can make use of gravels in a spot where plants don’t thrive, in a spot where there’s heavy foot traffic, in areas where drainage is a problem, or even in areas where an architectural modern look is needed. Gravel paths are very easy to construct because they aren’t set very deep. You just need to dig down a few inches to make room for the pebbles. Plus, gravel paths can take on many shapes of your choice without worrying about cutting the stones.

Ask for Cuttings from Friends

Seedlings or bulbs can be expensive, so before heading to the nursery to buy plants, why not ask from friends maybe they have several types of cuttings that you can use to propagate your plants. You don’t need to be a pro to do this.  There are only three steps to follow: First is to cut off a section of stem, second is to remove the lower leaves, and then finally pot up your cutting. You would just need some sharp knife or pruning shears, containers for potting up the cuttings, potting mix, perlite, or sand, and a rooting hormone and then your good to go. Just keep in mind that the best time to take cuttings is in the morning because the plant usually has the most moisture at this early time. Also, keep cuttings cool and moist until you’ve potted them up and avoid exposing them to direct the sun.

Dress Up Your Driveway

The unattractive driveway is one of the concerns we have in our front yards. Don’t fret because you can hide your not-so-pleasant-looking driveway by carefully sculpting the landscape and choosing the right plants and materials. With only a few steps, that less-than-picture-perfect portion of your home can be transformed into a gardener’s paradise. You can create a slightly raised island of lawn in the center of the drive for starters. Then, put a low boxwood hedge toward the back of the island with flowers, and perennials rising above the hedge in the front.

A lovely driveway deserves to be seen after hours, which is where landscape lights come into play.  The lights play many roles. From adding to the home’s attractiveness to illuminating steps and sidewalks, and for safety purposes especially at night.

Grow Blooming Shrubs

If you would ask anyone what is the easiest way to transform the look of your home landscape? They will for sure tell you: Blooms.  Because flowering shrubs are the most versatile and easy to grow inhabitants of the garden. They provide color and structure in a compact form adaptable to almost any purpose or location, from groundcovers and hedge plants to eye-catching focal points. They also perfume the air with their own signature fragrance, announcing their glorious re-emergence.

The most popular bloom is the Rhododendron. It would look great in woodland gardens or as a single bush in smaller urban landscapes. This is available in wide spectrum of colors with a preference for a partial shade. Nanking Cherry, on the other hand, is also one of the favorites. It is hardy and fast growing. And it also produces fragrant white flowers.