3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Home's Landscape Design

1. Plan for Visual Interest All Year

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make when designing your home's landscape is failing to plan for the aesthetic of your yard throughout the entire year.

Trees, shrubs, and flowers that look wonderful during the warmer months can really detract from the curb appeal of your property when they lay dormant during the winter. To avoid this, work with your landscaper to incorporate foliage that will help provide interest throughout the entire year.

One of the best plants to accomplish this goal are evergreen trees and shrubs. These types of plants often grow colorful berries during the spring and summer, yet still retain their green needles during the cooler winter months.

Evergreen shrubs and trees can ensure that your yard is always colorful and the vertical lines of your home's exterior are always softened to maximize curb appeal at all times.

2. Create Curated Walkways

Modern homeowners use their outdoor living spaces in a variety of ways. For example, your yard may contain a patio, a water feature, an outdoor fireplace, or a gazebo. Since each of these landscaping elements are located in different spots throughout your yard, the grass between the locations can become trampled and die as you walk from one feature to another time and time again.

Work with a landscaping professional to create curated walkways that will connect points of interest within your home's landscape. These curated walkways look intentional, so they add to the overall aesthetic of your landscape rather than detracting from its beauty.

Additionally, use materials you can find on your home's exterior to create pathways in your yard — this can help to tie your landscaping in with your home's design. Common materials many people use in their pathway construction include brick, crushed stone, and paving stones.

3. Use Lighting to Highlight Focal Points

It's important that you think about how your landscape will look during both day and night hours. A good landscape deserves to be seen at all times. This means that you should install some type of landscape lighting on your property.

An experienced landscaper can use a variety of lighting techniques to highlight the focal points in your landscape. For example, in-ground lighting can illuminate pathways and driveways. The upward light created by in-ground fixtures can also help silhouette and define the borders of a patio or deck. You could also use adjustable spotlights that will light up your trees or rock features and add interest to your landscape.

Your landscaper can also create a customized look through lighting installation by using fixtures with multiple light settings. These fixtures give you the ability to change the color of the lighting in your yard based on the season or your own personal desires.

Quality landscape lighting will help to enhance your home's exterior and ensure that the best parts of your landscape are highlighted at all times.

The process of creating a good landscape design requires a lot of planning and specialized skill. If you are ready to take your landscape design to the next level, contact our team at Morlock Landscape & Design today.