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Thoughtful garden landscape design is the key to creating an outdoor space you want to enjoy all year round. And whether you have a tiny courtyard in an urban area or a sprawling estate in the country it is achievable with the right planning and thought.
You can make your outside area look like a garden designer has been used to create an ambience and charisma that equates to a beautiful garden landscape for entertainment and enjoyment.
To help you transform your patios, yards, gardens, balcony, and even windows, we have endeavoured to find some inspiring garden landscaping ideas and examples that genuinely make the most of whichever style of garden you are blessed with.
If you’re looking for a simple guide to help you come up with landscape garden design ideas that suits you and your lifestyle, whether it is for hard landscaping or the more tranquil soft, keep reading to the end for our breakdown of everything to consider.
Garden Landscaping Ideas That Are New And Fresh
There’s something quite eighteenth-century about the concept of a landscaped garden, but it does not need to be difficult as with the right garden designer and the best garden landscapers contractors available it can be a joyful process, with stunning results for all seasons.
The idea is to construct a landscaped garden that has style and elegance no matter which type of garden you desire.
It can be updated and renovated using pavers, decking, planting, fill raised beds and by introducing pergolas, arches, a garden fence and even fire pits.
Back gardens have become a valid extension of our homes with a patio. When properly landscaped, a back garden will provide an accurate statement of outdoor living space where you can entertain friends and have relaxed time with family.
A front garden can be an oasis of joy that sets your house apart from all of your neighbours and with the right back garden ideas and landscaping style you can create that perfect image of a beautiful home.
Lighting
When thinking about backyard landscaping ideas and design, great lighting can put the spotlight on all the best features. Clever lighting tricks can transform your garden and outdoor spaces at night and create extra special effects. It’s ideal for a cheap garden makeover on a budget, to give a welcoming vibe in the evening.
Think about what you want to illuminate and how best to do it right at the start of your landscaping project, as any lighting design that requires wiring is often hard to retrofit.
Lighting up water features and ornamental trees is always a good idea, whilst including LED lights into seating areas, decking and paving adds appeal and style.
Fire Pits
An outdoor fireplace adds warmth and glow to a deck for an instant atmosphere if you’re entertaining at night or trying to keep warm on a fresh Autumnal day.
An inbuilt brick fireplace with an enclosed chimney will keep things smartly contained and provides a safe and pleasant way to burn logs. To keep things tidy, it’s a good idea to include an option for integral log storage too.
If you wanted a more temporary fire pit, then buying a large metal pit will work just as well and with the current trend for 2023 being for adding a rack so that you can cook on it as well.
Decking
Decking is a wonderful option in any garden as it can be both traditional and contemporary depending on the design and materials used, and can revitalise any dead area.
A raised deck is a good option for an uneven or sloped garden to create a level flat surface for a dining table or a seating area. If you build a tall enough frame, you can use the space underneath your decking as additional garden storage.
Decking boards can be laid in many different configurations to create an exciting effect. Potential laying patterns for decking include horizontal, diagonal, chevron, and picture frames (boards in a different orientation to frame the decking) deck boards.
Composite decking is available in many attractive colours, including deep red, brown and grey, so you can choose one that works with your garden design. Alternatively, timber wooden deck boards can be painted or stained with paint or decking oil.
Stick with one striking colour or combine more than one colour. Merge navy and white for a nautical design or black and grey to give your contemporary garden a stylish look.
Pergola
A pergola idea should be integral to the garden’s layout instead of an afterthought but make sure it will be manageable for the garden and large enough to be practical.
Okay, as garden landscaping ideas go it’s perhaps a bit grandiose, and would dominate a small backyard. But the beauty of a pergola is it becomes another outside space with a seating area in which to enjoy your landscaped garden. And if it is a covered pergola, you can use it all year round, giving shade from an unforgiving sun.
A common mistake is to make a pergola too narrow and too low, or have no direct pathways. The size and dimensions of the uprights and overall frame will need to be considered carefully, as these styles alter the feel of the pergola.
One trend that never tires is planting a climber or some vines on one of the upright posts and letting it wind it’s way up and over your pergola to create an organic cover with a sweet smelling fragrance.
Window Boxes
When you are looking for small garden ideas with limited space for flower beds, or you want to enliven the look of your home, then use your windows for an easy way to completely transform the external appearance of your house.
Adding drought resistant plants and flowers that bloom throughout the year will maintain an elegance and charm that will increase the vibrancy of your home, and give it some extra personality. Or planting some herbs will ensure a rich scent on warm days.
Wildflowers are one of the easiest ways to add colour to your window box and in comparison, to some plants and flowers are relatively low maintenance. You can even just through seeds into turned over soil in Spring and forget about them.
In a modern garden twist on this you could also do a green wall, which is effectively using any empty vertical space to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables or a herb garden.
For me, if you have a paved driveway for front yard, window boxes or some planters are a must.
Manicured Lawns
A perfectly striped, emerald, green turf is the most coveted kind of lawn and that of a picture postcard, but it’s the one that requires the most effort. This would never be classed as a low maintenance garden, but the results are always stunning.
Grass cut short, as smooth and level as the green baize of a snooker table, and they are a testament to the work and dedication that goes into achieving such an immaculate finish.
These lawns require a lot of extra attention to moss removal, a programme of aerating and scarifying, weed elimination, over-seeding and feeding. Luckily, you can get companies who can do this a few times a year.
Once that lawn is established it becomes easier to manage and with the right lawn mower and effort you can have that perfect manicured look. Pair with evergreen shrubs for all round greenery.
Yes artificial grass is an option that is less maintenance, but it gets hot in the summer and it’s not great for the environment or insects. Plus you still need to rake leaves off and watch out for tree roots.
English Country Garden
A cottage-style garden is fundamentally a very informal and traditional plot where the flowers and plants steal the show. Borders full of colour and texture amidst traditional natural materials such as stone walls and red brick edging give a timeless and effortless grace to any garden.
There are so many types and varieties of flowers, that the challenge is choosing which ones. My favourites though are roses, peonies, foxgloves, delphiniums, honeysuckle, bluebells, daffodils, hydrangeas and fuchsias. And of course the bees and butterflies favourites of lavender, marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias and more.
This style of landscaping is one of the few that works well in both front and back gardens and can set the tone of your house and give it the right kerb appeal. Yes, it’s more effort gardening, but the results are outstanding.
And, if you’re the owner of urban small gardens, don’t be discouraged. For this type of landscaped garden design, you don’t have to live in a chocolate box style thatched cottage in the English countryside. Even the use of flowering shrubs in front of garden fencing can help create that tranquil paradise.
Swimming Ponds
Natural swimming ponds are becoming fashionable as the urge to use less chemicals and be more environmentally friendly leads us to find more sustainable ways to entertain ourselves and still have an attractive water feature.
People have asked if they are safe to use, and the answer is yes, as the idea is to reduce the nutrients in the water, thus preventing algae from growing and keeping the water clear.
Some natural swimming pool companies pump the water through the shingle, which acts as a filter, but others use plants to absorb nutrients, micro-organisms, and pathogens.
They are also easier to maintain than a typical swimming pool as the water doesn’t have to be drained, and there’s no need to add chemicals. However, getting an annual check-up is advisable to ensure your safety.
Expect average water temperatures to range between 19˚C and 25˚C, although, this year, one owner’s thermometer surged to 28.3˚C. After rain, it might drop a couple of degrees.
So there you are, some landscape garden ideas to get you inspired.
