The direction in which your house faces (north, south, east, west) is termed its exposure. This fact is of utmost importance in planning your garden. First of all, you will have to locate plants that will grow successfully in shaded areas according to the exposure; secondly, the position of shade trees will be most satisfactory if you determine before planting the spots where they will do the most good.

Generally speaking, a house whose front faces southeast is best adapted for the American type of home landscape. A more detailed discussion of this subject, will appear in a succeeding chapter.

Surroundings

Just as individuals are apt to reflect the habits and characteristics of their environment, landscape design should to some extent conform to the standards set by the surrounding area. This statement holds true only if the general surroundings happen to be pleasant. If, however, the land adjoining or close by to yours happens to be an eyesore, your landscape plan will emphasize seclusion and try to block off the undesirable view.

Soil

Landscaping is a great way to improve the appearance of your yard, and landscape tools are essential for any landscaping project. There are many tools out there, some made for one specific job. The best thing you can do is to purchase a basic group of tools that you can multi-task with, and add specialized tools one at a time as you need them. The basic group of tools is listed below.

The first tool group is the shovel.

Group 2 is the rake

Group 3 is the lopper, shear or pruner.

The fourth tool group is the wheel barrel or garden cart.

The shovel is the first group of tools. It is a piece of metal that has been flattened and attached to a handle. These allow you to carry and move materials around. There are three main types of shovels. The flat shovel has a wide surface area, and is a relatively flat piece of metal. It is good for moving scoops from a rock or gravel pile. The second one is the rounded or pointed tip shovel. This is good for slicing and digging in the soil. It is the classic shovel that most people think of. The last is the narrow shovel. It works well for digging smaller holes and in tight spaces.

Any study of landscaping design in America will show many typical properties, some of the most usual types, and various solutions of the problem of arranging the public, private, and service areas in relation to the house will be discovered.

Important Landscape Decision

With only a little thought, these three areas in the majority of cases can be separated on a property. Exactly how big each will be, or where it will be located, will depend on two things. The first is a family’s habits and mode of living; the second is the nature and extent of your piece of land and what is already planted and growing nicely on it. Having reached this point in the design process, you are ready to decide on the final design of your property, which is the most interesting step in making your own landscape plans.

The division of your property into these three areas establishes the skeleton or framework of your overall design. Next, you will “put meat on it” by the use of plants, walks, driveways, hedges, fences, arbors, gates, trees, garden furniture, etc.

Designing Your Property

There are a lot of concepts that you can implement in your future landscape Miami project. It all depends on the reason of the lawn, and the money you’ve available to spend. Nevertheless, these are a few concepts that you may think about prior to deciding on your next garden.

Prior to deciding on using a few of the concepts in this essay, make sure that you have a budget and that these concepts fall within your available budget. When considering the budget, you need to think about it into two parts. First, you must consider the cost of the initial job. Second, you have to consider how much it is going to cost to up keep it. A project that has an initial high cost might be more inexpensive in the long term.

First, you might choose to consider planting a few large trees. This is beneficial in Florida area because of the heat. The trees will aid your landscape keep fresh and provide you with some additional privacy. However, remember that you prefer to place the trees at a good distance from the house because of probable hurricanes.

Serenity is the keynote of this beautifully landscaped garden.

The basic problems most commonly encountered in landscaping and how to go about solving them in an orderly and practical way is not impossible.

For most of us the initial question is one of money. Homeowners often ask “Can I afford to landscape my property? So far I’ve done hardly anything to beautify my garden, and it still seems to have cost a great deal of money.”

My usually reply, and I think you will agree, is that good landscaping costs less, not more.

Smart Purchasing

Before buying any significant item that will add to the efficiency and comfort of your home, you need to consider its cost and proposed location, as well as its usefulness. If, say, you were considering buying a washing machine, you would compare the costs, features, and dimensions of various models before making your choice.

I doubt whether you would even consider buying two washing machines just because they happened to be on sale. I also doubt that you would be willing to place the best washing machine made in the position that your flat screen television or entertainment center now occupies.

Plants, like any other commodity we use, do cost money. However, unlike, say, a vacuum cleaner, they grow more valuable as they grow older.

You should expect to pay a fair price for any plants you decide to use in your landscape. But, since the price depends largely on the amount of work the nurseryman has put into the given plant, you should always buy smaller specimens. Properly cared for, they will grow into valuable shrubs, flowers and trees.

If you have enough time, patience, and skill, you might try developing your own shrubs – a difficult task but one that will stretch your gardening dollar.

Cash Outlay

Do not, confuse the fully grown plants shown many magazines, websites and books with the ones you will plant when you start to landscape. These plants are often shown mature in order to help you visualize what you will ultimately have.

Your initial cash outlay, however, will not be for mature plants or even large specimens. You will be buying plants for much less because you are going to wait for them to mature.

No matter how carefully the garden has been planned on paper, hard practical work must be done by someone before you can see the dream break into flower.

If you moved into your new home during the fall or winter you will probably be pretty discouraged when the snow leaves in spring.

Grading – Rough Grade

Though most building contracts call for the rough grading to be complete, this may be pretty rough. As a bulldozer is used, the surface is usually packed hard, with bricks, wire and boards pressed into it. Leave it alone until the mud dries out quite well, as working it too soon could ruin the texture of the soil.

As soon as you can walk on it without getting stuck, pick up and get rid of all the rubbish. You may find that a few knolls need to be shoveled into low spots. This rough grade should be 3 to 4 inches below where you want the finished grade. Excavate shrub beds and others to 9 to 12 inches below the finished grade.

On most properties the approach area was planted for the benefit of people directly facing the front door from the street. The picture was balanced on each side of the line for best effect. For practical reasons, the service area was directly connected to the kitchen or service entrance, which was usually at the back of the house. The recreation or garden area was most frequently seen from some door or window of the living or dining room as people did not consider the first purpose for a garden to be a place for outdoor living. In older houses this arrangement is still suitable.

The plan of our modern homes, however, does not lend itself to this obvious axial arrangement. Architecture has changed from the symmetrical and decorative to a structural mass for functional purposes. We must think of our gardens as comfortable living areas rather than only for decoration.

These annuals which are easily grown can be sown in the open and have flowers the same season.

Alyssum

A white variety can create a “Carpet of Snow” and is one of the annual varieties that are so valuable for bedding and edging. In bloom the entire season and into late autumn. Lift a few plants and pot them up for the indoor window garden. Masses of white blossoms on compact 4 inch plants.

CandyTurf

So delicate is its perfume, so modest its flowers. Under average soil conditions Candytuft provides a fortune in white and in pink in lavender and in rose, for a mere monetary pittance. Grow it in beds, along the walk, in the rockery and by the shrubbery. Make several sowings in a season.

Dianthus (Annual Pinks)

Growing from 10 to 14 inches high and bearing in profusion; beautifully colored flowers, either single or double, here is a group of subjects that will thrill you with their exotic brilliancy. Just a little fussy, they like a moist loam. Mass them in such soil and they will form a magical matting of curious color combination.

MARIGOLDS

Camellia sasanqua comes into bloom this month. It is the earliest of the family to flower and, in bloom from now until December while few other shrubs are showing color, it is very desirable as well as charming and beautiful. The soft pink of the variety Apple Blossom, with its delicate flower with golden centers, is a striking and lovely plant. The semi-double, white is most floriferous and the deep rose is also good. The foliage is not quite so heavy as that of the standard camellias and the plants grow wider than tall and make good hedges, accents and specimens.

Fragrance is the chief merit of the Russian olives, Eleagnus pungens and E. fruitlandi. They are heavy growers and need much trimming, but the tiny clusters of creamy flowers spread their aroma far and wide.

Much work must be done. All the daffodils, scillas, Roman and Dutch hyacinths, camassias, crocus and muscari must be planted as early as possible. Use the strong trumpet and clustered narcissus along with chalice and short-cupped types in groups of 12 or more wherever space permits, and be sure to include the miniatures to give distinction and character to the groups.