If you’re looking for easy advice about do-it-yourself landscaping, this is a great place to start.  If you aren’t even capable of keeping a fake plant alive, then consider hiring a landscape designer or landscape architect.

If you’re planning on tackling a large yard or something more than just a simple planter, I highly recommend drawing your landscape area to scale, or having a professional draw this for you.  This will help you figure out the amount of space you have to fill so that you know what kind of budget you’re looking at before you get too involved with your project.

My first piece of advice is to go to your local book store and  pick up a Western Garden book.  It sounds so cliche, but it is the landscape bible, even for seasoned horticulturists and botanists.  You will see that each plant or tree in your new book has a special section pertaining to its ideal “zone,”  which refers to the climate in which you live.  It’s really important to figure this out so that you can be sure you are selecting plants that won’t die from too much exposure to hot or cold temperature.  Your new Western Garden book will have all of the information that you need to figure out your zone.

Next, I recommend coming up with a general planting plan.  The ideal landscape consists of layers:  lower growing ground covers or flowers in front, shrubs or taller plants behind those (usually planted 4 or 5 feet apart depending on size), and trees scattered in between.  Having a plan of your landscape on paper will help you figure out what colors will be in your landscape (color them in with a marker or something) so you can see where you need more variety.  Keep in mind that buying baby plants and trees are the best choice to keep your pockets happy.  Just note that proper placement and spacing of your new plants are key, as you need to allow them room to mature.

You also need to take into consideration where your house is located in relation to the sun.  When you see plants that work well in your zone but grow better in shade, you really need to put thought into where you should place your plants, depending on where your house gets the most shade or the most sun.

When implementing your landscape ideas, remember some of the following tips:

• Don’t use poisonous plants if you have small children (or older children that are just stupid and eat plants) or animals
• Look for drought resistant plants that are native to your area.  This will cut back on your water/energy use
• Remember to consider the views of your landscape from inside your house, and plan outside focal points accordingly
• Take into consideration the basic principles of landscape design:  unity/consistency, simplicity, balance, color, transition, proportion/scale, and repetition.

Happy landscaping!