Your Garden, Your Heaven

Design your Garden with latest trends

This commentary on landscape gardening will deliberate over the effectiveness of making use of tips on landscape gardening in order to work out various landscaping problems.

Provides You With Professional Advice

You are aware of what precisely you want implemented and wish that you could hire the services of a landscape specialist to execute the project. Regrettably, you are constrained by your finances. However, luckily, there are scores of tips on landscape gardening. By putting in a little effort delving into the subject, you can easily handle any landscaping issue by means of professional tips.

It does not make sense to commit the same faults previously made by somebody else and not to be forewarned. You do not have to resort to the difficult trial and error method when expert guidance is at your disposal. Tips on landscape gardening can help you carefully invest your time and resources.

Tackles Several Gardening Issues

Tips on landscape gardening can sort out a whole host of landscaping concerns:

1. The kind of plants that will flourish in the soil conditions present in your area

2. A cost-effective means of setting up a pond in your garden

3. The most suitable time to grow shrubs

4. The easiest method of doing away with old turf

5. Shortcuts that will expedite the landscaping project

6. Merging a novel landscaping project with a deck that already exists

7. Purchase of landscaping materials in an economical manner

8. Growing plants that bloom all through the year

9. Setting up landscaping beds to take into account seasonal factors

These tips are very useful for any kind of a landscaping project, and will help in structuring the process effectively, curtailing the costs, and in providing the latest expert advice and information.

Hi-Tech Suggestions

Living in a technologically advanced society has many advantages, one being that the latest information in the field of science and technology are instantly conveyed to the end user.

Tips on landscape gardening cover more than just suggesting the kind of plants to grow. These tips focus on locating the most modern landscaping supplies and techniques to resolve longstanding issues. Not long ago, landscaping called for loads of supplies, like wood logs, which needed to be restored every so often. These days, you can avail of tips on landscape gardening, which spot the most recent supplies available in stores that do not fall to pieces in the ground.

Some time back, a consumer was confronted with an insect problem, which lasted for a complete season before the consumer could get his hands on a product that could effectively eliminate the pests. The insects by then had damaged quite a bit of the landscaped area, necessitating expensive substitution.

Today, you can locate tips on landscape gardening on the web, which will provide advice on the latest insect repellents that do not pose a risk to the environment. These tips make available the latest and hottest information.

Personalized Tips

In this information age, tips on landscape gardening, apart from equipping you with the latest information, also provide you with a personalized solution to landscaping issues.

Online, there are specialists who will resolve your particular queries. A wide range of gardening issues are covered, right from materials, insects, shortcuts, fertilizers, pesticides, plants, landscape plans, preserving walls and footpaths, and decks. Every topic has associated tips on landscape gardening, custom-made for you!

A parterre garden is a type of formal garden created by 16th Century French nursery designer Claude Mollet. Mollet based his design on the square boundaries and elaborate interior patterns of English knot gardens. However, he conceived of the parterre garden as fulfilling a different purpose for French landscapes. Instead of being viewed by people who were passing by them on the ground, Mollet wanted his gardens to be viewed from the high vantage points of open windows, balconies, and palisades. He therefore divided the single square into four squares, with gravel paths that intersect in the middle. He also changed the vegetation contents from an emphasis on herbs and small flowering plants to larger growth that could be better seen from high places.

Mollet selected clipped box to use in forming the boundaries of the parterre garden. He relied heavily on other shrub species as well to provide variation in structure and color. The English, of course, objected to this. Herbalist and poet Gervase Markham wrote that box had a “naughty smell” and should not be used in a garden. Markham had missed the point. Mollet’s intention was to create a visual experience for the Elite to quietly enjoy from the opulence and comfort of their balconies and open windows. It was far more important to see the garden as a unity than it was to smell individual flowers and herbs at close range. This was the main reason that shrubs became predominant in parterre gardens, because when different species are planted together, the variations of green can be stunningly beautiful.

Parterre gardens reached the zenith of their form under the reign of Louis XIII at the Palace of Versailles. King Louis’s head gardener, Jacques Boyceau, defined the best elements of the parterre gardens as follows:

• Borders that are made from several shrubs of different shades of green.

• Shrubs should be clipped in such a way as to create compartments and pathways within the general space.

• Passements, or embroidery patterns, should be formed out of shrub elements

• The use of repeating geometry (known as Arabesque) is often appropriate, along with selective use of animal forms in places.

• Distorted forms and interlacing patterns should be clearly visible and proportional to the whole.

Parterre gardens fell out of style after the French Revolution. The new, favored form then became the 18th Century English naturalist garden. However, in the 20th Century, parterre gardens experienced a resurgence in popularity. While they still remain true to the same aesthetic intentions of Boyceau and Mollet, the use of four perfect squares is not typical except on very large, private estates that have the acreage to support them.

Instead, the typical Houston parterre garden is often one of many elements found throughout the landscape. It can be planted with either linear or contoured geometry to compliment the aesthetic of exterior architecture and outdoor forms. This was done in a project we did some time back for a West Houston couple who loved all things French. We sculpted a parterre garden around a paved area that was designed in the shape of a horseshoe. Originally used for parking a boat, this area was later covered with gravel and used to mount a statue. The surrounding greenery created a backdrop for this piece that looked both organic and elegant at once.

Typically, landscaping companies such as ours use a combination of boxwoods and holly trees when designing parterre gardens. Boxwoods create excellent garden boundaries, and hollies add vertical dimension. This simple combination is often very useful in a yard that has lacks a fence. When planted along the property line, it creates a superb and highly aesthetic natural boundary between two residences.

Simplicity has always been the basis of good design, and adding a garden fountain is no exception. Besides, good garden design is nearly as easy as it is simple! It’s when you complicate things that issues arise. You have only a few things to worry with when planning to add a garden fountain to landscape your home. They are: 1) A source of electricity 2) The placement area; and 3) How to create a harmonious landscape around your new water feature. Creative solving of these basic problems will beautify your home and greatly improve its beauty and value. Penciled plans are simple to prepare, easy to repair and worth their weight in gold when it’s time to install new the new planters, statuary, and green material around your water fountain.

The first things you need are several large sheets of graph paper with five or ten lines to the inch and plenty of plain tracing paper the same overall size, plus a pencil, ruler and eraser. Tape-measure your lot and draw its outline on the graph paper, making a special note where you want to install the outdoor fountain. Use a one-inch square of the graph to equal 10 square feet of your property. This places the usual 50 by 150-foot lot on the graph paper as a five by 15-inch rectangle. If your graph paper is too short for the entire plot plan use cellophane tape and stick two sections together, as needed. Then measure the house and its relationship to the fountain and the edges of your property. Transfer these dimensions to the graph paper, together with the size and location of the garage, driveway, walks and other permanent installations. It’s also a good idea to mark the location of large trees, garden planters, statuary, or shrubs which are now growing.

Next take the plot plan outside and carefully survey the area surrounding your home. Perhaps you can see a large telephone pole beyond the back property line. Mark it on the graph paper. Indicate all neighboring houses, large trees, statues, or other obstructions in your line of sight. Mark this survey of your view from both sides, the front and rear of your home Mark down everything you can see and indicate its approximate distance from your house. Now comes the fun part. Cover the plot plan with tracing paper and you’re ready to go to work; adding the outdoor water fountain to your landscaping on the lot with everything you would like to have and enjoy. But just a minute! Before you charge madly off in all directions at once, take a breath and visualize your yard. Think of those things you like best (fountains? statuary? cast stone planters?) and mark them for easy reference. It’s these notes, these ideas, that will springboard you to action in the proper direction when the truck pulls up and the fountain is delivered.

With the notes you can return to your tracing paper and locate the essential factors of your garden plan: A place for the electrical connection, a garden bench, or the surrounding plants in their garden planting containers, etc. Then, sidewalks to the front and back doors. Perhaps a protected area for the children’s play area. A dog kennel? If you plan to enjoy outdoor entertaining, now is the time to decide on how much paved or bricked area would be needed to surround the barbecue.

Placing your garden fountain is common sense. If you’re on a firm, level surface, no problem. However the ground is earth, or lawn, you’ll need to do a little preparation. Dig down about two inches, to firm ground. Then add a few inches of packed sand or pea gravel. Use a level, and you’re all set. This will reduce or eliminate the effect of any natural leveling.

Keep in mind, of course, the view from various parts of the yard, protection from prevailing winds and use of existing trees. You don’t want your fountain hidden from view, nor do you want the water flow to fly around the yard if you place it in a windy area. Large water features are no longer only for the wealthy. The landscaping planning phase is the perfect chance to plan the location of your fountain. Properly chosen, a water fountain can be the centerpiece of a masterful garden design.

The sounds of the water from your garden feature and the effect it can have on you is an experience not to be missed. Pump up the volume with the sound of splashing water. For instance listen to the sound of running bath water and to the constant dripping of a tap – which can be annoying to say the least. However, if we change the word dripping to trickling and replace the word running with flowing then that is another kettle of fish (excuse the pun if you have a pond.

If a water garden feature is to prove its worth to the eye and ears then choose your garden ornamentation with these two factors in mind – pretty to look at and nice to listen to.

Fountains and waterfalls are most favourable among gardeners. Before engaging in the structure of water garden features as such then you need to remember – these type of features actually oxygenate and freshen the water with the constant ongoing movements. If you have fish in the pool of your fountain/waterfall then they will love the lively waters – but water plants like lilies and lotus may suffer because of this. Plants as such prefer stillness and may well be hampered in flourishing in action packed waters.

Careful thought and planning behind your water garden feature will make your venture a whole lot easier. If you want a bit of both worlds (fish and plants) then you can. Your water garden feature can still be home to aquatic life but instead of floating water plants on top of the water why not landscape surrounding areas with pretty shrubs – this can be very affective as well as cost effective because what ever plants you you use will not have to be of a specific plant type.

Another suggestion is to erect a mini replica of your feature to the side of the larger garden fixture with no pump action and have floating plants there. Water movements are very important to give off an effect which is relaxing to listen too and attractive to look at. Circulating swirls are fabulous water moves.

Water garden features and accessory tips can be found from the best friend you could ever have at your side when taking on the task to build or erect a water fountain – and that is a manual. It is a wise decision to have yourself a DIY book with you at all times when undertaking jobs as such. Water garden suppliers will have all the information you need. Garden centres offer complete do it yourself kits.

Gardening books will tell you all you kneed to know like that there are two basic pump types – the submersible pump and surface pump. The surface pump is usually enclosed in a container alongside the pool where a polythene tube is used feed the fountain or water fall. To undertake this installation is far less complicated than you could imagine.

If you choose the alternative method – then the water garden submersible pump is a lot simpler. Plumbing is reduced to a minimum. Submersible pumps are not visible to the eye. This type of pump can not be seen due to its location submerged under water so therefore no sound.

In other words out of sight out of mind – I don`t think so – not with the injection of beauty it creates.

People have been gardening for centuries and not just as a fun and enjoyable hobby but often to produce fresh vegetables and fruits and other plants for human consumption. Together with this productive kind of gardening a type of gardening has grown that is just for the pleasure of the gardener and the visitors of the garden. These types of gardens often contain threes, shrubs and lots of flowers. But for both type of gardens one thing remains the same, you need to keep working in your garden to get the best results. And for gardening you need tools, big tools, power tools, small tools and hand tools.

There are hundreds of tools but in this article we want to talk about the ergonomic garden tools in general and ergonomic power tools in particular because they are truly essential to get started in gardening. The big landscaping chores that need to be done when you start with a new garden are essential because when you hurt your back in this stage of gardening you are going to end up with an aversion against gardening all together. Are there ergonomic garden tools that can make the job much easier?

Digging the dirt

Especially with rough land that needs to be made in to a beautiful garden you need to do an awful lot of hard and back breaking work. There are however ergonomic garden tools like a Mantis Tiller that can help you do this with no back pain at all. If you need to dig a piece of land just with a spade or shovel you will have a very hard time, an electric tiller can help you do it better, quicker and is one of those real practical ergonomic garden tools you just can’t do without.

Other small ergonomic garden tools

There are tools that are designed specifically to be comfortable and not make your hands sore after you are done using them. This is a huge benefit to gardeners because it means that you will be able to spend lots more time out in your garden without getting tired or sore.

For example in the section small ergonomic garden tools you can find:

- grafting knives

- budding knives

- hand pruners

- saws

- indoor garden tools

- trowels

- loppers

- weeders

- grass shears

- hedge shears

- sheaths

And much, much more. All these ergonomic garden tools can be used for the same chores as normal and can be stored in the same way, they can be put away in your regular garden tool belt so you can keep your tools all in the same place and at hand. This way you won’t lose anything.

If you hate sports, going to the gym for a work-out, then gardening is a great alternative because gardening may not seem particularly strenuous, but if you really think about it and look at how much effort is put into gardening. You realize that in reality you are using almost every muscle in your body and so it is no wonder that your muscles end up getting so sore. You need to pick the chores that are good and healthy to do and do the big landscaping duties with ergonomic power tools like a Mantis Tiller.