Landscaping: Choosing Your Approach
Choosing how to manage your front and back yard is a big decision. Your front yard is like an extension of your entryway. What message do you want to send? Reserved or warm? You have also to weigh what’s normal in your neighborhood against your own preferences. Do you opt for pure beauty or lean into something more functional that accommodates backyard living? Should you go traditional or embrace low water options. To help you make your choice, we’re going to explore the three main options available to you.
Traditional Landscaping
The traditional landscaping approach involves a lot of green grass. Both your front and back yard will be dominated by it, like two verdant lakes in the desert. Along the edges,
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It has a long history and there’s a lot of resources out there about doing it right. That means any professional will know how to organize and maintain your yards. It’s something you can DIY with a bit of study and elbow grease. It can even be a good opportunity for family time.
Cons
The fundamentals of the traditional approach largely assume you’ll be in a temperate climate with regular rain. When your home is in an arid climate, like Southern California, maintaining that traditional lawn requires a staggering amount of irrigation. Not only is that expensive, but may become impossible to maintain if the recently lifted water use restrictions go back into effect.
Xeriscaping
One alternative to the traditional grass lawn strategy is xeriscaping. This approach focuses on maximizing your water conservation without abandoning plants altogether. The key is using plants that have low water consumption and segregating them into pockets across your yards. These pockets of plant growth are surrounded by dry areas that may be covered with paver stones, decorative gravel paths and even some areas of regular grass. Mulch is used liberally to prevent evaporation and add a decorative element. The plants themselves are often native plants that have already adapted to the local conditions or plants imported from other arid regions, such as Australia or the Middle
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In more temperate climates, it’s generally used to in tandem with the softscaping that focuses on soil and plants. In more arid climates, like Santa Clarita, it can actually replace most softscaping. This approach doesn’t mean giving up on plants, but it reduces them to a decorative element. For example, you might install a brick patio over most of your back yard with built in planters and small strips of exposed soil around the edges. This lets you maintain some drainage and retain some plant life but in an extremely controlled way. You might also opt for paver stone paths surrounded by gravel, concrete and large, decorative stones. This approach is sometimes referred to as Zeroscaping.
Pros
Water use for maintaining hardscaped yards is very limited. Aside from planters or hanging plants, you shouldn’t need to water. Hardscaped yards require very little maintenance, most of which could be done with a broom or rake. It works well for those with a focus on backyard living. You can have outdoor ovens built as part of the process. It also provides a very stable foundation for outdoor kitchens, patio covers, and other exterior installations.
American Green has entertaining anecdotes, but should be considered more of a light read than as an authoritative work of non-fiction. This book may be enjoyed by environmentalists who want to know more about the impact that lawns have on the environment or for someone who truly is obsessed with his or her lawn and wants to learn about others who share this obsession. Steinberg’s goals may have been lofty, to prove a nationwide obsession, but his arguments and assumptions created a book that cannot be taken seriously.
Removing vegetation removes the root systems, which help hold soil in place. Running water can now more easily wash soil and rock away, increasing erosion.
From the years, 1987 to 1991, the West Philadelphia Landscape project was part of collective landscape plan which was established as a “greening” project for the West Philadelphia community. A large team of teachers and students from the University of Philadelphia developed a database that used digital maps of the area neighborhoods as well as designed proposals that would allow the project to reuse vacant land in the Mill Creek area. They used the maps they created to design and strategically place organic gardens all around the Mill Creek neighborhood. These gardens helped replace the vacant landscapes with lush green and vibrants flowers. Others used the lots as a means to create community organic gardens, which allowed residents of the community to come and pick fresh produce free of charge.
Research was conducted using the University of Phoenix online library, the course textbook, and online periodicals and materials. Using the information above, a proper entity selection, vision for the business, identification of legal and regulatory issues, and selection of business professionals will be identified to help the landscaping business take the necessary steps for furthered success. For simplicity, the business will be called LandScaping Unlimited (LSU).
Landscaping business remains essential in preserving natural beauty in the world. Personally, with any business, the key is to keep the motto simple. To your point, always provide quality products matched with great service, and customers will remain loyal. Honestly, there is no one way to prevent competition from entering into any market, if a product or service is producing profit, everyone business will want a piece of the pie. According to Thomas & Maurice (2010), strong barriers of entry makes it difficult for new firms to enter, but it does not stop entry from happening. To that point, all companies at some point will face government barriers, whether large or small.
Trees are the first and most important consideration in the landscape design. They increase property value, save energy with their shade, and improve our life with their beauty.
They also help balance natural ecosystems, which allows more evenness of plant
Does your home have a yard that you feel is on the small side? If so, you may feel limited to what you can do when it comes to landscaping. Since you can’t easily buy more land, your next best option is to use the land you have in more creative ways. Consider these tips that will make a small yard look large.
Nagase and Dunnett, (2010) debates that extensive roofs are not appropriate for plant growth, therefore it has inadequate water accessibility, extensive temperature variations, great exposure to wind and solar radiation that generates highly strained, and occasionally troubled environment. Due that reason, insignificant variety of plant types is generally used for extensive roofs. Sedum types are the most frequently used plant, Dunnett and Kingsbury, (2008) suggest that they are greatly adapted to dry environments. Extensive Green Roofs...
How to create an environment suitable for human living when resources are limited is a challenging problem for modern society. My strong interest in photography and art has compelled me to become especially observant toward the relationship between human beings and the environment. I have come to realize that the environment we live in has suffered much damage from pollution and lacks competent planning, making it difficult to find beautiful scenery to photograph or sketch. I began to think that I could make use of my artistic gift, concern about, and interest in the environment by entering the field of landscape design and putting my effort into beautifying our surroundings. Therefore, after graduating from high school, I entered the Department of Landscape Architecture at ABC University.
Bring, Mitchell, and Wayembergh, Josse. Japanese Gardens—Design and Meaning. McGraw-Hill series in Landscape and Landscape Architecture. McGraw-Hill, 1981.
A landscaping plan is a must practical design that flows. The choice of plants can offer beautiful displays throughout the growing season, research each plant and discover how what it takes to have a success garden. I hav...
home farm. Reducing soil erosion is one of the most important practices on my home farm.
When many people hear about the term “landscape”, they immediately think that it means “nature”. The natural landscape does play an important role in our society but what is more important is the landscape that we make and occupy. So, what exactly is “landscape”? The term can be illiterate in many ways but the definition given by the European Landscape Convention is perhaps the most useful and widely agreed one. It states that a landscape is ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and human factors.’ This definition captures both the idea of landscape being physical like a tract of land, but also something that is mind and social shared, something that is perceived by the people. When it comes to Landscape Architecture, the International Federation of Landscape Architects says that ‘Landscape Architect conduct research and advise on planning, design, and stewardship of the outdoor environment and spaces, both within and beyond the built environment, and its
What type of garden is the best fit for you? Do you have room in a large backyard, limited space, or no yard at all? A thriving garden is possible in any one of these scenarios. If you have very limited space, you will want to