While landscaping is adapted to and practiced in most geographic locations and climates throughout the world, the principles that landscaping uses to change the visible features of an area of land into a functional or visually appealing space are the same. Using a combination of art, science, and engineering, landscape design uses a combination of man made and natural elements to accomplish its goal. It could depend on a combination of a few or all of the following -

1. Plants and soil
2. Flat land, hills, or areas of water
3. Buildings, fences, swimming pools, etc.
4. Weather, effects of weather, lighting conditions, and environmental conditions.

Methods And Design Styles

To get a better picture of what is landscaping, you should first understand that it can be defined as both a method or a design style. These two categories are often confused with one another.

• Methods of landscaping consist of principles that address specific conditions. For instance, dry area or drought tolerant landscaping known as Xeriscaping is a method that uses plants and principles that adapt to and use low water use conditions or create environmentally friendly landscapes that preserve natural resources.
• Landscape design styles can reflect cultural, geographic, and thematic preferences to produce a certain and desired appearance. For instance, a Mediterranean style home may use Mediterranean or tropical style plants to create a Mediterranean or Tropical landscaping style. Or Japanese cultural elements may be used to create a Japanese garden. And while these and others are design styles, they can still incorporate methods such as Xeriscaping to help the landscape adapt to the environment or be more environmentally friendly.

Principles Of Landscaping As Art

To answer the question of what is landscaping a bit further, it’s important to understand that it is an art form. An appealing and functional design is rarely the result of a random or accidental creation. And while it may not be obvious to view what makes a landscape appealing, balanced, or functional, there are applied and intentional principles behind the plan that make it so. See What Is Landscaping? for a more detailed explanation of the principles of design and how they’re applied as art.

Once you understand that landscaping is art and how its principles are applied just as other forms of art, you should also understand that some thought needs to be given to the design process in order to create appealing and functional results. Often, the biggest mistake that people make in regards to landscaping their own yard is to begin without having a complete plan. While the simple definition is that it is to use different elements to form, shape, or change a piece of land into a specific, intentional, and desired method or style, there is just a little more to it. Each area of hardscaping such as building walls, walkways, pergolas, steps, etc., and every instance of planting has its own specific considerations that not only create the whole project, but also has considerations on how they affect and are affected by each other.

The History Of Landscaping

Historical evidence shows that landscaping has been practiced for thousands of years by almost every civilized culture to either beautify an area or increase its functionality or usability.

Eastern cultures such as the Japanese and Chinese perfected the art of beautiful gardens long ago to include intentional placement of objects and symbolism into their gardens and landscapes. Even though it may not be noticeable, much of what makes landscaping in many cultures today what it is, can be attributed to the principles used in Japanese gardens. For instance, intentional planting of alike plants in odd numbers is not only a principle of art but also very obvious in Japanese gardens.

Tracing back to the existence of the first known garden in history, the Garden Of Eden, there is documented and visible proof of landscaping and gardens that have been excavated in geological digs.

• The Mayans – used intentionally placed plantings around paths and walkways to help define the paths and their direction.
• The Romans – are famous for their gardens and landscapes. The Italian style of landscaping includes perfectly sculpted formal gardens and mazes that influence many of today’s design styles. They also include canals, ponds, fountains, and watering systems that can still be seen today in some of their ancient cities.
• The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon are historically recorded back to around 600 B.C.

These, along with many other instances, have carried on and influenced many other cultures and design styles of landscapes to make landscaping what it is today. To answer the question of what is landscaping in almost any area is a simple matter of looking down any street where you will see parks, buildings, front yards, and lawns that are intentionally placed and manipulated for either beauty or functionality.

A pergola can serve many functions in landscape and garden design. Its basic
structure is generally a light, open structure that provides an enclosed area in a
garden without giving too much shade.

Often associated with or enclosing a terrace, pergolas are usually constructed of
wood pillars, with wooden cross beams anchored above them; but the pillars are
sometimes built of brick, concrete or stone and the cross beams may be replaced by,
or include, a trellis or some other form of lattice, making a roof.

A pergola may be attached to a house or other building, or be free standing, perhaps
over a pathway. When they are used in this way they can link two different areas of a
garden, leading the eyes – and feet – from one area to another, or they can be used
to visually introduce a special feature, like a statue or a fountain.

Growing climbers of some sort over your pergola will give you protection from summer
sun. If the climbers are deciduous, you will not get unwelcome shade in winter
(though there will still be the matter of cleaning up the fallen leaves). Vines are
an obvious choice, with grapes leading the field, since you then get the bonus of
being able to harvest grapes from under your pergola in the fall. Light filtered
through grapevine leaves onto even a narrow path can transform part of your home
landscape into a place of Mediterranean charm.

For a more traditional look, a climbing rose (such as ‘Dublin Bay’, a deep-red,
scented rose that flowers prolifically all summer) is a good choice, while a “quick
fix” for the practically minded would be climbing beans. Treated as annuals (although
some varieties can be retained and will overwinter as perennials) climbing beans will
cover your pergola in a matter of weeks if you give them plenty of water. Keep the
bean pods picked as they appear and you will be rewarded with many more, following
their attractive red or white flowers. Wisteria (e.g. Wisteria sinensis), honeysuckle
(especially the beautiful Lonicera japonica, or Japanese honeysuckle), and jasmine
(Jasminum sp.) are other choices – all three are flowering climbers with a pleasant
scent.

A well-designed pergola attached to a house acts as a unifying feature between house
and garden, especially if there is a visual link in the materials from which both
house and pergola are constructed. A common fault is to make the pergola – and the
paved area beneath it – too small, so that it does not reflect the proportions of the
house. You need to ensure that both the horizontal and vertical proportions of your
pergola make it look as though it were initially built as part of the house, rather
than merely “tacked on” later.

Before going through these pictures of front yard landscaping ideas, you should already have a clear focus on the functions you want your landscape to address. Besides the obvious of being unique, creating curb appeal, and providing access and parking, what other functions should your design do?

Being the front yard where everyone comes and goes, the landscape will almost always need to be designed around some type of parking areas, walkways, and entryways. And with these needs clarified and designated in the plan, the type of design that you need should be clearer and easy to find.

About your design. It’s unlikely that you’ll find the exact perfect match front yard design for your property. Who knows? You may get lucky but it’s unlikely. So as you look through the pictures, try to find different design ideas and shapes that will work in different areas of your landscape and piece them together. Most folks usually find this works for them with a lot less frustration.

A Few Picture, Plans, And Tips For Your Inspiration

• The best and biggest list of designs for front yards is actually completely free. See front yard landscaping ideas for several hundred design pictures from almost every theme style you can imagine. There are also many other picture categories which include backyards, ponds, walkways, rock gardens and more.
• While we don’t have quite as large a collection on this site…yet, we do have a nice collection of videos and some pictures. See front yard videos for a hand picked collection of some of the best design videos online.
• This is a good read. While not actually pictures to look at, the principles of front yard design will help generate some good ideas in your head by giving you the why, what, and how behind making a front yard look good.

Access And Parking – As I pointed out before, landscape designs for the front will most always need walkways, paths, and sidewalks for access and entry to the home as well as driveways for parking. And once it’s established where they go, much of the design can simply be placed around them.The style of the home as well as budget allowed for front yard landscaping ideas will generally determine the types of hardscape materials used. Regardless of type of materials used to create them, the garden paths and walkways that provide access to the home and other areas will be highly visible and possibly used a lot. So from a design standpoint, it’s often helpful to treat them as a primary element in the design.

Make sure that your materials are the best match for your style of home that meets your budget. For most homes, a driveway or some type of parking area is necessary. And once again, once the driveway areas are marked, it’s often possible to design a lot of your front yard landscape around them. Who knows? Maybe the whole thing will just come together.

Curb Appeal Makeover Instead Of A Complete DesignIn the instance that you don’t need a complete new landscape or you have a front yard that just needs a little curb appeal and fixin’ up, here are a few tips and ideas that may help.

 

• Decorative Concrete – Decorative concrete can often add a touch of class like nothing else. There are literally hundreds of applications that can give beat up old concrete driveways and sidewalks a fresh new look that will instantly transform the entire landscape. If your existing concrete is in bad shape, it needs to be addressed in order to give your home an inviting look. And since cost is comparable there is no reason to use plain old gray concrete anymore.
• Adjust Your Lawn Area- This could mean a lot of different things but most generally it suggests either to minimize the amount of lawn area you have or to plant a variety of lawn turf that fits your climate better.A green lawn is very attractive whereas a dry yellowing front lawn is just the opposite. And usually the cause of this is having too much lawn to water or having a lawn type that isn’t right for the climate. So cut down on the amount of lawn you have by creating some border beds with ground cover. and while you’re at it, plant the right kind of grass seed or sod.
• The House Itself – When you mention adding curb appeal to the front yard landscape, most folks never even consider the home itself as being part of the view. However, having a beautiful landscape with a home in dis-repair is like having a stain on your shirt. It’s all people can see. So fix any hanging gutters, broken boards, paint if necessary, and anything else you can see.

These few design ideas and tips will give your front yard landscape a facelift without entirely breaking the bank. Along with picking up the toys, mowing the yard, and maybe planting a few flowers, creating some curb appeal in the front yard doesn’t always involve some major landscaping plan or project. So with that and either way you go, don’t forget the following resources for some good ideas and inspiration.

Front Yard Pictures
Front Yard Videos