Changing The Landscape - for the Better

By now you can probably imagine how your yard will appear at the height of the summer and you can still remember winter views and spring blooms, so this may be the best time of year to assess your landscaping. Even though you should never jump into a major project without evaluating its effect on every season, you should set your landscaping priorities during the garden's peak growth stage. At this time of year you spend the most amount of time outdoors and your landscaping has the best potential to enhance your property value and your personal lifestyle. Take the time to consider the points below in order to get the best possible landscape design for your needs.

Getting Started
- Take your time deciding what you need - you should consider a full year's cycle in order to determine all your needs, collect ideas and plan your investments. Ideally, you should know about how your plants bloom, bear fruit and shed leaves.
- Watch how the sun falls onto your yard and into your home (and how shadows change), from daybreak to sunset, and from season to season. Consider your own needs for sunlight and shade, and understand the sunlight needs of the plants and flowers you are considering.
- Save newspaper and magazine articles, visit garden centers, libraries and bookstores, search the internet, and tour various neighbourhoods. Take pictures and make notes while outdoors.
- Draw an overhead scale view of your property, include existing components such as driveway, deck or patio, entrances, trees and flowerbeds. Then draw various sketches of landscape layouts on tracing paper and lay them over your existing property. Try out potential ideas unique to your needs and interest. What will it look like if you move this, or replace that? Don't hold back - use your imagination!

Practical Tips
- Think of everyone who will use your yard, and how the landscaping might improve each person's use of the property.
- Consider wheelchair access to your home for at least one entranceway.
- Frame your driveway with low foliage or fencing for clearly visible access.
- Plant leafy deciduous trees on the south side of your home, and evergreen coniferous trees on the north, for protection from winter wind and summer sun.

Designing and Planning
- Keep in mind the total appearance of your landscaped garden by balancing sightlines, sizes, colours and textures.
- Choose "hard" media such as stones, bricks, asphalt and gravel as a complementary picture frame to your property.
- Use more dramatic plants to create an inviting entranceway. Keep paths wide, and walkway plants relatively low.
- If considering a border fence, you may want and need a new survey to confirm whether you are right on the property line. Check with your municipality.
- Use small bushes and flowers as temporary fillers around or between young trees.
- Choose seasonal flowers with complementary colours for year round enjoyment.
- Don't forget lighting, fencing, gates, arbors, trellises, containers, bird feeders and water control.

Budgeting and Scheduling
- For big jobs, hire a professional landscape architect or designer. If you prefer to do the design work yourself, consider a one-hour consultation just to confirm that your ideas are feasible, and to pick up a few pointers. Some garden centers will waive their design fee if you purchase their plants.
- Get quotes and references from reputable landscape contractors. If large stones or critical erosion control is involved, avoid the temptation to do your own labour to save money.
- Don't compromise your key priorities, even if you need to delay the next steps. Instead, stage your project over several months, so you can defer costs, adjust plans and allow for various planting schedules.

A Constant Source of Pride
·Whether you enlist the help of a professional or go it alone, there is a lot of planning required before commencing a major project like landscaping. However, the results can be more gratifying then almost any other home improvement project. You'll take immediate delight and increasing pride in beautifying your property - as it changes from season to season, and matures from year to year.

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