Free Landscaping Ideas for a Backyard

Free Landscaping Videos

• Landscaping ideas are available on video on many websites. Entering a description of the type of design you seek into your favorite search engine will turn up user-contributed videos from You Tube and other sites. Alternately, focus your attention on landscaping websites that provide video content.

  Look for a video that shows you exactly how to achieve a landscape design before selecting the design for your backyard. LandscapingVideos.com offers a variety of choices, including terraced backyard gardens, tropical planting ideas and hardscaping ideas.

Free Garden Plans

• Free garden plans are easy to use to transform your backyard into a more colorful space for relaxation and recreation. Publications like Better Homes and Gardens offer an online "Plan a Garden" feature with free, interactive tools to design your space. Websites also give users the ability to download images of garden plans. For example, the website of Old Farmer's Almanac features a how-to article and an image to use as the basis for a knot garden, a geometric herb or flower garden from the English gardening tradition.

  A good garden plan includes a description of the plants and a layout of the measurements for the garden space. Follow the measurements in the garden plan exactly to duplicate the design in your backyard.

Backyard Wildlife Habitats

• State universities with agricultural extension services also provide a wealth of free landscaping ideas for your backyard. Create a backyard landscape that encourages wildlife to co-habit your backyard. The University of Maine, in its article "Planning a Backyard Wildlife Habitat," offers a free sample landscape plan. Go the website of the agricultural university in your state to find more details about plants that thrive in the local climate and attract local wildlife to your backyard.