Front-Yard Landscaping Ideas for a Traditional Brick Ranch

Nature's Design

• The trend now is toward a less-structured look in landscaping than is offered in formal, geometric designs. Ultimately, your landscape design should be based on your personal preference, but before making a decision, give some thought to today's bent toward the soft curves and random planting of nature. In an article for "Fine Gardening" magazine, landscape architect Jeni Webber stresses the importance of suiting the garden to the style of the house. With these things in mind, updating the landscape of your ranch-style home becomes easier. As you plan your design, consider every aspect of your home before choosing materials for paving, planting or accenting your landscape. The choices you make should reflect or complement the textures, colors and materials of the house, as well as the architectural style.

Creating Unity with Color and Texture

• According to David Whiting, horticulture specialist at Colorado State University, color evokes the greatest response in the viewer of a landscape, creating mood and feeling. Yellow indicates happiness and sunshine, blue represents calm and serenity. Green, of course, is in harmony with nature, and shades of purple denote peace and spirituality. Give thought to the mood you want to set with your landscape design. Cool colors, for example, suggest distance, so if you're working with a small area, give the illusion of spaciousness with various shades of purple and blue, and lots of green--these colors are less conspicuous than stimulating warm colors. The soft tone of a natural-brick walkway is complementary to the cool colors, and reflects the texture and color of the brick home, creating unity.

Natural and Environmentally Beneficial Landscapes

• Curving lines, sprawling plant beds and undefined borders mimic nature. Group plantings of shrubbery, native ornamental grasses and flowers are more typical of nature's design than evenly spaced rows or repeated patterns. When choosing plants for grouping or massing, vary heights, form and texture. Work in odd numbers: 3 of one kind of plant, 5 of another, several of something else, with 1 specimen shrub, tree or garden accent as a focal point. More-extensive beds and wider paved areas reduce the use of turf. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advice is to balance your needs with those of the environment. Pollution caused by power equipment such as mowers and blowers is significant. Less space devoted to sweeping lawns cuts down on maintenance. The low-maintenance gardens of today are environmentally beneficial.

Choices for All Seasons

• Strive for all-season appeal. When spring bulbs have done their job for the season and the summer color is gone, look to fall foliage for replacement. Choose shrubs and trees that are unique in color or have branching or bark qualities that add visual interest to the landscape even in the barren time of year. The University of Connecticut Plant Database lists the liquidambar (American sweetgum) for showy fall color. A shade tree suitable as the 1 large specimen tree in your landscape design, it has glossy, green, maplelike leaves that turn brilliant crimson in fall.The liquidambar grows in most every region of the United States. Evergreen trees and shrubs, such as holly with its cheerful red berries, supply winter color and are mainstays in the garden all year.