Garden Landscapes Ideas

Bungalow or Cottage

• Casual, cozy dwellings, such as bungalows or cottages, look best when surrounded by informal garden designs. In general, cottage gardens feature lush, tumbled plantings, abundant color, and asymmetrical but balanced designs. Surround the garden with a picket fence painted to match the houses shutters or trim. To balance the appearance of a large country home, use a selection of small flowering trees, such as cherry trees or dogwood trees, to add shade and seasonal color. Emphasize the charm of a smaller house with a single, large shade tree.

Victorian or Colonial

• Many older homes have an historic feel well suited to formal garden designs featuring sharply-pruned hedges, straight lines and symmetrical plantings. The orderly design gives the garden an air of elegance and serenity while complementing the classic look of the home. Victorian or colonial homes can be further enhanced by the installation of wrought-iron fences, brick walkways and formal patios. Since Victorian and Colonial homes tend to be multi-stories, dramatic trees, such as the weeping beech, can be placed on either side of the building for balance.

Brick

• Brick houses are best emphasized when surrounded by plants that complement their deep, red color. Formal and informal flower beds should be filled with plants that bear blossoms of white, yellow or pale pink; avoid using plants that produce red, magenta, or bright pink flowers as these colors clash with brick red and will give the garden a garish look. Brick is also complemented by most shades of green; therefore, a wide variety of evergreens can be placed around the perimeter of the house or used in the creation of hedges and screens.

Ranch

• The look of the modern ranch home can be easily enhanced by the installing a variety of low-maintenance plants and shrubs. Fill flower beds and containers with hardy, drought-resistant plants, such pot marigolds, cosmos, poppies and coneflowers, and surround both the house and the perimeter of the property with easy-to-care for flowering shrubs, such as rugosa roses, lilacs and bush honeysuckles. Not only do these plants fill the yard with beautiful blossoms and eye-catching greenery and tolerate adverse climatic conditions, they draw butterflies, bees and birds into the garden.