Innovative Landscape Solutions

Camouflage

• Divert viewers' attention away from unpleasant landscape elements by adding lush, textured plantings in strategic spots. Variegated shrubs, gently waving grasses and eye-popping flowers can spice up your multilayered landscape. If, for example, you'd rather not look at your neighbor's maintenance shed beyond your fence, then camouflage the structure with climbing roses that provide depth and color. Distract from a propane tank or air-conditioning unit by grouping feather-textured plants just off the unit's front and side. A few yards away, a stunning visual impact can be created by clustering large-leaved foliage plants that demand viewers' attention.

Artful Retaining Wall

• A functional retaining wall can become an artistic canvas, letting your creativity bloom along with your colorful garden. If painting is your passion, create a wall mural filled with rich, green plantings and boldly colored flowers. If you'd prefer depth and texture, apply colorful tile motifs, shells from beach combing expeditions or river stones gathered from mountain hiking trips. Adding new painted plantings or your favorite found objects will enhance your unconventional work of art.

Edible, Rooftop Garden

• Combine your desire for a small-space vegetable garden with your need to improve your home's insulation by creating an edible, rooftop garden. A lush, rooftop garden filled with vegetable plants, herbs and native plants attracts beneficial insects and birds. Tend your rooftop garden throughout the growing season, and reward yourself with its scrumptious vegetables and herbs you can enjoy with family and friends. Consulting with a landscape architect who has green-roof experience and your county's Cooperative Extension agent will help you identify plants appropriate for your U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone.

Cinder-Block Planters

• A striking, staggered cinder-block wall distracts viewers' attention from a bland retaining wall languishing behind the blocks. Experiment with block heights and configurations, and create a delightfully random series of hollow block planters that emerge from the wall's vertical surface. Your favorite cacti and succulents can fill the unconventional planters, or soften the wall's appearance by adding small, cascading or flowering plantings.