The Win Report

Everyone dreams of having an almost-perfect landscape. With perfect greenery, impressive patios and fascinating gazebos, such landscapes are to create ambiance. But landscaping is not as easy as it sounds. Creating one attracts these common landscape problems.

What are the problems? And how does a landscape designer and planner avoid them?

1. Making the house look displaced in the landscape

The landscape designer should remember that the front yard or back yard and the house must coordinate. It is inappropriate to landscape without considering the house first. Style and the colors of the landscape must go hand in hand with the design of the house.

2. Underestimating the landscaping costs

People must face it - landscaping is a pretty expensive project. From choosing the materials to hiring laborers, it is going to be more costly than one could ever imagine. One must be realistic enough to know how much he can afford.

3. Forgetting all about landscaping lights

A landscape designer should take lighting into consideration. The landscape must be thoroughly enjoyed even after sundown. Lights must be set up for the patio and along walkways for maximum enjoyment.

4. Ignoring family’s needs

One of the reasons a landscape is put up is to accommodate family members’ requests like a playground, an ideal place for crocheting, etc. The landscape designer must try to fulfill such needs.

5. Putting everything in the backyard.

A backyard is perfect for landscaping but how about the front yard or the side yard? The designer must allot a space in front yards and/or side yards for benches, flower beds and other garden decorations.

6. Imitating neighbors’ landscapes.

Originality is the key. If one likes the neighbor’s backyard, that’s fine, but he must not be carried away and copy everything. He should have an original design.

7. Overdoing the straight lines

The designer must add curves and not get too fixated on straight lines. Curves are always interesting and they emulate a forest-like feel.

8. Forgetting the boundary

The landscape designer must use some things to define the boundary of the garden — whether it is a fence, a hedge, or a border. Skipping this important element might make the garden seem cluttered and unorganized.

Landscaping must be made fun. To come up with an outstanding garden, knowledge of these common landscape problems is imperative to keep everything moving smoothly. A well-attended, carefully-planned garden makes for a better living.

Bill McRea is the publisher of Garden Facts also Garden Decor and Landscape Trees Landscaping and Gardening with information and products.

Annually, Netherlands produces an approximate nine billion flower bulbs. In April and May, the flower fields in west Holland bloom at their best.

The beginning of the cultivation of flower bulbs for the purposes of commerce was 400 years ago in Haarlem and nearby areas. ‘De bollenstreek’ or the bulb district, lays between Haarlem and Leiden, with a large percentage of the population earning their living from bulbs in the forms of nurseries, industries that supply the sector or in exporting the flowers. The center of the bulb-growing area was the town of Lisse, where there is still held a famous flower exhibition called ‘de Keukenhof’.

Tulip ownership became a major status symbol among middle and upper class Dutch families by the early 1630s. Lower classes traded bulbs at local taverns to meet the skyrocketing demand. They sold tulips simply to make money. Single bulbs fetched exorbitant prices. The tulip craze got out of control by 1636; buyers started exchanging huge amounts of cash and goods to obtain a single bulb.

February 1637 heralded the dramatic crash of the Dutch tulip market and a major crisis followed. Prices had soared to such high levels that the smaller tulip buyers and traders found it hard to purchase bulbs. Gradually, the prices rose so high that many buyers either could not or did not want to purchase them, leading to a 90% crash in tulip bulbs. Tulip traders and buyers found themselves in a financial dilemma, and the Dutch courts refused to honor tulip contracts. All contracts created before November 1636 were declared null and void by the Amsterdam authorities.

No species of tulip is native to Holland, although it is usually associated with these stunning flowers that are today available at reasonable prices. Flowers bulbs in the Netherlands are a source of pride and passion as well as a product.

A good way to start the morning is to have a nice walk appreciating the wonders of nature around us. Do you ever imagine having your own little paradise just right outside your backyard? Smelling rows of fresh flowers and enjoy seeing colorful fishes in your very own pond or lagoon. Maybe all of us want to have a getaway to shun off the noise of the buzzing city life. Consider a garden bridge to accentuate your sanctuary and create a focal point to your blooming garden. Garden bridges are gaining popularity among gardens. Bridges are often placed over a small stream, pond or even over rough terrain. It is the perfect touch for an exquisitely made landscape whatever the setting may be.

1. Personalize Your Garden

Garden bridges bring out your creative self. These accents give a more personalized touch in your garden revealing your true character and personality. It also reflects your own personal taste and style, thus, your garden has too its own character. All the choices and decisions you made in styling your garden, even the visual impression are yours. Having a garden bridge in a backyard is an influence of the Far East. Serene locations are often used for rejuvenation and meditation. Therefore, a good way to stay connected in the privacy of your home while rejuvenating and meditating is to create your own quiet place in your backyard. Garden bridges give serenity to the entire garden. It evokes peaceful feelings and clear dispositions.

2. Bridge Selections

Garden bridges are made of either wood or steel - wood is most popular because it gives an elegant and traditional style. There are three popularly chosen woods used for building these bridges: cedar, pine and redwood. They are unique in their features and has a particular desirable characteristics. Galvanized steel garden bridges are also fast gaining popularity because of the high quality materials used for strength, stability and longevity.

Cedar

Buyers of cedar bridges may be attracted to the timeless natural beauty of this light-colored wood. It is very good for any outdoor furnishing because it resists mold, decay and mildew and repels insects. The two popular types of cedar are the western red and white cedar. Though both have similar qualities, the western red celar may last long than the white ones due to lower levels of natural acid which preserve the cedar. Cedar wood ages well because it does not have the tendency to splinter.

Pine

his type of wood is prone to rot if not pressure-treated. Before building the bridge, make sure that the wood is painted or stained and sealed to extend their life line. Its attractive natural color responds well to staining.

Redwood

Having a durable redwood garden bridge makes for additional style and elegance in your backyard. Redwood stands well against the elements and resist rotting. Lack of maintenance and prolonged exposure stole the vibrancy of its color. But this can be easily restored by using a colored sealer.

3. Starting With Your Garden Bridge

- Online sites of Garden Bridges provide you with the best choices, great deals and valuable information to help you started.
- Different series and style are available for you to choose from. Make sure you have already an idea on paper like a drawing of your dream bridge.
- You can base and compare the style available from the look you want like:

4. Villa Style

- Rustic, country look
- Colonial, medieval design
- Pathway Bridge looks like a pedestrian bridge more in tune to Japanese style garden bridges used for zen meditation. They call this the Water Garden Series
- Romantic style bridges

For more great garden bridge related articles and resources check out gardenbridges.lawnngardens.com

Do you want to know more about Garden Clubs? Let’s see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from Gardening Club experts.

What’s in Store for National Home Gardening Club Members?

The National Home Gardening Club offer many benefits to its members.

It is said to be the largest home gardening organization with paid membership. For a nominal fee, various benefits are available.

If you choose to become a member the National Home Gardening club, you will be entitled to the following perks.

1. Members can enter competitions to win free gardening products such as gardening accessories, tools, and other gardening supplies.

2. A coupon will be given to members to claim a free gardening shears.

3. Members can also access a free trial subscription of the Gardening How-To Magazine.

4. They may be eligible to test and keep gardening tools such as pruning shears. These are some of the products tested by members in the past two issues of the Gardening How-To magazine:

- Honda Harmony Lawn Mower
- Miracle-Gro Garden Weed Preventer
- Sunflower Garden
- Cobra Head Precision Weeder and Cultivator
- Preen ‘n Green

See how much you can learn about Gardening Club when you take a little time to read a well-researched article? Don’t miss out on the rest of this great information.

5. Members can enjoy a free directory of public gardens, which contains information about lush gardens, arboretums, and conservatories throughout the US.

6. They can interact and talk about tips, ideas and methods with other members.

7. Members can obtain gardening and landscaping tips and plans for the completion of various gardening projects.

8. They have access to the members-only gardening website.

9. Members can also preview gardening books, gardening videos, etc.

Indeed, the for-members-only benefits are that grandiose. They are all for the gardening enthusiasts to grab.

After the 30-day trial, you can continue your membership for only $1 per month.

Many garden-lovers think this is a small price to pay for all these privileges.

That’s the latest from the Gardening Club authorities. Once you’re familiar with these ideas, you’ll be ready to move to the next level.

Bill McRea is the publisher of Garden Facts also Garden Decor and Landscape Trees Landscaping and Gardening with information and products.

Landscaping can add beauty, value and functionality to a home. However, before you actually start buying plants or digging into your yard, it is essential you take a look at your yard and think about what you need to do and what you want to accomplish with your landscaping. Start out by answering the following questions:

1. Are there problems with the yard, house, etc. that need correcting - problems such as drainage, erosion, areas where the sun beats down that need to be shaded, etc.

2. Do you have specific needs and priorities? Are you looking for a place for a flower bed or a vegetable garden or just a patio sitting area for relaxing? Other considerations may be if you have children or pets or if you want to do a lot of outdoor entertaining.

3. Consider the style of your house and the size of your yard. A small house can be overpowered by using big trees, but a large house and yard can be empty without them.

4. What do you have existing in the yard? Do the existing trees provide much needed shade or are they old and in need of pruning or perhaps even need to be removed? Are there specimen plants you want to keep? Or do you have large, overgrown shrubs and perennials that need pruned or even removed?

5. How much light do you have to work with? Certain plants require almost full sun while others thrive in the shade.

6. What is your budget? Can you do your landscaping over several seasons or do you have projects that need to be completed all at once?

7. Are there significant features that need to be emphasized or hidden - things such as rock outcroppings, phone poles, sheds trash receptacles, etc.

Although the task of actually landscaping might seem overwhelming, begin by answering the above points and then start by putting together a site inventory map or sketch of the yard. This will include the house, lot lines, major features, large trees, fences, sheds, etc. Also make note of other neighboring influences - noisy neighbors, dusty roads, and prevailing winds.

Then get ideas. Look around the neighborhood and see what plants do well, and also make note of plants that appear to be suffering. Visit neighboring gardens and garden centers, and look at gardening books at a local bookstore or library.

The next step is to prepare a bubble diagram. The easiest way to do this is to place tracing paper over your site inventory map and casually sketch in various areas - garden areas, patio areas, lawn areas, etc. This helps to make sure that the entire area is unified into one design, rather than just a scattering of plants.

From the bubble diagram the next step is to get the drawing more formalized. Add in the specifics in your bubble areas. For garden or planting beds, draw in circles for plants, for patios, fences, retaining walls, trellis use squares and lines. Make the drawing to scale, the general scales used are 1 to 8 or 1 to 10. By drawing to scale the appropriate number of trees, footage for walls, amount of mulch, etc. can be determined.

Once your drawings are completed begin estimating your costs. Get prices from various nurseries for your supplies and start your work! Remember not to cross your work.

Donna Evans is co-owner of Gizmo Creations LLC,a landscape design and website design company located just north of Brainerd MN. For more information on landscaping, including sample landscape plans and photos, go to http://www.gizmocreations.com.

Think of your garden like you would a room in your home. After planning the shape, tilling the soil, choosing the right plants the last step is to add those personal touches. And just like indoors this is accomplished with accessories.

What type of accessories or accents you add will depend on what you like and what type of garden you’ve designed. For example in a formal type garden you probably would not add whimsical looking birdhouses or a regal looking statue would look out of place in a cottage style garden.

That being said, nothing is written in stone just as indoors the garden should reflect your personality. Which simply means if you love something use it.

The following are examples of some of the accents that can be used to dress up your gardens.

1)Gates: Whether they are part of an existing fencing system or just free standing, a gate will add an architectural detail. Wooden, iron, plain or whimsically decorated let the gate reflect your personality.

2)Gazing Globes: Beginning in Victorian times gardeners have tucked these decorative spheres into their gardens. Available in a wide array of colors and sizes ranging from 10 to 14in, place one on a pedestal and watch how suddenly things begin to look magical.

3)Decorative Planters: Terra Cotta, Stone, Metal or Resin - Plain, Colorful, Textured or a Whimsical piece. Placing decorative planters filled with beautiful flowers within your garden adds interest and a focal point.

These can be moved around the garden or replanted later in the season with new plants.

There are so many types of planters to choose from, just have some fun with them. Also, any container you happen to have whether it’s an old watering can or one lone rubber boot can be made into a decorative container as long as it has some type of drainage.

4)Statues: Choose from Cherubs, Religious Figures, Lions, Birds or Frogs. They can be large or small made of marble, stone or resin. Adding one or several give interest and whimsy to any size garden.

5)Furniture: Place a bench in or near a garden and it immediately says, “Sit, Relax and Enjoy”. Choose materials ranging from Cedar, Pine to Metal, buy something new or scrounge around your attic or basement for an older piece not being used anymore.

6)Birdbaths: A functional and decorative focal point. Most commonly seen birdbaths are shallow simple basins that sit on a pedestal, usually made of cement, porcelain or plastic. Mini versions are becoming popular for placing on patios and walkways.

7)Fountains: Water is a necessity in the garden; therefore having a fountain just seems natural. They provide a soothing sound and become a beautiful accent. The most common styles include; wall mounted, free standing, single basin and multi-tiered.

8)Birdhouses: Found at nurseries, home improvement, discount stores and flea markets, this is probably the easiest of accessories to add.

They can be simple square wooden boxes to elaborately detailed versions; you might even try your hand at making your own. Mount or hang them on a tree, place on top of a pole or simply sit one on an old bench or chair.

If your also hoping for them to take on tenants, make sure to check dimensions as different species of birds prefer certain sizes.

On two trees that sat back away from the house we attached simple rectangular shaped wooden houses with small entrance holes in the front.

Each spring we were rewarded with two families of beautiful Blue Birds making a home in those houses. Watching mom and dad first preparing the inside then little heads peeking out and finally the first flight was marvelous.

9)Sundials: Here’s an accent that may not be common but has been around since early civilization. Of course in the beginning their sole purpose was to measure time. You can still mark time with them but what a unique decorative accent they’d make in your garden.

10)Stepping Stones: Another fun way to accessorize your garden. Even if you don’t use them to walk on one or two placed amongst your plants look wonderful. Plain or decorated with a picture, pick whatever suites your garden.

I’ve used simple terra-cotta color stones around colorful flowers, light colored cement ones with embedded pebbles and bits of ground glass that sparkle around shrubs.

Around shrubs or flowers that attract butterflies or hummingbirds find stones with a print on them to match the theme of the plant.

Whether it’s an elaborate water feature, a simple resin turtle or something just for fun like the tree face picture at right, keep in mind it’s just like dressing a room in your home.

After all the main elements in place the final touch is to embellish and personalize with decorative accents.

This is a share ware article. Give this article away for free on your site, or include it as part of any paid package as long as the entire article is left intact including this notice. Copyright © 2005 bonnie carrier.

About the Author

Bonnie P. Carrier is the creator of Savvy Home Decorating & Savvy Outdoor Decorating. She is the mother to two grown daughters and a very spoiled 4yr old Blue Merle Sheltie named Toby. Stop by for information and ideas for both inside and outside your home.

www.savvy-home-decorating.com
www.savvyoutdoordecorating.com

(ARA) - “It’s not easy being green,” laments Kermit the Frog. However, today it is easy being “green” at home. Interior designers can help you make your home “healthier” thanks, in part, to a new generation of home furnishings including fabrics, wallcoverings and flooring materials that are beautiful, non-toxic and “earth friendly.”

In fact, a green interior is just like any other well-designed interior space, says Victoria Schomer, ASID, owner of a design consulting business in California. It considers good functionality and pleasing aesthetics. Schomer’s business has focused on sustainable and healthful interiors since the late 1980s.

What do you need to do to make your home green and healthy? Ask for and use sustainable products during home renovations. According to the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), many environmentally responsible home furnishings and building materials are available and affordable to consumers. Availability will increase and prices will drop even further when more consumers become aware of the many benefits of these products and purchase them. You can also work with an interior designer who specializes in sustainable design. A design professional can help you seamlessly incorporate green innovations into your home and ensure the final result meets or exceeds your expectations.

One of the first things a designer will check in determining a home’s health is its indoor air quality. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers poor air quality a top risk to human health. “At a minimum, there are key spaces in the home that should be as environmentally friendly as possible,” says Trudy Dujardin, ASID, a Connecticut-based designer and expert on sustainable design. Dujardin says because “the liver allows the body to detox during…sleep, the sleep environment needs to be as clean and pure as possible.” The addition of a room air purifier can help, as can the use of non-toxic wall and floor coverings, paints, furnishings, wood finishes and textiles, according to Dujardin.

What else can you do to green your home? Use environmentally responsible paint, textiles and wallcoverings. Manufacturers have come a long way in offering a variety of “eco-friendly” products at “consumer-friendly” prices. Ask for low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint when painting interior walls. Strides have been made in improving low VOC paint, which today is as easy to use and as high in quality as latex paint, says Ed Mattingly, ASID Industry Partner, of Mattingly Decorating in La Grange, Ill. Today stunning fabrics are being offered made from paper, recycled soda bottles, straw, wool and tires. Wallcoverings are being created using natural or recycled materials, and printed with water-soluble inks containing no heavy metals. Some wallcoverings also are “breathable,” reducing the amount of mold or mildew that can grow over time. For wallcovering installation, always ask for low VOC glues and water-soluble application products.

Floor coverings also have gone green. Installation of eco-friendly carpeting and flooring in a home can improve indoor air quality, as well as support the environment. Eco-friendly carpeting is not a misnomer, as many top manufacturers offer excellent recycled, residential products. Explore using natural flooring materials: beautiful palm, bamboo, limestone and recycled wood, to name a few. While the initial costs may be higher than other types of flooring, in the long run these materials are cost effective as well as environmentally responsible. You are installing a longer-lasting material than traditional carpet, which can end up in a landfill when replaced. Nationwide, about 4 billion tons of carpeting end up in landfills every year.

“I think people still assume doing a green interior means making a lot of compromises and not being able to have the finished result they want,” Schomer says. By becoming an educated consumer, you can learn that the opposite is true: home interiors can be green, functional and drop-dead gorgeous. It’s easy to be green. Sorry Kermit.

To find out how to locate a qualified interior designer in your community, check out the free ASID Worldwide Referral Service at www.interiors.org. To learn about the benefits of working with an interior designer and green design, go to www.asid.org.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Courtesy of ARA Content

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