While gardening is a great way to clear the mind and soothe the soul, garden landscaping can get your imagination working overtime and let your creativity run wild. It's fun to plan and to implement all of your wild designs.



When you layer your landscape beds, you will be adding an entirely new level of beauty to your property. Your yard is the first thing that people see when they visit your home, and it's exciting to cap a home visit with a grand tour of a really fabulous garden. Taking the time and effort to create striking landscaping will make you the talk of the neighbourhood -- for all the right reasons.

It's actually quite easy to layer your landscape. First, choose the flowers and plants that you really want to have, and study their planting requirements and growing habits. Echinacea, for example, comes to you as a six-inch plant, but can grow to an impressive six feet tall! This planning stage is crucial to the success of your landscape design. Be sure to position taller plants behind shorter ones. This may seem obvious, but it really does help to make a rough sketch of where you want your plants to be. Then, with drawing in hand, you'll find it much easier at the planting stage. Your project will progress more quickly and with fewer problems.

Three layers are best for creating a really interesting landscape. The back row should face north, if possible, and must include the tallest varieties of plants. As the rows descend, the height of your plants and flowers will as well. Again, this can be tricky when you're buying young plants from the nursery. Study each variety and know how tall it will be when fully grown. Later, as your garden begins to thrive, you may find that plants growing too tall in the front or middle rows will need to be moved back.

Another important consideration in your landscape design is the individual growing conditions of each variety. Some plants, such as ferns, thrive in moist, shady conditions and should not be grouped with varieties that need direct sunlight. Some flowers get a boost from high concentrations of fertilizers, while others can actually be damaged by the same treatment. Understand the needs of your plants, and arrange them accordingly.

If you want to create a truly stunning and interesting garden, you need to look beyond the horizon. Layer your landscape and bring a new dimension to the beauty of your property.