If you've moved into a new house with a nice backyard, or if you've lived a long time in your current home but just never looked –really looked– at your backyard before, now's the time to start. Your yard can be so much more than the usual: grass everywhere, a few trees scattered here and there, perhaps a flower garden planted alongside one wall.

But there's plenty of things you can do to beautify a backyard, but that won't end up causing you to spend hour after how on its upkeep afterwards! Of course that's fine if tending to your yard is your favorite hobby. There are landscape materials out there to suit every taste - you just need to find out what's right for you - and for your yard.

If you have no knowledge of landscaping and don't have time to learn - there are experts out there who will do your landscaping for you. Just look in your local yellow pages to get their names - then do some research into each to make sure they will do the job you want, at the price you can afford to pay. Even research them on the web, if they have a website, to see all they have to offer.

Other places to go in search of information, or for ideas, are your local gardening clubs or gardens. Walk around, see what they've done, and find out if you can adapt what they've done to your own backyard.

Even if you have a green thumb, the web is still the place to go to find new landscaping ideas, as well as tips and advice for do-it-yourself projects to improve the look or utility of your yard. There are all kinds of communities on the web where people with the same enthusiasms help each other, and gardening and landscaping is no different.

The Landscape Design Site, maintained by Steve Boulden, is a comprehensive landscaping site that provides you with information on practically any subject under the sun, from "creating focal points" to "xeriscaping" (for those dry-as-a-bone areas) to "making moss rock." There are also landscaping forums there for you to chat with like-minded people.

Landscaping Ideas Online is another invaluable resource for the do-it-yourself landscaper.

If you're interested in landscaping specific to your own area, simply do a search on the web for "landscaping ...." whatever state you happen to be in, and you'll soon find yourself faced with a plethora of choices to choose from.

If you want to landscape your backyard to make it a thing of beauty and a joy forever, you'll want to do it right first time. The more research you do before hand, the less work you'll have to do later. And doing the research is enjoyable in itself! So start researching.