Landscaping: Choosing Your Plants

Planning out your landscaping can be exciting. You get to customize your space to look the way you want. If you want to set up a garden that attracts butterflies, you can make it happen. If you want to line the yard with huge trees to create shade, you can. Choosing your plants is one of the most important steps in setting up your ideal front or backyard.

Climate:
Where you live and the temperatures that you expect throughout the year can dictate what type of plants will work well for your landscaping. If you live in the desert, you want plants that can stand up to extreme heat and little water. If you live in a rainy area, you want to make sure that the plants you pick can handle the excess water.

If you aren't sure which plants are best, consider bringing in a professional to walk you through the process. He or she can tell you what will thrive in your climate and what will struggle to survive. There is no point planting things that are not going to make it. You'll feel like you wasted money.

Maintenance:
How much time do you plan to spend in your yard? Are you going to be out there every day trying to keep things in order? If you don't have a lot of time you may want to consider plants that are low-maintenance. Once you set up a sprinkler system or a drip system, you will have very little to do. If you enjoy spending time outside and tending to your own landscaping, you have a much wider selection of plants and trees to put on your property.

Another alternative to concerns about maintenance would be to hire a landscaping company to handle everything for you. They can come at regularly scheduled intervals and make sure that everything is growing well. They can pick weeds, prune the trees or bushes, and fertilize the plants. This means that you have a completely worry-free yard that looks amazing without requiring any effort.

Cost:
For most people, cost is a factor. You may want your yard to look like a tropical oasis but your budget will dictate the type of plants, how many you can have, and even what other extras you can include. Before starting a landscaping project, whether on your own or with professional assistance, you need to come up with a budget. How much money do you want to spend?

It may cost more to have a professional team come in and get the job done but in the long run, this could save you money. If you have never put in an irrigation system before, you run the risk of your plants not getting the water then need. You may find yourself replacing plants often. A professional has both the knowledge and experience necessary to set things up correctly and ensure that the entire system functions correctly.