My husband and I purchased our first home over a year ago. As spring came with all of its glory we caught the gardening bug. When we bought our house, it was a new construction only six months old. It had some grass, one small maple tree, and three tiny bushes out front. So, we basically have a blank slate when it comes to the landscaping of our home. We’ve heard that landscaping can really add to the value of our property. Well this sounds great, but for two new homeowners… what is landscaping?

The word landscaping can be used as a noun or as the present participle of a verb. As a noun, landscaping denotes everything on your property outside and aside from your home. We usually think of landscape elements as flowers, shrubs, trees, pavement, but landscaping is really almost anything on our property besides the house.

You can use the word landscaping to mean that you are in the process of working on the outdoor elements of your property. For example, “I am landscaping to increase the value of my property.”

Landscaping can be aesthetic or practical.

Aesthetic landscaping deals with the beauty and whimsy of what we have going on outside our home. Flowers, trees, decorative grasses, winding pathways and how they are presented are examples of aesthetic landscaping. Practical landscaping would include things that are more of a necessity like grass, vegetable gardens, curbs, walkways, and drainage.

Hardscape and Softscape

Hardscaping includes inanimate objects in landscaping like concrete walkways, stone walls, decks, patios, arbors, and trellises. Softscape is comprised of the animate parts of landscaping, or plants.

Landscape design is an art form.

A house and its outdoor elements should compliment and harmonize with each other. Some of us are great outdoor designers and others of us are more comfortable finding someone else to do the designing. Either way, the landscaping of a home requires thought and some knowledge in order to fit together beautifully.

As I’ve learned, there are so many levels to what you can do in landscaping your home. The possibilities are virtually endless. I am excited to learn more landscaping techniques and practice them on my own property.

Photo by kakisky@morguefile.com