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Landscape Flowers

DIY Landscaping Tips

Landscaping consists of not only adding plants, bushes, trees and flowers it also includes water features, lawn furnishings and other decorative niceties to your lawn to create an attractive, comfortable garden.  You don't need professional help to landscape your lawn or garden; landscaping makes a fun and easy project that you can do with your own two hands, and it will help the environment by reducing toxic greenhouse gases, preventing soil erosion and producing oxygen.

If you're thinking of landscaping your garden, start by brainstorming some gardening ideas.  You can find landscaping ideas in books, gardening magazines and even at the homes of your friends and neighbors.  Once you've decided what you'd like your new garden to look like, plan a central feature.  Your central feature will serve as your jumping-off point when you begin your project; it will also be the most dramatic element of your newly landscaped garden.

Here are some tips to help you landscape your garden:

• When choosing permanent features (statues, benches, swings and bird baths) choose features that will please you.  Remember, you're going to have to look at them for a long time.
• When choosing plants, remember that different plants bloom and flourish during different seasons. This gives you the freedom to plant a garden that will bloom all year or all season long. Some people choose a monochromatic landscaping scheme, in which they use different shades of one color.  Others use an analogous color scheme, which calls for the use of related colors, like blue, violet and blue-violet.  You might prefer a complimentary color scheme.  Use a color wheel to choose your colors.
• Plant large, robust plants next to smaller, thinner plants to add variety to your garden beds, or use plants with varying shades of leaves or even multicolored leaves. 
• Have a close look at your garden from every angle to make sure that it works well as a whole.

You might want to consider landscaping your new garden for function as well as form.  “Edible landscaping” means planting vegetables and fruits alongside decorative plants in your garden beds.  Use rows of kitchen herbs to separate patches of ornamentals.  Plant tomatoes and marigolds side by side; enjoy pea plants as a lovely flowering vine.  Edible landscaping makes your garden even more eco-friendly by reducing your dependence on the fossil fuels used to ship food to markets; it will save you money on groceries and, of course, it's delicious.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Long Island Landscaping Company, Longos Landscaping specializes in Masonry, Poolscapes, Planting, Landscape Design & more.

Interested in close-ups of flowers and landscapes, what lens would I need?

The Nikon D40 that I may be purchasing comes with a kit lens of 18-55mm. Would that be ok for close-ups?

I take a lot of close-ups or landscape photos.
I'm on a £300 with a Nikon D40 costing £250.

Thank you in advance.
Have a lovely day.
This will also be my first DSLR camera. So, as you can probably tell, I'm new to all this with different lenses.

The cost of a AF-S 60 mm f/2.8 is a bit dear ( £397), so for now you can use extension tubes (produce the best quality) or a close up kit (usually three different diopters -- +1, +2 and +4) for under £25

Shooting close ups of flowers and other interesting objects, you will not notice the edge softness when using diopters, since the edges in those kinds of shots are out of focus in any case. It would only be if your were copying documents or cataloging stamps or coins that you would notice any softness at the edges of the image and if you were to stop down a few stops, that mostly will disappear.

As far as shooting landscapes, your 18-55 mm lens can do that at 18 mm quite well. If you are really serious about getting a much wider lens, look at the AF-S 12-24 mm, but again, you will have to save your pennies for a while. That nice lens will set you back a few quid ... £750

In the end as you learn to use your fine camera, you will be adding lenses to your collection. If you can find good used Nikon lenses, they will last for decades and save you a few £'s too.

Most new owners of DSLR's next lens is the 55-200 mm VR which will allow you to shoot some wildlife and sports at 200 mm and costs in the neighborhood of £185, still stretching your budget, but within reach.

Chicago GARDEN DESIGN ** Houseplants ** LANDSCAPE ** FLOWERS

Tags: arizona landscape flowers, florida landscape flowers, garden, gardening, landscape, landscape flowers, landscape flowers pictures, plants, reference, texas landscape flowers

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