Landscaping for Stress Reduction November 30, 2007
Posted by Peter in landscaping. add a commentHectic schedules, stressful job, family pressures. You need a way to relax, to just sit back, relax and get back to normality. Landscaping can provide the whole package. Not only is it great to look at, but lovingly caring for a landscape and the process of setting plants up and helping them to grow can be very soothing too.
About Landscaping
Now you’re probably thinking how on earth tending to a plants and flowers and stuff in your yard can be relaxing. The whole process is only as much stress as you let it be. The whole process of landscaping can be very relaxing, making your yard look beautiful, and turning a chore into a relaxing hobby.
First off is mowing the lawn. This might seem like the most unpleasant part, but make the best of it. You will need to mow it once a week if you live in a temperate climate. In colder climates, or places with less rain, you might only have to mow it once every two weeks or possibly less. You can make this seem less like a chore by making doing it at a pleasant time of day, if you like to get some sun, connect up your iPod and enjoy your favorite music while doing the lawn. If you live somewhere that’s way too hot, then do it in the morning before it gets scorching.
Any manual method of mowing is only recommended for the smallest of lawns. If you have a large lawn you will need a lawnmower, and for those with a football field of greenage, you might just invest in the drivable kind. Do make sure to be careful with whatever lawnmower you use, protective eyewear is quite often recommended for those that don’t collect the grass in a container.
Now, what types of plants are you going to use for your landscaping.
Firstly, try to choose plants that grow well in your climate, native ones are the best. They will require the least effort on your part to keep them attractive and alive. This is the most sensible option, and you can pick and choose the kinds of plants that you would like to have according to your color preferences and taste.
If you have a particular style of garden in mind you might be in for a little more hassle than going for a native garden. Depending on the natural habitat of the plants you get, you might need to put in a lot of effort to maintain them. The advantage of this is that you really can choose what you think looks the absolute best in your garden. If you want to try this with a little less hassle, you could pick a portion of your garden to do this and keep the rest as indigenous plants.
There is the possibility of using fake flowers, which you should choose carefully because they quite often look very fake. I would recommend limiting use of these to the inside of your house where using water is not so convenient.
Your local garden nursery is usually the best place for localized information on landscaping in your area. Looking online can yield good results, but you will most probably be limited by what can be found at the nursery.
Arizona Landscaping
Posted by Peter in landscaping. add a commentThere are many unique challenges to Arizona landscaping and keeping a beautiful garden all year round, but most can be easily overcome with a little elbow grease, and more importantly, a little research. One of the biggest challenges you might face in Arizona landscaping is finding the right USDA plant hardiness zone for your area.
Arizona Landscaping Zones
Getting plants to grow is not as much about nurturing as one might think, a lot of it has to do with picking plants that do well in your climate. For Arizona landscaping, the USDA plant hardiness zone map provides a great deal of useful information for a gardener or landscaper. Choosing plants that are marked for your zone will make a difference between a great deal of unnecessary hard work and a thriving, lush garden. There are a lot of different zones however, and the soil and specific climate conditions to your region need to be noted when choosing plants. Pick exactly for your own zone.
When taking on an Arizona landscaping project, choose plants that will not only thrive in your areas climate, but in your soil as well. If your soil is not exactly suited for the plants that you get then it will be much harder for the plants to survive. Do the due research and either find plants suited to your soil or fix any soil conditions that need to be seen to.
Plants that are not exactly suited to your region might survive anyway, but you will need to take care in where you plant them. If you get an annual, then you can keep it in a pot and replant it when the weather warms up. Another trick is to plant warmer weather plants against a house or other structure. Quite often the plants will survive until the next spring, but you might need to just try and see what works for you.
Arizona Landscaping Native Style
Using indigenous and native plants is one of the best and easiest ways to build a landscape. Rather than fighting the plants that grow well, work with them and let them guide you as to what your landscapes will look like. The highlands and deserts of Arizona have a wide array of native plants that aren’t only interesting specimens to look at, but they often have a gorgeous life cycle, and colors that change throughout the season. Native plants will adapt well in the soil and will give a transition from the landscape in your garden to that beyond its walls.
A reputable nursery is probably the best place to purchase plants as they will be knowledgeable about which plants will grow in which specific areas and recommend some for your purposes. They will also tell you what you are getting into if you purchase non-native plants for your Arizona landscaping.