Midwest Home Landscaping, 3rd edition. Rita Buchanan

       About This Book

      Of all the home improvement projects homeowners tackle, few offer greater rewards than landscaping. Paths, patios, fences, arbors, and—most of all—plantings can enhance home life in countless ways, large and small, functional and pleasurable, every day of the year. At the main entrance, an attractive brick walkway flanked by eye-catching shrubs and perennials provides a cheerful send-off in the morning and welcomes you home from work in the evening. A carefully placed grouping of small trees, shrubs, and fence panels creates privacy on the patio or screens a nearby eyesore from view. An island bed showcases your favorite plants, while dividing the backyard into several areas for a variety of activities.

      Unlike some home improvements, the rewards of landscaping are as much in the activity as in the result. Planting and caring for lovely shrubs, perennials, and other plants can afford years of enjoyment. And for those who like to build things, outdoor construction projects can be a special treat.

      While the installation and maintenance of plants and outdoor structures are within the means and abilities of most people, few of us are as comfortable determining exactly which plants or structures to use and how best to combine them. It’s one thing to decide to dress up the front entrance or patio, another to come up with a design for doing so.

      That’s where this book comes in. Here, in the Portfolio of Designs, you’ll find inspiration for nearly two dozen common home landscaping situations, created by landscape professionals who live and work in the Midwest region. Drawing on years of experience, they balance functional requirements and aesthetic possibilities, choosing the right plant or structure for the task based on its proven performance in similar situations.

      The book’s second section, Plant Profiles, provides information on all the plants used in the book. The third section, the Guide to Installation, will help you to install and maintain the plants and structures described in the previous two sections.

      The discussions that follow here take a closer look at each section. We’ve also printed representative pages of the sections on pp. 9 and 10 and pointed out their features.

       Portfolio of Designs

      This is the heart of the book, providing examples of landscaping challenges and solutions that are at once inspiring and accessible to most homeowners. Some are simple, others more complex, but each one can be installed in just a few weekends by homeowners with no special training or experience.

      For each situation, we present two designs, the second a variation of the first. As the samples on page show, the first design is displayed on a two-page spread. A perspective illustration (called a “rendering”) shows what the design will look like several years after installation, when the perennials and many of the shrubs have reached mature size. The rendering also shows the planting as it will appear at a particular time of year. (For more on how plantings change over the course of a year, see “Seasons in Your Landscape,” page.) A site plan shows the positions of the plants and structures on a scaled grid.

      The second design option, presented on the second two-page spread, addresses the same situation as the first but differs in one or more important aspects. It might show a planting suited for a shady rather than a sunny site; or it might incorporate different structures or kinds of plants (adding shrubs to a perennial border, for example). As for the first design, we present a rendering, site plan, and written information, but in briefer form. The second spread also includes photographs of landscapes in situations similar to those featured in the two designs. The photos showcase noteworthy variations or details that you may wish to use in the designs we show or in designs of your own.

      Installed exactly as shown here, these designs will provide enjoyment for many years. But individual needs and properties will differ, so we encourage you to alter the designs to suit your site and desires. You can easily make changes. For example, you can add or remove plants and adjust the sizes of paths, patios, and fences to suit larger or smaller sites. You can rearrange groupings and substitute favorite plants to suit your taste. Or you can integrate the design with your existing landscaping. If you are uncertain about how to solve specific problems or about the effects of changes you are considering, consult with staff at a local nursery or with a landscape designer in your area.