We need to Landscape and the neighbors homes have gotten there professionally done for about $4,000. I love the work that has been done! Anyway, I have to say that most all the lanbdscaping that have been done by the homeowners themselves in my nighborhood, just looks awful and seems to get worse every year. Most seem to plant bushy too big periennels! Ok...that said, I feel like we can learn from others mistakes. If we do try to do this ourselves...where do we start? I am picky and want it done right and I want it too look nice. Should we save and have it done? Or should we do this ourselves? Where do I start? The library? Maybe a good landscape book? Any ideas? We probably won't be in this house forever.

I get emails from Better Homes and Garden's website. They have a lot of tips on landscaping and how to care for plants. They also have free landscape plans that you can down load.

One thing my Mom always had done is that she would go to a Nursery and ask lots of questions. Often times they will have land scape designers on hand. I don't know how much it costs, and you could could call around, but find someone who would allow you to take your own measurements, pictures of each side of the house. Then, they could give you a rough idea of what would work well. Make sure to tell them which way your house faces as well (NWS or E).

I like that option because if you dont have enough money to do it all at once, then you can gradually add to your landscaping each year based on your over all plan!!

We have not done any landscaping at our house yet. I would really like too though.
I think I might just have my own Mother make recommendations for us. We don't have much money to do the real fancy stuff right now.

Also, if you have a plan, then you can buy the plants when they are off -season. Much less expensive that way too!!!!

My last houe i spent right at 3000 for landscaping, was ok till winter than most of the plants died. Of course for one reason or another the landscaping company got out of replacing the plants.

They also wanted a monthly maintance fee to take care of the landscaping, and when i said no than of course when the plants die, it was something that i did/didn't do.

When dh and i married we redid all of the landscaping at our house. But we did it all ourselves. We decided what we wanted (went and look at our houses, and even ask some of the homeowners what kind of plants they had, if we didn't know)

We ask our local nuseries and then got online to see how the plants grew and how much maintance they took. And most importanly if they grew good in our area.

One thing we did out back that i loved and has work out great is roses. We have planted about 40 roses in containers. Knock-out roses are the best. That way you can move the containers around and if you have something indoors, bring a few in for decoration.

I agree it pays to have a plan. We're going to be re-landscaping our yard this year - after a lot of work has been done out there which required large vehicles driving back and forth and all over. Many community centers or college extension offices have a one day course in landscaping that you can attend. It is worth it. Even if you pay for a landscape designer, it can save you lots of headaches in the long run. The contractor that did our irrigation system paid to have a landscape designer draw up a plan for our backyard. I didn't like what she did but it did give us a starting point. Everytime I saw something I didn't like, I knew what I wanted to put there in it's place.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

You also might be able to just hire a company to come up with a plan. This generally costs several hundred dollars. However, if you can buy at end of season or at sales you would be able to save a bundle.

There are some great books out there that will help you. And never be afraid to ask at a nursery.
Don't forget you can always dig something up and move it also. I did all my landscaping and the first flower bed I did two years ago I had to move a couple things around (because of size) but I didn't research anything. But you can always move or add to but I personally wouldn't pay anybody to do something like that bc first I like gardening and second I hate paying someone to do something I can do myself. It is more rewarding.

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My gourds made the front page of the paper!!

My DH did all our landscaping for pennies on the dollar. We luck out because one of our friend's is a landscaper and gives us advice. DH also spent alot of time talking to staff at gardening centers and on-line at "This Old House" and HGTV. Good luck!

I say do it yourself. Walk around your neighborhood and figure out what plants you like best or even better, drive around a different neighborhood and copy someone else's landscape! Take pictures either way so your nursery can help you figure out what type plants they are. Just do some research on landscaping and how to plant. It may not be the exact professional job that the neighbors have but when you only spend a few hundred instead of a few thousand, it will be well worth it. We just did some landscaping the last couple months but then we had a frost a couple nights so it killed a few of our plants. It will cost only about $50 to replace them but when we do replace them, it will look great again. Just another note, our landscaping looks better than the original builder's professional landscaping and better than most of our neighbors. I am a true believer that fresh mulch makes everything look so much better.

Another good idea . . .

I have a friend who is a Master Gardener and just loves to design landscapes. So, she came over one afternoon and helped me plan it all out. Then we got most of the plants from her yard (starts) or from someone she knew thru her classes.

If you don't have a friend like that, you might check and see if there is a Master Gardener program in your area - most of the people that attend the classes really love gardening and enjoy sharing tips and plants!

All in all, I think we spent $400 (mostly on trees) and our landscaping looks professionally done.