Landscaping Your Dream Home
By HiLine Hal
Building a custom home is incredibly exciting. It is easy to get absorbed in choosing interior features and the many decisions that go into making your dream home come true. Sometimes this means we overlook some of the other important building decisions, like thinking about your new home’s landscaping.
Why Landscaping Matters
A beautiful home on a boring lot is not your dream. Landscaping accents your home’s finer qualities and provides you and your family with an aesthetically pleasing yard. Tasteful landscaping adds to your property value, and distasteful landscaping detracts. Your custom home needs a custom landscaping job to give it a fully finished appearance.
Choosing the Landscape Style for Your Home
There are many styles of landscaping to choose from for your new home. Some require more planning than others. Rock walls and patios, for instance, require professional contractors. The process itself disturbs the rest of the landscaping, as it requires earth-moving equipment and heavy foot traffic. Rather than ripping up parts of your lawn to install a tasteful rock wall later, plan to hire a contractor during the construction process or shortly after your home is completed.
Hedges, trees, and other large plantings require similar amounts of lawn disrupting activity. Putting your plantings in all at once saves you time and preserves your lawn. It also means that your landscaped yard and gardens achieve a finished look, faster.
Look through home and garden magazines to find the style of landscaping best suited to your home and personal tastes. Consider planting native species or disease-resistant trees to preserve biodiversity and to celebrate your area’s heritage. Choose plants for both sunny areas and shady ones to maximize your lot’s available space.
Building a custom home expresses your individuality. Make a statement with your landscaping that allows your home to shine.
