TIPS
BALANCE - Plant in groups of three. For larger areas, plant in odd numbers. Use the rule of three when placing containers on your patios, decks, and balconies.
Add height to a flower bed using containers, a bird bath, a reclaimed wooden ladder, a wheelbarrow, an old wooden bench, etc. Use your imagination and add height with items purchased at a yard sale, a thrift store or consignment shop.
Use hanging baskets on porches to draw the eye up to take in the color to create a nice balance.
CONTAINERS - Containers don't have to be fancy. You can buy silver, metal paint cans in three different sizes and place them in an area that needs a little love. Don't throw out containers that don't match your color scheme. Paint them. Containers come in many shapes and sizes. Concrete containers can withstand extreme weather conditions and will last a long time. Change the way you think when you walk through a yard sale, a thrift store or a consignment shop. Think: "trash to treasure." You can turn someone else's unwanted items into a great container to hold your beautiful plants.
LESS IS MORE - Xeriscape landscapes don't need every inch of space filled with something. In fact, an attractive xeriscape landscape has areas with nothing more than ground cover. Don't over do it. You can always add more elements to your landscape later but if you crowd it now and have to remove plants and other elements, it's a waste of time and money.
PATHS - To create a border for a new path, drive around and find homes that are being remodeled or newly constructed. Offer to take the extra stone or brick off their hands. Use the stone or bricks to create a border for your path.
See a neighbor using a jackhammer to remove an old concrete patio? Score! Ask the neighbor if you can haul the concrete off. Use the concrete to construct a stone path or as a border for a flower bed. It will take some labor on your part, but the materials are free. To set the concrete, dig holes to set the pieces of concrete into the landscape.
PLANTS - Pair plants with like colors. If you would like to use yellow flowers (Black Eyed Susans), accentuate the yellow by planting a succulent with a yellow variegated leaf. This creates a good balance and texture. When you go to the nursery, take your cart around and before you make a decision, find an area in the nursery and set the plants up like you would in your design. Want a second opinion? Ask the nursery employee for tips and suggestions. Yes, this will take time. Spend the time in the pre-planning stages and you'll be money-wise and landscape smart.
PROBLEM AREAS - Got a drainage ditch in your yard? If you use grass, it's not easy to mow in a ditch. Flowers or other plant material will wash away. Put landscape fabric down and add rip rock/large rock (the rocks won't be washed away). You could pour concrete, but that will create a faster flow of water. Unless you have drainage ditches or trenches to redirect the water.
Slope - Prevent soil erosion by installing a retaining wall. You can find DIY instructions on how to build a retaining wall in DIY Projects: How to Design Your Own Landscaping. Use a good landscape fabric that not only prevents weeds but helps keep soil in place. Plant ground cover that is hardy and will spread across the sloped landscape. To add height, plant taller succulents or other native plants.
Flooding - If you have an area that is prone to flooding, turn it into a dry creek bed. Using the rip rock or large rocks that won't wash away. There are many colors of rip rock, so go bold, add color, texture and a design that won't wash away.
Large areas - consider breaking up a large area with a winding dry river bed. Install landscape fabric. Use gravel, stone, decomposed granite or rock on the outside of where the dry river will be. To form the "river," use a different color of rock. Red river rock meandering through a bed of gray gravel is a common method used to create a dry river bed.
ROCK GARDENS - Create a rock garden in a small area with three rocks in varied sizes. Plant
SOFTEN HARDSCAPES - Soften block walls with plants. I created a diamond pattern for yellow Lady Banks Roses on a 12 foot cinder block wall in our back yard. I measured and marked out my diamond pattern on the block wall - three diamonds in height, five rows across. Then I drilled small holes in the blocks in the four corners of each of the diamond shapes with a thin drill bit and inserted small metal eyelets. I ran a wire through the eyelets. Then I planted five Lady Banks Roses at the base or bottom of the first diamond and trained them to trail the wire. Instead of a bleak cinder block wall, I created a gorgeous focal point.
SOFTEN HARDSCAPES. Plant flowers or ground cover on either side of a path, next to driveways, patios - any hardscape.
UGLY WALLS - Got a garage or unsightly wall? Change it by painting it (a gallon of exterior paint costs less than $15) and adding wall art. Make your own wall art by using an old window frame, a door, or outdoor painting. If your window frame looks rustic and you like that look, hang it up without painting it. If it needs a makeover and you want to get a distressed look, paint it dark brown. After the coat of dark brown dries, paint it with a white-wash (white paint watered down), using a paint brush.
Make a frame or buy one at a second hand store. See an ugly, large picture in a wooden frame at a garage sale? Get it cheap, take the glass and photo off and use the frame. Buy vinyl tablecloths (something that will compliment your color scheme) and wrap it around the frame. Use a staple gun to secure the vinyl tablecloth to the frame. Hang it up with nails or if you don't want holes, use 3M Command Strips.
To make your own outdoor painting, either buy or find an old piece of wood. Paint it using exterior paint. Got kids? Buy a few pint size cans of paint. Pour some paint onto paper plates, get your kids hand prints on the art, apply a few coats of polyurethane to protect it and hang it up. Your kids will love this. To add a "garden" flare, paint a stem with some leaves on it and at the top where a bloom would be, use a handprint (think tulip).
Install lattice and plant a drought tolerant vine. Buy two ladders, place them on both ends of the wall and plant vines in the ground at the base of the ladders.
Use flower boxes. You can buy new flower boxes at a home supply store or make your own.
XERISCAPE IT! - Remove grass and use decomposed granite (DG), granite, gravel, river rock, plant a few succulents that never need watering and you'll have a maintenance free xeriscape. Use landscape fabric under the DG or ground cover to prevent weeds.