Landscaping Design Styles

If you need landscaping ideas or landscape design plans, look no further than your home for inspiration – and leave the rest up to your imagination.

When choosing a landscape and design style that works with existing structures on your property, a good rule of thumb is to match the architectural style of your house. Or, if you desire a more eclectic feel, juxtapose landscape styles and architectural for a refreshing approach. Whether you live in a contemporary ranch, traditional brick house, beach bungalow or a country cottage, there’s a design style for you.

Here are a few landscape design ideas to get you started: 

Desert Landscaping: Who says everything must be green? Why not go with flowering succulents, rocks, stone, sand, and concrete, which combine to form a myriad of options ranging from cool minimalism to a cozy desert hideaway surrounded by plant life and earthen colors.

Country Landscaping: A picket fence would be a nice touch, but even without it, this landscape design style must have rows of flowers, at least one large shade tree, and a patch or two of tall grasses.

Sustainable Landscape Design: The key to this landscaping style is to choose plants that benefit each other – and you. Companion planting is a great way to help plants cross-pollinate and defend against pets. Rotating seasonal vegetables and flowers (“annuals”) gives your landscape an always-new look.

Modern Landscape Design: Although there are many different modern landscaping styles, clean edges are a common thread among them. Patios and walkways should be uncluttered and well maintained; colored gravel trumps mulch for beds or defined areas, and giant pots filled with miniature palms, pencil hollies or other narrow small tree should be arranged symmetrically. Flowering plants should be contained in defined beds or containers to continue the crisp lines

Low Maintenance Landscaping: Less is more when it comes to designing a low maintenance landscape. Less grass to cut, fewer beds to weed, less leaves to rake. That doesn’t mean you have to strip your yard bare, but don’t be afraid of additional hardscaping to take up some of the slack: brick pavers can turn a front yard into a piazza; a pergola or arch leading to concrete or stone paths filled with gravel. Ask your local garden center about plants and trees that don’t “shed” (cedars and boxwoods come to mind).

Tropical Landscaping: If you live in a warm climate, you have the most planting options for choosing a landscaping design style. And if you’re a lucky Floridian, Californian or someone who lives in the coastal Southeastern USA, you can turn your yard into an island paradise – even if there’s no ocean nearby. Adonidia Palms are compact and lush, great proportion for a front yard. Surround their trunks with smooth lava rocks and line a path with flowering kale or verbena for color.