Natural Landscaping Ideas

By landscaping your backyard in a smart way, you cannot only create an environmentally friendly and  wonderful habitat for insects, birds and native plants, but also reduce cost for air conditioning and heating.

According to a study of the Syracuse SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, “the right tree combination could reduce carbon dioxide by fifty-seven-percent by the year 2046”. The group suggested a combination of 31 different types of trees, including dogwood, red hickory and hawthorn. By planting those in your backyard you can help to reduce the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere.

Plant a butterfly garden
Butterfly gardening has become very popular in the last few years. It is just beautiful to see those fragile creatures flitting through the garden. While a butterfly garden is educational and interesting for the little ones it also adds some magic to any landscaping project. To successfully attract butterflies you have to provide food sources for the larva and pollinating plants for the butterflies.

Here are some plants, butterflies like to lay their eggs on: milkweed, blueberry bushes, birch, willow, oak and dogwood trees, lupines, violets and meadowsweet. Great nectar plants are: bee balm, black-eyed Susan, butterfly weed, lilies, purple coneflowers, the new England aster, sunflowers, wild bergamot, rhododendron and spicebush shrubs.

Please plant your butterfly garden in the sun – and avoid using pesticides or herbicides.

Plant Windbreaks
Believe it or not: Natural windbreaks can reduce your heating costs considerably. If you plant evergreen trees to the north and northwest of the home, you can block and deflect the wind over your home and prevent not only some of those naughty drafts, but help the house to keep its temperature. Do not plant evergreens to close to the south-side to not block the few warm rays of the winter sun.

Shade Plants
You may have noticed, that it is much more comfortable to spend a hot summer day in a park under a shady tree, than out on the city streets. The same principle can help you to safe big on air-conditioning. Plant deciduous trees with high, spreading crowns to the south of your home to provide shade for the roof during the hot summermonth. As the trees loose their leaves in the fall, the warming sun can come through in the winter month.

Plant hedges or a row of shrubs along your sidewalk or patio to shade the ground. This will reduce heat radiation and will cool the air before it reaches your home’s walls or windows. And last but not least: Use a trellis for climbing vines to shade your outdoor sitting area.