Professional Landscaping

Imagine you're in a garden with a verdant ground that is punctuated by flowers and two pebble paths. When delicate flowers intersect with inanimate, structural objects, there are hardscaping design principles at work

By Jane McGrath

Substituting turf grass for ornamental grasses gives you more options than tidy green: Zebra grass stems have gold striped, blooming pink Muhly grasses look like giant puffs of cotton candy and Indian grasses sport proud cream plumes.

By Cristen Conger

You wouldn't plant a banana tree in Wisconsin, would you? Or if you did, you'd expect to give it a lot of tender love and care -- it's far too exotic to thrive on its own. Sometimes, it just makes sense to work with what the natural landscape offers.

By Cristen Conger

How much water does a rock need to grow? That's a trick question. If your thumb isn't exactly green but you love the idea of having a manicured outdoor space, a rock garden might fit the bill.

By Jane McGrath

Irrigation lines can bring your farm or garden alive, but you may have to troubleshoot a few problems along the way. What do you do if compacted soil, coyotes or cold weather messes up your system?

By Robert Lamb

Is a backyard putting green considered landscaping? Of course it is, but this landscaping project could be trouble if you don't do your homework.

By Josh Clark

The green movement is becoming more and more popular, gaining momentum daily. And there are many popular systems and programs that can help restore some of Earth's depleted resources. Agroforestry is one practice that does just that.

By Vivien Bullen

If you're trying to improve your property, you may cringe at the thought of anything as complicated as a landscape analysis. Can't you just plant some flowers and be done with it? Why start with a landscape analysis? Find out.

By Vivien Bullen

That old stretch of farmland just outside of town hasn't been tended to in decades. It's overgrown and ugly. Townspeople have been talking about what to do, but there's no obvious answer. The town may want to hire a rural landscape designer.

By Simon Shadow

Green landscaping is an alternative method of creating an attractive lawn or yard without using hazardous chemicals. In addition, green landscaping introduces water- and energy-saving methods to your lawn maintenance routine.

By Rosalind Jackson

We've all seen an overgrown, ugly, garbage-filled, vacant city lot at some point in our lives. These hulking eyesores can make the loveliest of neighborhoods look unkempt and even unsafe. But it's nothing a little urban landscape design can't fix.

By Vivien Bullen

Are you tired of lugging multiple hoses around your yard to keep grass, flowers and shrubs green? Irrigation systems can save time and water but professional installations can be costly. Fortunately, it is possible to do the installation yourself.

By Chris Marlowe

Looking out at your neighbor's lawns and gardens you find yourself suffering a healthy dose of landscape envy. All isn't lost -- it's still possible for you to have an enviable garden of your own.

By Rosalind Jackson

If after a heavy rain, your yard holds enough water for Noah to float his ark, maybe it's time for some landscaping. Paying attention to your yard's soil type, as well as the plants and erosion within it, is important when planning a landscape.

By Olivia Page

So you've got some ideas for your backyard. You want to build a new patio, plant some native shrubs or maybe install a new sprinkler system. You can see it in your head, but what will it really look like? Landscape software can show you.

By Andrew Aguecheek

Everyday we hear about the problems the world faces. War, famine, disease - and the list doesn't end there. Every year, roughly 13 millions hectares of land is deforested and turned into parking lots and roads. So what can we do about it now?

By David Baez

As the population of our planet soars and arable land declines, hydroponics will allow us to produce crops in greenhouses or in multilevel buildings dedicated to agriculture. How else will hydroponics save plant populations?

By Bambi Turner

Permaculture emphasizes integrated farming and ecological engineering which, in theory, allows farms and communities to pursue their own ends in a way that works with their environments.

By Robert Lamb

Reproducing plants out of season gave man a measure of control over nature. The allure of it sparked the imagination and inspired new methods for building structures devoted to plants. So how do greenhouses work?

By Sara Elliott

A green lawn is a nice place to sip iced tea, relax in a hammock, bird watch. But to get to that magazine-worthy turf, you first need to till the soil. Here's how.

By Charles W. Bryant

The yard should be a relaxing place where you can go after a long day of work and enjoy a bit of nature. Unfortunately, your backyard is anything but relaxing. Building a pond may be just the thing to bring serenity to you.

By Heather Kolich

When fish live in tanks, their waste builds up in the water. But what is one living thing's sewage is another living thing's savory meal. Can crops be cultivated on fish feces?

By Sarah Winkler

We all know that water's a precious resource, but in drought-stricken regions, it's harder to come by than ever. What can you do? One landscaping option is Xeriscaping.

By John Fuller