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Your backyard is an extension of your living space—only it’s in the fresh air. With a no-grass backyard, plan various seating areas, from spacious to cozy, and add visual interest with grouped flower containers spotted throughout or a fire pit. Here are some inviting inspirations for no-mow landscaping.
Ready to revamp your front or back yard? You don’t always need a sky-high budget, a sprawling space, or unfamiliar materials to make an impact. These clever garden renovation ideas will help you add more interest to your landscape—and make it easier to maintain, too!
What you choose to grow along your front path will set the tone for your entry garden. For a formal look, cultivate a healthy lawn and edge the walkway with a closely-clipped boxwood hedge. To imitate a colorful, old-fashioned garden, replace the lawn with thickly planted perennial borders and line the walkway with a creeping groundcover, such as mint or thyme.
Fast-growing trees can create shade, privacy, or a windbreak in your yard much sooner than many other trees. While most trees take 20 to 40 years to reach maturity, fast-growing trees can add 1 to 4 feet per year, and some reach 50 feet tall in as little as 15 to 25 years. That quick growth often calls for thoughtful placement and extra maintenance, especially compared to slow-growing cedar, ginkgo, or white oak trees. When you plant them in the right spot and keep up with their care, fast-growing trees can bring decades of beauty to your yard.
With a bit of effort, you can create a hügelkultur (pronounced hoo-gul-culture) garden, a kind of sustainable raised bed that works even in small yards. It’s a technique that took off in Germany and Eastern Europe and has gained aficionados around the world for its eco-friendly approach.
A yard is ideal for playing games, hosting a barbecue, or simply relaxing in the warmth of the sun. However, it also has a vital role when it comes to drainage. If a yard is not graded correctly or leveled, water from rain and melting snow may flow back toward the home’s foundation, where it can cause damage to the concrete and seep through the walls into the basement.
