Backyard Landscaping Ideas

Attracting Native Birds
[If you'd like to attract hummingbirds, please visit BLI's Hummingbird garden.]

Before you set up bird houses or start buying seed, you’ll want to know the specific housing and food requirments of the bird species in your area. Guide books such as “Collins Bird Guide for Britain and Europe” by Lars Svensson or, in [...]

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The Night Garden

If you’re like most people, when you arrive home at the end of the day, your
garden’s already gone to bed and you miss out on the result of all those weekends of
work you put into it. A well-designed night garden, however, offers a landscape that at
6 p.m. is just starting to wake up. [...]

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The Butterfly Garden
Butterflies pollinate flowers and add living color and a feeling of
calm to any garden. Whether your a lepodoptrist in training,
trying to attract
insects to pollinate your plants, or just want to add some
life to your landscape with a few simple
additions you can create a butterfly haven.

Meeting the locals

Each species of butterfly [...]

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The Hummingbird Garden
Hummingbirds are nature’s soap opera. If these little birds
are native to your area, creating a hummingbird garden will not only give these birds new
habitat, but will provide some good entertainment.

Plants choice

Most of the nectar-rich flowers hummingbirds seek offer red, tube- or trumpet-shaped blooms. However, a garden of only one or two favorite [...]

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Backyard Fish Ponds
A backyard fish pond is a simple way to add color and life to your landscape.
Although these ponds can run from a small pool to a small lake, a mid-sized fish pond can be completed
in an afternoon.

Planning

Style

Ponds can be designed to fit any garden style. A formal garden formal pond is considered to [...]

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Desert Landscaping
Imagine sitting in your comfortably cool high desert home, enjoying the view of the lush gardens outside—and knowing you’re saving water and money. With the right plants and landscaping design, it is possible.
You can do a lot more with your landscape than just stick a few cacti among the rocks.

This article provides a basic [...]

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Mountain and High-altitude Landscaping
Although high-altitude and mountain landscapes may not be the easiest to work with, those
gardeners who perservere can create some of the most beautiful landscapes of any region.

Working with mountain soil

Soil in mountain areas often has to be re-worked for anything to grow in it and plants chosen should be
cold-hardy, deer-resistant, and [...]

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A Child’s Garden Bed
Have you got a “budding” gardener who loves to work outdoors but isn’t ready
to take over the whole backyard? Start them off with a planting bed of their own.
A little planning will ensure the kind of good results that keep kids motivated.

Planning

Choose an area that can be seen from the house and [...]

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The Kid-friendly Garden

What applies to the child-proof house, applies to the child-proof garden.
Because kids don’t presume anything is “just for looks” everything in the garden should be sturdy and “usable”. Look at it from an active kid’s point of view: what looks good to jump on, hang on, pull on, throw, or otherwise use as [...]

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Accessible gardens
At first thought, the bending and crawling associated with gardening can seem daunting even
to someone in perfect health. However, with a little planning and a few modifications,
a garden or landscape can easily be designed to meet anyone’s needs.

Easy reach: Raised beds, tables, and hanging baskets.

In an accessible garden, the need for crouching and crawling [...]

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