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Home » Miscellaneous » A Different, Simple Landscape Design Idea.

A Different, Simple Landscape Design Idea.

Updated : June 23, 2020

41 Comments

In 2018 we built a ranch home with a very simple, easy to care for landscape around the house. I added some Landscape Lighting to the Landscape so before I did the video about that, I did this video on the landscape design.

Simple landscape design ideas.

I don’t mention it in the video but you can see a bit of it at the beginning of the video. Our landscape is very simple, just the front, with one small island around a lamp post. The other three sides of the house are simple washed river stone.

We’ve got plenty to take care of at The Nursery, so at home we opted for simplicity.

For a lot more on Landscape Design Ideas Visit this Page.

I hope you enjoy and learn.

As always, by any and all means stay inspired!

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Comments

  1. Michael Abel says

    June 30, 2020 at 2:55 am

    Hi Jo. Get a fuller growth by cutting the croton a lil bit above half the length. This will redirect growth hormones the nodes and begin the developent of new shoots which will form new branches and with time create a more full croton wonder plant.

    Reply
  2. Liz Allen-Hart says

    June 29, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    Hey Mike,
    The Hub and I are going to reconstruct our deck but I have many perennials running along the side of it. We are expanding the deck about 4 feet. I’m getting nervous as to how I’m going to save these plants and possibly be able to reestablish them when its all said and done. I was wondering how you would handle this? I thought maybe to just plant them here and there in other spots on the property and start over, but not sure if I have enough room for them all & money for that matter!
    Let me know your thoughts if you can. Thanks Liz from CO

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 30, 2020 at 7:21 am

      Liz,

      Get them out, plant them in the shade or pot them up in the shade, water regularly, several times a day for the first few days. Hope for the best.

      Reply
  3. Doug G says

    June 29, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    Mike when should I try summer Japanese maple grafting , and what should I set my misters at ? 10 every 10 like for cuttings or is there a different setting , I’m in zone 8 . Thanks for everything

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 30, 2020 at 7:22 am

      Doug,

      I’m really not sure on the maples. Summer grafting is really tricky and the success rate is far lower than winter grafting. Those mist settings are fine.

      Reply
  4. Jo says

    June 28, 2020 at 8:55 am

    Mike, I thoroughly enjoy the simplicity of your landscaping.

    I have an 47+ Croton plant I bought at a church sale. It’s tall and a couple of branches are bare except the upper top. Would like to make it fuller and also get some restarts from it. Afraid to touch it. Any advice is welcomed.

    Have a great summer.

    Jo

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 29, 2020 at 6:13 am

      Jo,

      See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/

      Reply
  5. Sarah Olivito says

    June 27, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    This is the2nd year I tried propagating with the aquarium directions. Last year I had 30% success. I was happy. I put cuttings in June19. All but 2 have brown dead leaves. I made sure it wasn’t too wet. What a disappointment. I will try again. Any tips?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 6:52 am

      Sarah,

      What are you propagating. Some things are easy, others far more challenging.

      Reply
  6. Percy says

    June 27, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    That is a beautiful landscape design. What is the black on the ground? I’m afraid to put any type of mulch down in front of my house here in Florida due to drawing termites.
    Nematodes are attacking my vegetables. What is the best way to rid them? I’ve pulled up about 5 tomato plants so far..

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 6:53 am

      Just mulch in the beds. I don’t know about the tomatoes.

      Reply
      • Marge Duncan says

        June 29, 2020 at 6:17 am

        I have Snow Angel Coral Bells and love their look but i’de like to know what u do to care for them bc mine do not get those beautiful choral flowers.

        Reply
        • Mike says

          June 30, 2020 at 7:23 am

          Marge,

          I don’t do anything to my coral bells but to cut them back a bit in the fall. I don’t fertilize them, they do fine.

          Reply
  7. Anonymous says

    June 27, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    Mike, you are a magician at growing plants. Stick with that. Your landscape ideas are. Butt-ugly

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 6:54 am

      Strong words coming from somebody who is afraid to put their name on their post. But your cowardly input is appreciated.

      Reply
      • George DeVos says

        June 28, 2020 at 11:36 am

        Oh geez Mike, don’t get sucked into a nasty exchange. If your landscaping is ugly I guess mine is too. I did the same style. It’s a phenomenon how words in print on the internet become exponentially abrasive. I used to email old friends the same ironic way we talked face to face. and learned it is not well received.
        I’m just sayin.

        Reply
      • suzanne says

        June 28, 2020 at 8:45 pm

        I was admiring your landscape design, I am an artist.

        Reply
  8. George DeVos says

    June 27, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    Very nice. I wonder how you deal with weeds that inevitably pop up through the woodchips and gravel.. I’ve used the same techniques and after a year, I’m faced with raking away the chips to clean up weed intruders making it all look shabby

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 6:55 am

      George,

      A couple times a year I use a pre-emergent herbicide but we also make sure no weeds ever get a foot hold.

      Reply
  9. Gene Petersen says

    June 27, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    Why would you delete an informative comment about good landscape design? Don’t you care about anything but making money from plants?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 7:04 am

      Gene,

      I don’t recall deleting any comment about a good landscape design. I rarely delete any comments here unless they are spam or promotional.

      Reply
  10. Gene says

    June 27, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    Your poor landscape design is really behind the times. The black woodchip mulch and plant spacing is especially bad, and so is rock mulch. You should read the book ‘Planting in a Post-wild World’ by Thomas Ranier and Claudia West. It is about a sustainable, layered landscaping approach with the inclusion of native plants. You end up with a plant community that functions naturally and requires less maintenance than what you have. Rethink and go with an ecological landscape that supports nature.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 7:08 am

      Gene,

      My wife and I, the two people that see this landscape daily, happen to like the plants in this landscape, which is why there are so many rare Japanese maples and other plants of color. The native plants that you describe would consume this house unless pruned several times a year.

      Reply
  11. Joanne says

    June 27, 2020 at 11:32 am

    What do I plant on a relatively decent slope?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 7:08 am

      Junipers work great, especially blue rug.

      Reply
  12. Mary Scearce says

    June 27, 2020 at 11:12 am

    Dear Mike,

    Thank you for the pictures of landscape designs which I am trying to look at at any opportunity as that is a weak point of me abilities with plants and planting. I have Lenten Roses and another large shade plant and am using Maiden hair fern and August fern. I need to get some Japanese Maples too but am trying to use things I have been using for years in a shade to sunny flower bed in one garden. Also have a winter hardy evergreen geranium which I am quite fond of. I need to go to your web sight an review everything you have there when I am needing to rest from other things and work in the garden.

    Reply
  13. Michael Moore says

    June 27, 2020 at 10:57 am

    How to split and plant hostas and what time of the year is best to get results?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 28, 2020 at 7:11 am

      Michael,

      The ideal time to divide hostas is early spring when they are just beginning to break dormancy. But they can also be done in mid to late summer when they go into a resting period.

      Reply
  14. Eddie says

    June 27, 2020 at 10:33 am

    Nice simple plan. You make a good point about lots of repetition in a good landscape plan. Interesting that at least three quarters is Japanese Maple and heuchera. I like it and may steal it (haha)

    Reply
    • Mike says

      July 10, 2020 at 6:59 am

      Eddie,

      Feel free to steal the concept, that’s why I share stuff.

      Reply
  15. debbie says

    June 27, 2020 at 10:26 am

    Are your Japanese Maples all in the sun?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      July 10, 2020 at 7:01 am

      Debbie,

      They were in the sun in my nursery, at my house the front of the house is a bit shady.

      Reply
  16. Michelle says

    June 27, 2020 at 10:23 am

    Thank you for sharing all your hard work and information. I learn so much from you!

    Reply
  17. Irene Ivone Ivone says

    June 27, 2020 at 10:09 am

    Love your landscaping…so clean and easy to see your plantings!

    How do I renovate my heavily overgrown beds. Black eyed susans and other perennials have taken over 🙁

    Irene

    Reply
    • Mike says

      July 10, 2020 at 7:02 am

      Irene,

      Dig them out and till the beds, wait a week then till again and just keep repeating this process until all viable pieces of this plants have expired.

      Reply
  18. Deborah says

    June 26, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    I have poison ivy, oak and sumac all around my trees. The one I’m worry about is the pine trees. If I use vinegar with salt and dish soap to kill the poison will that hurt or kill my pine trees.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      June 27, 2020 at 7:11 am

      Deborah,

      I wouldn’t spray it directly on the trees, but more than likely it won’t harm them, but no promises.

      Reply
      • Corinne says

        June 27, 2020 at 10:58 am

        Also, use 30% vinegar, not table vinegar and make sure to protect your face, eyes and skin. I would not add the salt around anything you want to keep.

        Reply
    • Gene says

      June 27, 2020 at 12:16 pm

      Vinegar, salt, and dish soap does not work.. It may kill the leaves, but not the whole plant. The plant will regrow. Glyphosate is very effective sprayed on leaves, and breaks down quickly. If the glyphosate gets on a tree trunk, it will do nothing to the tree. It is absorbed only through leaves.

      Reply
      • Mike says

        June 28, 2020 at 7:06 am

        Gene,

        That’s not completely true. Some trees, younger trees, can and will absorb glyphosate (Roundup) through the bark of the tree and do severe damage to the tree. Larger, more mature trees are less likely to be affected by it.

        Reply
    • Donald Hull says

      June 27, 2020 at 8:13 pm

      what formula did you use ?
      Don

      Reply

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