2015 and spring is rapidly on its way. Don’t let your garden just sit there – ramp up its appeal with one of these five must-have landscaping ideas.

1. Indoor/Outdoor Flow

Boost the living space of your home by breaking down the barriers between the outdoor and indoor. Widen doorways; consider replacing the back wall of your home with floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors (or even a transparent wall).

Choose a polished tile for the patio or decking that continues nicely from your kitchen tile, or go for a paving that aligns nicely with your indoor floor design. Opening up this space to become more ‘living-friendly’ will help you feel that you have more living space for when friends come over or those hot summer days.

 

2. Columnar Trees

Columnar trees can look beautiful as an alternative garden wall and give a neater, almost regal feel to your garden. Fastigiate Hornbeams are likely to work best, along with Cypress tress; European Green Beeches or Japanese Holly ‘Sky Pencil’ trees (anything that will grow upwards, not outwards).

Shape your trees with regular pruning, to either become dense hedges; trim topiaries or to grow flat against an existing wall. This look can look stunning with paired with freshly mowed grass or some good AstroTurf.

3. French Drains

Rather than try to hide the drainage and irrigation in your garden, why not turn it into a beautiful decoration piece or focal point?

French drains can look pretty and sophisticated when installed parallel to another edge in your garden (such as a wall or the edge of decking/a lawn). They run much like a border on a carpet and are perfect for conservatories (or other indoor-outdoor area), for a sleek and elegant addition.

4. Rock Gardens

Add a touch of the wild to your garden with an impressive rock garden. Whether you’re choosing to replace the lawn with pebbles (overlaid with some decking) or just want to confine the feature to a specific part of your garden, rock gardens are low-maintenance and bring distinct variety to your landscape.

Rock gardens can also be implemented in individual flower beds or planters. They are in season all year round and there are countless different rock/stone styles to choose from. Talk to a professional landscaping company in Liverpool to learn what variations will suit your garden’s existing design and shape best.

5. Fire Features (or Fire ‘Pit’)

A sure way to get friends flocking to your garden this spring/summer is with a stunning fireplace feature. Often situated in the center of one’s patio or lawn, a fire pit makes your garden a true gathering place – ideal for those long, hot, barmy summer nights.

Whether you simply use it for generating heat and light, or prefer to use it to toast marshmallows and make every night feel like camping(!), a fire feature can be the perfect addition to make those barbecues and summer get-togethers last longer.

I always said I’d hate to be a lawnmower salesman and I continue to stand by those words today. Particularly now when Lawnmower ownership is dropping rapidly thanks largely to a boom in people getting artificial grass fitted in their gardens to save time and money on labour costs.

In Liverpool Artificial Grass NW are leading the surge in the installation of artificial grass. Elderly couples who struggle to maintain their lawn, busy families with no time to give to the garden and landlords who don’t want to be paying for someone to maintain the garden, everyone seems to be investing in artificial grass.

Twenty years ago I would never have considered doing it to my own lawn, you could spot artificial grass from a mile away. However now artificial grass is indistinguishable from the real stuff. Only the lack of bare patches, muddy puddles and brown grass during summer may give guests an indication of the true nature of your lawn.

A few examples below from Artificial Grass NW show just how realistic it can now look. Some of them even have lawnmower stripes on them!

 

Over the last few years, the city of Liverpool has seen a massive transformation, not just across its city centre or key attractions and world heritage sites, but also across a large number of its popular homes.

Although there has been a lot of property extending, renovation and transformation, nothing comes close to the boom in landscaping design that the city is going through.

Since the transformation of baron industrial land in the city’s southern district, JL Landscapes Liverpool have been at the forefront of this boom and are constantly asked for more unique, custom styles in terms of landscape design and installment. UK’s leading garden locations – The International Garden Festival, it seems as though Liverpool residents are looking to replicate this horticultural experience across their own gardens and lawns.