Creative Landscape Design Ideas

A landscape design project is an opportunity to embellish your property while creating an outdoor space you can enjoy. The possibilities are endless, and you can combine plants, hardscaping elements, statuary, lighting, and more to create a design that feels like you.

Here are a few landscape design ideas to help you get started!

Incorporate Water Features

A water feature can bring your backyard to life. Besides attracting wildlife, water can create noise and movement.

There are many options to explore, including fountains, waterfalls, streams, and ponds. You can opt for a modern and enchanting effect by incorporating a fountain into a space that features stone benches, statuary, and gravel.

You can also opt for a more natural result by designing your landscape around a central pond, waterfall, or stream. Native plants can frame this feature, and you can build garden paths that naturally lead to the water to invite exploration.

Get More Out of a Small Yard With a Layered Garden

A layered introduces volume and colors, even if you’re working with a small space. It’s an ideal design if you have sloped terrain.

The idea behind a layered garden is to create interesting combinations and contrasts. You can create patterns or play with contrasts by choosing plants based on colors, textures, and shapes.

Repetition is also key for achieving a harmonious result. Instead of using a wide range of plants, limit yourself to a handful of species.

For instance, you can contrast shapes by planting tall evergreens next to mounding perennials. Complete the design by introducing an interesting texture with Briza or sedge grass.

Design a Functional Space With Garden Rooms

Garden rooms use concepts you’ll find in interior designs. Rather than considering the landscape as a whole, garden rooms separate this space into small sections with a specific purpose.

Landscape design ideas that rely on garden rooms feel modern and will make your outdoor space more functional.

You can, for instance, create a patio, an outdoor cooking area, and an outdoor bar. You can have a seating area further away for reading or meditating, and some areas dedicated to growing food or planting aesthetic shrubs and flowers.

The key is to consider the flow of the garden rooms and connect these different areas with recurring patterns, such as colors or plants that are present in every area.

Opt for an English-Inspired Garden

If you want a landscape that evokes the cozy cottage lifestyle, an English garden is an excellent option. These gardens aim to reproduce a natural landscape, but each element is the result of a deliberate choice.

You can achieve this look by laying a thick ground cover. You can alternate between open and closed spaces to avoid making your landscape feel crowded, but adding more plants to create a ground cover will give the impression of a wildflower field.

Create an impression of distance by planting tall trees and shrubs behind your floral field. Keep flowers and low shrubs closer to your home.

Hide garden paths and behind mounding shrubs and dense perennials. This trick will make the landscape feel more natural, and your backyard will seem larger once you start exploring the garden paths.

You should also add a few vertical elements to break the ground cover. You can plant some tall trees, add a vegetal wall, or opt for a manmade structure, like a shed or pergola.

A water feature like a pond or stream can add to the natural feel of this landscape design.

Create a Seasonal Landscape Design

When exploring landscape design ideas, it’s important to keep in mind that your yard will look different with each season.

You can create a landscape with unique features that become prominent as the seasons change. Many homeowners design their backyards with spring and summer in mind but overlook the colder months.

Incorporating elements of hardscaping can add visual interest to your yard. You can emphasize these elements by playing with sizes, shapes, textures, and lighting. Statues and backyard art are other options to explore.

You should also think about adding bird feeders and water features to draw wildlife to your yard during the cold season.

Make Your Landscape Feel Modern

Opting for a minimalist garden design can create a modern effect. It also has the benefit of limiting maintenance for your yard.

A modern landscape design should play with open spaces to create a peaceful feeling. Adding furniture with geometric shapes will complete this effect.

Streamlined shapes will emphasize the beauty of natural materials like wood or stone. Rectangular stone benches and a solid wood fence will add textured surfaces to your modern garden.

You can incorporate native plants already present into your minimalist design or create a relaxing and conservative effect by selecting plants with similar colors and textures.

Create subtle contrasts by adding boundaries between different areas with a stone wall, layers, or flower beds. You can also play with light and shade or use some modern planters to make some plants stand out.

Embrace Naturalistic Gardening

A naturalist garden prioritizes native plants to create a self-sustaining landscape. For Minnesota homeowners, these plants include purple coneflowers, thistle, milkweed, dog fennel, mayweed, Northern sweet grass, and many more.

When creating a naturalistic landscape, the goal is to incorporate a mix of plants that will self-sow and species with a long lifespan to reduce maintenance and create an eco-friendly garden.

You can break away from landscaping trends and create random patterns. Aim to continuously introduce new native species to enhance diversity.

The best way to achieve an aesthetic result is to contrast your naturalistic garden with a clean open space. You can have a clearing with some gravel and a few benches, a tall fence to frame your garden or a decorated patio with a modern and minimalist feel.

Create a Relaxing Wellness Garden

The wellness garden trend is about creating a natural space where you can manage your stress. Some homeowners are also embracing this trend to incorporate organic fruits and vegetables or medicinal herbs into their landscape design.

Designing a landscape with your own well-being in mind is an opportunity to create a deeply personal space.

You can, for instance, incorporate water features if you find that the sound of running water is soothing. Many homeowners are picking plants because they enjoy their scents.

If you want to grow organic food, look for ways to incorporate vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees into your landscape instead of creating a separate area.

Mix Nature and Manmade Structures With a Container Garden

If you have a small yard or want to enhance a manmade structure, a container garden can be an interesting option.

Plus, a container garden allows you to move plants to a greenhouse to protect them during the harsh Minnesota winters. It opens up more possibilities if you want to grow non-native plants.

A container garden can be visually interesting if you play with different shapes and sizes when selecting planters. You can also create a natural flow between a deck or other man made structures by adding some containers and placing similar potted plants throughout the rest of your yard.

Create a Beautiful Landscape Design Today with ALD

These landscape design ideas only reflect a handful of possibilities. At ALD, we specialize in helping homeowners create beautiful landscapes that enhance their properties.

Get in touch with us to tell us more about your landscaping project! We’ll work together to create a design that matches your vision.