It’s A Women’s World

Planning and decorating the interior of your home can take a great deal of time and patience. What many of us don’t consider is how the exterior of our homes look. Not only are your front and backyards a reflection of your personality and taste, but when you have a well groomed, aesthetically pleasing landscape design it can increase the value of your property. If you long wished for a yard like the one Martha Stewart shows off on television but you lack the know how or design skills, don’t worry. With a few backyard landscaping pictures and a visit to a local gardening store, you’ll be well on your way to a beautiful yard.

There are many magazines that showcase luxurious homes and their yards. These are an ideal place to start as they can give you a general idea of how to use a space like the one you have. Even if you only have a small area of land to work with, you are going to find at least a few backyard landscaping pictures that reflect what you’ve imagined in your own yard. Naturally there are other resources for finding images like this. Your weekly Sunday newspaper may have an insert that advertises homes for sale in the area. These are likely to include some backyard landscaping pictures. Although they are intended for selling the home, you can always use them to inspire you.

Going online and looking for what others have done with their property is always a good idea. There are many websites and forums devoted to sharing landscaping ideas. It is on sites like this that you’ll typically find amateur backyard landscaping pictures. These can offer great inspiration as they show what anyone can accomplish if they try.

If you want to incorporate some of the ideas you’ve seen in a few different images this can be easily done. After scanning or saving the pictures to your computer you can then cut and paste the parts that you find most attractive in each of the images. Another idea is to map out on a piece of paper, the size of your yard and everything you’d like included in the design plan.

Bear in mind that not every bush, tree or shrub you’ve seen in an image is likely to grow in your climate. This is only the case if the backyard landscaping pictures you are using as a reference were taken locally. If you are unsure of what some of the greenery is, just take the image to your local gardening store and ask them. An experienced sales associate will be able to identify the plant and explain whether or not it will work in your space.

Designing an outdoor scheme should be viewed as an ongoing project. It’s almost impossible to purchase everything you need and plant and place it all in a weekend. Spend some time outside every week working on and nurturing your backyard.

Everyone loves to see a butterfly fluttering around, especially the brightly colored ones. Unfortunately, many species are depleted in numbers due to the destruction of habitat. The usual plants favored by gardeners are not the ones needed to attract butterflies and moths, so they need to be encouraged with specific plants and flowers. Making an environment for caterpillar hosts and to induce the laying of eggs will make an even more useful butterfly garden. Some adult butterflies don’t feed on certain plants so the young need to thrive as well.

There are hundreds of plants to choose from, with careful consideration of when and where to locate them in the butterfly garden. The gardener who makes the effort will get a lot of pleasure from helping with this conservation. The plants themselves will add beauty and scent. Watching the butterflies and taking photographs will be very worthwhile. It’s a good idea to use plants that will attract the threatened species of the butterfly population. Scientists are keen that members of the public help to tag butterflies, in order that they can find out more about their habits.

It’s not always easy to be a butterfly. They have many enemies, such as spiders, wasps, birds, flies and ants. These can be controlled by using traps rather than by pesticides. Butterflies and their larvae would be harmed by the pesticides. Insecticides can’t be used on aphids either, for the same reason. Gardeners can control aphids by natural methods, such as the release of ladybugs and other bugs that won’t harm butterflies. Spraying aphid infested plants with water also does the trick sometimes. Butterflies can also fall victim to disease and viruses. The person who supplies a butterfly garden is helping to tip the scales in their favor.

The list of plants that attract butterflies is long. Some of the more popular ones are Autumn Sage, Marigolds, Sweet Pepperbush and Phlox. There is also Morning Glory and Butterfly Bush, also known as Buddleia. Shrubs and bushes play their part too and butterflies will flock to New Jersey Tea Tree and the Hawthorn Bush. Many people like to have wildflowers in their garden and this too can encourage an influx of butterflies. Spearmint, Ironweed and Thistles are all good for the butterfly garden. It’s not even necessary to plant anything. Butterflies are known to be partial to garden snacks, as supplied by the owners. They will happily feed on mashed up fruits, such as bananas, watermelon, mangoes and oranges.