Landscape Design: Big Ideas for Your Landscape

Get a sleek, modern look with this plan. The design includes interesting pavers, a water feature, and more to give your landscape a clean, crisp feel.

Make your yard the perfect spot for neighborhood and family gatherings. This plan features an extended deck and an open lawn where children can play.

Balancing graceful curves with straight lines is a sure way to create visual contrast. This plan mixes formal elements with gentle curves. It's an eye-catching way to make your yard a showpiece.

Reduce the amount of lawn in your yard for a landscape that takes less time to maintain and attracts lots of birds and butterflies, to boot. A wide variety of trees and shrubs provides food and shelter for feathered friends.

Wide paths and plenty of open spaces make this plan easy to get around in. Strategically placed trees and shrubs offer plenty of privacy.

Turn a tough-to-maintain hillside into a beautiful display by creating levels and using retaining walls to offer more flat space in your yard. Colorful groundcovers and other perennial flowers are perfect for holding a slope, adding color, and suppressing weeds. 

Make the most of your time in the yard with this plan, which features garden rooms for different activities. A patio right off the house is a perfect place to store the grill; a secluded patio in the back corner offers a peaceful place to relax.

The formal look never goes out of style. Incorporate landscape elements such as crossing pathways, vegetable gardens in raised beds, and small hedges for a timeless, elegant yard.

Not sure what to do with an oddly shaped corner lot? Try lining your landscape with hedges and dropping a pergola with a water feature in the middle of the space.

Make the most of a narrow, deep yard by creating zones of interest -- a patio, a potting shed, a vegetable garden, etc. Use interesting paths to draw visitors through the different zones and to give your landscape a cohesive feel.

Transform your front yard into a spectacular display of color and interest, even if you have a small space. A wide walkway welcomes guests to your front door; a perpendicular pathway adds a dash of interest and makes it easy to access and enjoy your plantings.

Look to hardscape materials -- gravel, flagstone, etc. -- as lawn alternatives to cut down on mowing. A variety of trees and shrubs requires less yearly maintenance than annuals and perennials, plus adds shade and privacy to outdoor living areas.

A stunning landscape doesn't have to be filled with a wide array of plants. Use a design such as this, which features a hedge, lawn, and handful of trees, to keep your yard simple and elegant.

Make your yard a tranquil haven by mixing evergreens with a few large deciduous trees and deep plantings. A little moving water helps filter out street noise, too.

Keep your yard simple but attractive by incorporating a small number of bold elements, such as a swimming pool and pergola-covered patio.

Planting a deep bank of trees and shrubs is the perfect way to screen a view and filter out street noise. Plus, trees attract songbirds which will provide your landscape with a natural soundtrack.

Make your yard feel like it's in the middle of Tuscany by incorporating plenty of outdoor living areas. Cover a pergola in grapes for delicious late-summer treats and plant a few large trees to provide shade from the hot summer sun.

Use the elements of formal British design to make your yard shine. Intersecting paths with an attractive fountain, clipped hedges, and geometric raised beds will give your landscape four-season interest.

Reduce your lawn to save time this summer. Planting wildflowers, easy-care perennials, and self-seeding annuals ensures a delightful display of color every year. Fun pathways offer visual interest and give easy access to all of your blooms.

Use geometry to give your yard a classic feel. Here, a square lawn connected to a rectangular patio and formal rose garden offers interesting angles that play well off the house.

Privacy can be a challenge if you live on a corner. A good fence and strategically placed trees and shrubs can make a world of difference. This plan adds outdoor living space to the backyard with a spacious patio and water feature to damper street noise.

Most gardeners who start with a clean slate can't tackle the entire yard at once. One easy way to handle it is to come up with a plan, then start with one piece a a time. Traditionally, gardeners start with the areas closest to the house, then at the edges of yard, and work their way in. But you can landscape in whatever stages you please.