Backyard landscaping means different things to different people, depending on one's particular living situation. For the average, crowded-in New Yorker, backyard landscaping means as many terra cotta pots as can fit on the fire escape, or perhaps the sunniest corner of the apartment used as a solarium. For a person who owns an expansive piece of land, backyard landscaping may include wooded and grassy areas; small bodies of water; even animals such as goats, deer or sheep,

Ever since we can remember, people have been staking out their little piece of earth for themselves--and by extension, their progeny. Landscaping is a real human need, and a natural part of our identity. It allows us to express ourselves in the land: to create, to contemplate, to relax, and to play.

What Backyard Landscaping Says about Us

We create by planting gardens and trees and maintaining them through the seasons. We contemplate the scent of honeysuckle from the serenity the porch, or from the patio in the moonlight. We relax on our deck chairs in the sun, watching our neighbors go about their activities--or perhaps hidden from view entirely, listening to our favorite songs on a headset stereo. We play games with our children on the soft grass.

For all these scenarios, there is a different landscaping need. Personal tastes and habits can also determine landscaping priorities. Social, extroverted people may enjoy landscaping beautiful flower gardens to draw attention to their yard, as well as give their neighbors a beautiful sight to see. On the other hand, private people may prefer to create natural privacy walls through strategic placement of tall trees, shrubs, or bamboo.