Most home gardeners feel heavily defeated by a simple landscape design. One of the biggest flaws of designing a landscape is the fact that we don't keep it simple, we keep looking at what we want in the future and we get totally overwhelmed. The beginning stages of any landscape design needs to be simplicity. Everything starts out as a simple design, once that is all mapped out you can add to it at a later time.

This doesn't mean a boring landscape; it just means that we need to keep the balance, form, repetition and proportion as simple as possible. Unfortunately, we home gardeners want to mix too many elements into this simple design, thinking we are doing a professional job, but it turns out to be just the opposite. We can always change things later on; just remember simplicity is the key at the start of the project.  

The best thing to do would be to visit your local garden nursery or home and garden center and ask to see the numerous plants that will compliment each other. This way we will know what will work well together and can choose just a few different types and plant them in strategic places in your simple landscape. If too many different plants are chosen eveything will be out of balance. An easy way to start would be to pick just a couple of the plants that work well together and then choose them in several different colors.

For the most part, the majority of us have a little knowledge about some plants and what looks good. We have seen enough pictures in gardening magazines of good looking landscapes and gardens or we like what some of our neighbors have done with their landscaping. Driving around other neighborhoods or even upscale neighborhoods to see what designs are appealing. Notice that the landscapes that are more appealing have been simply done with one or two different plants with a variety of shades and colors placed in different areas of the landscape. This is called repetition, it is easy to follow and it works.

Texture changes and contrasts are part of a simple landscape design. You can choose two varieties of plants with one having a texture that is smooth and shiny and the other the complete opposite. We can also choose the same color but use different shades of that color. If red is the color of choice, look at all the varying shades we can choose. We are not limited to just our front yard landscaping. These techniques will also work for the side yard and our backyard landscaping and gardens.

If it seems as though it is becoming very demanding we are probably trying to build a mountain instead of a simple landscape. It is as though we need to throw out all those designs we made and start over with a completely different and simple plan. We just need to remember that simplicity is the key to a perfect landscape.