The purpose of this article is to provide you with some ideas that can help you make the most out of landscaping your new Chicago home.

New home landscaping can be defined as the art of conscious arrangement or organization of outdoor space for human satisfaction and enjoyment. Naturally a new home owner will want to make the landscape look as great as the interior of the house. If you just take a casual look at magazines or websites devoted to 'new home landscaping', you will find out that today your problem is not what to use but how to limit yourself to the most effective plants and materials for your particular landscape. The idea is to create a landscape that tells everyone who you are and makes your home even more beautiful. Below are some steps that could be useful for you to follow when designing and implementing your new home's landscape.

You start your new home landscaping project with a plan. A landscaping plan typically shows an aerial view of the lot and notes the location of patios, sidewalks, trees, shrubs, flower beds, ponds and other features. To create this plan, you can either hire a landscape architect or contractor, or do it on your own. A landscape professional will visit the site and draw in detail every aspect of the yard, and design the landscaping.

Here is a guide if you want to create the landscaping plan on your own. First and foremost, get a layout diagram from the builder showing your property and its boundaries. Copy it and even enlarge it to a scale that you find useful and readable. It is advisable to make several copies as you will use them for different aspects of your work. With a copy of this in hand, walk around your property and take note of anything that may affect your design. Mark the location of trees, fences, utility lines, water, sidewalks, driveways. Indicate drainage patterns and slope of the land. After preparing the base plan, place tracing paper or tissue paper over the original plan to sketch possible ideas and solutions to your landscape needs and problems. The final goal is to get to know your property as much as possible and get a detailed vision of what you want to make out of it.

The next step is to create a vision in your mind of how you would like your new home landscape to look like. But what you should never forget is your budget. Plan before you make any purchases. Without a plan, you may buy things you don't really need, and that can waste money. Only after you know exactly what you need for this project should you start buying supplies.

Your next task is to decide how you will go about doing your new home landscaping, which quite often depends on your budget as well. You have two options here: to make the whole project at once, or do it piece by piece, in stages. There are many instances when landscaping in stages is the best solution. For some home buyers, their budgets will not support a full scale project all at once so they find staging to be the best choice.

Even though home landscaping can't be broken down to a series of rules, it may be helpful for the homeowner to keep the following design concepts in mind as the design develops:

1. Always choose building materials that fit into the overall look and feel of the landscape, materials that blend well in the natural environment or that may be found there.

2. Repeat materials and colors already used on the home in the landscaping.

3. Group similar plants together.

4. Regarding the trees, choose spots that have adequate sunlight and make sure the trees are protected from pests.