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Northern Virginia Landscaping Mistakes To Avoid

Great landscaping can improve the looks of any Northern Virginia home, but be sure to avoid the most common mistakes do-it-yourselfers sometimes make.

• Planting without a plan. To reduce costs and ensure an integrated look, develop a complete plan first, even if you can only accomplish some parts now and finish others later. (Second Nature will come to your home and design a plan according to your goals.)
• Selecting the wrong plants. Make sure you purchase plants that will thrive where you intend to put them-consider sunlight, soil, water and climate. Unless you really need quick results, avoid fast-growing plants-they tend to have a short life span. Also, consider how much care and pruning your selections will need.
• Planting too close together. Leave enough space so plantings will look good after they've fully matured.
• Using too many different plants and colors. The one-of-everything approach often results in a helter-skelter look. Discipline yourself to select just a few species and colors, then mass like plants together.
• Ignoring the neighborhood. You want your yard to be unique and stand out, but don't go too far beyond what others in your neighborhood are doing (that is, covering the entire front yard with wildflowers versus a lawn, for example.)