Start your refresh job not with a shovel or pruning shears, but with a pencil and paper. Eliminate a lot of hard work and discover ways to minimize your effort. Draw your house and yard to scale, then do a thorough analysis of the existing features and structures, soil quality and the plant conditions. The following 12 ideas will start you off:

WISH LIST

Dream a little dream. Gather inspiration from books and magazines, neighbour’s yards and your travels to create your idea of a pleasing vista. Never apologize for your personal flair. Whether you like, oxidized zinc plant containers or pink flamingoes, use them with abandon. Your garden should reflect YOU — whatever makes you go “ooo-oh — ah-h-h-h.”

ASSESS

Think about what you like, as well as what you don’t like. Keep in mind function and esthetics. Perhaps you have big, old shed that simply cannot be moved. Camouflage it with plant material or draw attention away from it with a nearby striking shrub. Maybe give it a new look with a creative paint job or add a structural detail such as a small porch. Make firm decisions about what will go and what will stay, be it plants, structures or features. I believe if you don’t like something, get rid of it. If it can’t be eliminated, built or changed immediately, make allowances for it in your overall plan and work around it until you reach a point in time where you can properly deal with it.

PLAN

Once your yard is drawn to scale, plot in all the structures and features you want to play up or to play down. Renovating without a plan is like building a house without a blueprint; it is critical to your success. Save yourself the time and expense of trial-and-error landscape renovation. What uses will your property afford? Explore views, play up a pleasing one and camouflage anything unsightly. Check sight lines out of windows into your yard. Consider a public front and a private back. If you garden intensively, then you’ll want less lawn. Dine al fresco? Then privacy and easy access to the kitchen are important. Children’s play areas require close proximity to adults and plenty of room. Will you complete your project in stages or all at once? Do you want to block noise or create a backdrop for a special planting? Research your plant material, allowing for seasonal interest and scent. Think also of foliage colour, texture, form and make allowances for mature growth, but utilize the old K.I.S.S. principle.

SOIL

With mature properties, a common complaint is ‘nothing will grow here.’ The best solution is simply to work nutrients and organic matter back into the soil. Whether using well-rotted manure or compost, dig it into a new patch or rake it into the surface of planted beds. I cannot stress enough the importance of continually adding to your soil. Remember, true friends will help you spread manure on a sunny Sunday morning!

PLANTS

Assess the condition of each existing plant and ask yourself how much is required to maintain it, is it growing poorly, does it block windows, doors or pathways? Does it drop messy fruit or berries near sidewalks? Can you live with it or without it? Then, either keep it, prune it, move it or destroy it. Life is far too short to have any plant in your life that is not pleasing you or serving a purpose.

PLANTS AS ORNAMENTS

Lush, Sumptuous Summer and Minimalist Winter. It is wise when planning a landscape to start plant selection with those that have impact in Winter. Add Spring flowering and Autumn colour, then flesh out the picture with Summer foliage. Allow for not only seasonal interest, but a variety of leaf colours, interesting bark and lots of texture and shape. Silver-Variegated Dogwood looks smashing in a shady spot; the white seems to jump out at you. ‘Specimen’ plants such as Pagoda Dogwood, Weeping Spruce or twisty Jack Pine create drama as nothing manmade can. Use variegated foliage in shady spots or burgundy Leaves in the sun. Beautiful Bark selections include Amur Cherry, River Birch, Crabapple & Japanese Tree Lilac. Plant drifts of similar plant material — exquisite. Work with odd numbers — a trio will show off the incredible power of three.

COLOUR

Paint one thing a bright colour: a cobalt blue bench, sunny yellow bird bath or a chartreuse garden gate packs a punch in the landscape. This is a very cool trend in gardening, allowing you to add almost instant visual impact. Light colours enlarge, making something seem further away and smaller (perfect for small spaces) Dark colours minimize, making features or plants look closer and larger (great for large expanses).

RESHAPE BEDS

Enhance an existing planting by ‘pulling out’ the line of the bed and enlarging it or changing the shape. Determine the new outline first by using a rope or hose laid on the ground.

POCKET GARDEN

Making visual use of a side yard or any small, unused spots. Open up the space using three ‘tricks of the eye.’ Diagonal lines for paths lead the eye back and forth, raised areas lead the eye up and vertical features on a wall or fence lead the eye unexpectedly higher. The latter could be a trellis with a vine or maybe an upright, columnar plant or maybe a green wall or green wall panels which tie in with my 10th idea.

VERTICAL GARDENING

Gardening up or down a wall or fence makes the best use of space particularly in small areas. Whether you use plants or vines or simply a trellis as an accent, gardening vertically can define a section, border a nook or offer privacy. Other uses include hiding or camouflaging an unattractive view or wall/ fence as well as offering attractive shade/ sun patterns. You could also garden downward with annual plant boxes overflowing with flowers and trailing plants or have them trained to grow over an arbor gate or pergola.

UNDERNEATH A LARGE TREE

Work with Mother Nature. Position a few large boulders beneath and plant annuals and/or perennials. (Acid-loving perennials beneath conifers.) Or Instead of struggling to grow lawn or plants under a mature tree, use an attractive cover of wood chips or crushed rock mulch. Add some carefully placed plant pots brimming with colourful shady annuals and you’re set. You might even have room for that darling little garden bench.

LAWN RENEWAL

Lumpy, sparse lawns require TLC and regular fertilizing, but first power-rake de-thatch and aerate. Top dress with good topsoil and reseed. Soak with water for about half an hour per week. Keep your mower height at 1 1/2” — longer grass shades soil and roots and helps retain moisture. To remedy a sunken or raised spot slice the sod open and fill or remove the necessary soil. Easy peasy!

-Denise Balcaen (GARDENS Four Seasons)