A More Inviting Backyard

I have only ever owned a new home. It is a blank canvas filled with endless possibilities, which can either overwhelm you or excite you or maybe somewhere in between. I have always loved trees, but with most new homes we saw, the only included landscaping in the front yard. I do not know it is like this, but seems to be a common theme. With summer approaching and with the stay safe stay home initiatives across the country (world) in place, we have all been spending more time than we probably would like (or not) at home. I wanted to share my backyard landscape that we did shortly after we moved in. And yes, it is budget-friendly. Our backyard is huge. I love the idea of a pool with lots of yard to still enjoy. The struggle with a huge yard, is that it is more pricey to update. When I was reaching out to professional landscape designers, I was being quoted everything from 4k, all the way up to 10k. Well the frugal in me, just was not okay. I decided to take matters into my own hands and figure out a way to pack in as much varying tree types and colors as I could, without breaking the bank.

My backyard fence is about 110-120 ft. I wanted to cover about half of the fence and then leave the other blank so that I could save room for a pool and landscaping. We likely we will not be adding a pool as we will be moving at some point in the near future (a story for another day). If your fence is smaller, your pocket book is in for a treat and you can likely cover the whole back fence, which will be beautiful.

So bare!

So bare!

Here is a very basic list of the supplies purchased:

  1. Plants

  2. Weed Barrier

  3. Landscape Edging - Note: I used plastic since I was using the rocks.

  4. Soil

  5. Lots of Mulch

  6. River rocks or any kind of decorative rock - The fancier, the higher the cost. We purchased ours from Living Earth, they sell supplies in bulk. (WARNING: the rocks are insanely heavy and aren’t safe to put in the back of standard vehicle).

  7. Spray paint (for landscape)

Let me preface this project by saying that I started it, but could not finish it as I had just given birth to my son and had some complications. I ended up having to enlist help from our yard man to help me execute my vision. This project measures about 62-65 ft long. I did not list out supplies by quantity as they will vary based on project size.

I started by purchasing the plants. I wanted mostly flowering plants as they make me happy. I also wanted varying heights. I have several crepe myrtles, texas sage trees (they have beautiful purple flowers), tiny boxwoods, and various other shrubs (basically this means that I cannot recall the name of them all, haha). If you see a specific plant in the photos that you like, let me know, and I will hunt down the name. My crown jewel back there is the weeping hibiscus tree, so beautiful! I got most of my plants from the Enchanted Forest. If you are local to Houston area, check them out, it’s a magical place and great for yard inspo. We purchased 25 plants total for install.

Steps to installation:

  1. Place the plants to ensure spacing is correct

  2. Using spray paint, we drew an outline so we had an idea of what grass to dig up.

  3. Dig up the grass.

  4. Add the landscape fabric

  5. Add the soil

  6. Remove the plants from the containers and placed them in position

  7. Place the landscape edger

  8. Add mulch on top of the soil

  9. Lay the rocks down (def recommend a wheel barrel if you do not have one)

This took us almost a whole day to complete. We actually broke it up into 2 days. Remember to water the plants frequently! Newly planted plants get stressed out. Another optional step we took is adding root stimulator. Most of the plants survived, about 2 of them have been replaces for rose bushes.

I planted a few other trees in my backyard as well. A pink magnolia, peach tree, mexican sycamore tree, an oak, and two shrubs, just because you can never have too much greenery. Everything in my backyard, well apart from the patio plants, are fairly low maintenance, only requiring a few waterings. I find it important investing into the backyard space, not only for you, but it also appears to have a positive outcome when it comes down to re-selling.

I love the space even more with the addition of all the plants. There is so much more I would love to do in the back, but not sure I will get to it all. I would not turning my whole backyard into a secret garden.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out or drop a comment below. XoXo!