France Pictures & Design Ideas
Drought Resistant Plants
What with global warming and climate change and maybe full moons, it really seems as if drought is more widespread than it used to be. If you want to tread softly on the earth, you may be interested in using more drought-resistant plants in your landscaping....
Keeping the Kids in Mind
I grew up next door to a vacant lot. On any given weekend, it was a football/kickball/wiffle ball field, home to dawn-to-dusk “capture the flag” marathons, a BMX test track, an obstacle course, hide-and-seek homebase, or the site of our neighborhood Olympics. Maybe vacant lots are just rare these da...
Don't Take Your Countertop for Granite
In many landscapes, the outdoor kitchen is the focal point, the centerpiece, the crowning touch of a painstakingly-designed and highly-anticipated entertainment space. And sometimes, it needs just that little extra something to make it really pop. More and more grilling stations and exterior bars ar...
The Thrill of the Grill
“Ah, spring. When a YardShare member’s fancy turns to thoughts of grilling.” (With sincere apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson.) Nothing stokes a case of spring fever like a column of fragrant smoke wafting over the fence from your neighbor’s BBQ. If this is the year you’re planning up to upgrade your...
All Decked Out
For easily-accessible outdoor entertainment space, it’s hard to beat a deck. As a rule, decks typically feel more like a part of the house than a part of the garden. But if you have a deck, there’s probably no better vantage point from which to view your garden… and there may be no part of your outd...
YardShare to the Rescue: Dullsville in Daytona
Brenda shared a single shot of her South Daytona front yard with a simple (and politely worded) request: “Make Me Pretty, Please.” Okay, Brenda, let’s give it a whirl. First, a look at the yard......
Let It Snow!
Winter eats up a full quarter of the calendar, but too many gardeners give it exactly zero percent consideration when planning their landscapes. It’s a time when the garden just shuts down under a blanket of white, right? I mean, why landscape for the winter when Jack Frost automatically gives you t...
Pond Perfection
There’s nothing quite like a pond in the landscape. Gorgeous focal feature, destination spot, miniature ecosystem of aquatic plants and animals. Lucky for DIYers, it’s also relatively easy to pull off. If you’re pondering a pond for your garden, take a quick peek at how some of your fellow YardShare...
Greenhouse Gardening
For gardeners in many climates, winter is the landscape’s off-season. The trees have dropped their leaves, the perennials have gone dormant, the thick insulating layer of mulch has been put down in the beds, and the lawn mower has been taken to the shop for its annual tune-up. But that doesn’t have ...
Psst! Hey, Man...Got Any Weeds?
They are every landscaper's nemesis, every backyard gardener's mortal enemy. Their very existence, intrusive and even invasive, is one of the main motivators for any outdoor renovation. But no matter what you do, or how much time or money you spend, they always seem to rise from the dead and wreak...
YardShare to the Rescue: Front Yard Frustration
Stacy Carpenter from Raceland, KY has a familiar dilemma. She bought a new home recently and wants to put her own stamp on the front yard landscape, but doesn’t know where to begin. She’s turned to the YardShare community for help, posting a series of photos and asking for suggestions....
Outdoor Kitchens: Rock On!
In our last article on outdoor kitchen construction, we explored the ins and outs of framing a BBQ island. Whether you opt for concrete block or steel studs for your island’s inner framework, the outer skin that you use to cover that skeleton is what makes the difference in your finished landscape. ...
Walk This Way
Creating a landscape to be gazed at from afar is all well and good. Presenting that sensational view from the street or from the house is one of the main goals of just about any yard transformation. But gardens are also meant to be enjoyed on a more personal level. Intricate leaf patterns, unusua...
Landscaping with Trees
Ah, the trees. They bud out to let us know spring is coming, they shade us in the summer, they put on their own little fireworks show in fall, and even when they’re bare, they provide interest and structure in the dead of winter. But not all of us are blessed with tall mature trees in the landscap...
Be a Cottage Garden Renegade
It is easy to be intimidated by all the gardening and landscaping information out there. Books, magazines, websites, and how-to TV shows promise to teach you all the fundamentals of good design in one fell swoop and leave you ready to give your yard a full makeover in the time it takes to turn a pa...
