Pictures of Backyard
Landscape Designs

In lieu of completing a full-fledged backyard landscape design, you can certainly use pictures of backyard landscape designs to help provide you with ideas for your own project.

The picture below, and the following are pictures of backyard landscape designs that I completed around an above ground pool. This is a picture of the pool with elephant ears planted around it. You'll notice that I have soil filled in to the sides of the pool (the south side of the pool sits approximately 12 inches in the ground) so a good foot of that side of the pool is actually "in-ground." I planted the elephant ears in 2007, and left the bulbs in the ground throughout the winter....big mistake! They did not come back! I was being defiant as I thought, even though I was told otherwise, that they might return. Oh well! In colder climates, these bulb plants must be removed before freezing temperatures set in.

They will definitely return next year, and are forming a more uniform mounding hedge which looks nicer around the pool. Hostas are generally one of the shade loving perennials, however I have also seen this plant do well in sun. For those with above-ground pools, it is ok to fill in the soil to the sides of the pool as long as the soil is graded slightly away from the pool. You would not want water to accumulate around the pool, or that could cause future problems.

This is a picture of the firepit that I installed in the backyard in early 2007. Because this backyard has more of a park-type feel to it, I wanted something that was a little more rustic and gave the feeling of camping to add to the backyard fun! I outlined a 4 foot diameter circle, dug the soil down far enough to equal the height of 2 concrete pavers that were laying around the yard, leveled the bottom of the firepit, and placed the pavers in a circle. I poured sand in between the pavers for stability. The whole project took me about 4 hours, and has been quite enjoyable!

If you do this yourself do one of two things:
1. Tamper down the soil on the bottom of the pit before laying the pavers, or
2. don't disturb the bottom layer of the soil by digging into it.
Failing to take either one of these actions could result in the pavers shifting over time.

By the way, I feel compelled to mention that you should check with your local municipality as to the rules and regulations about placing a firepit in your yard. Also be sure to contact Diggers Hotline before you do any digging.

The following pictures of backyard landscape designs focus on how to hide something in your landscape that you don't want to be seen. If you're dealing with any nasty protrusions in your yard, like an old flagpole pipe, or an above ground electrical outlet (which is what I'm covering up here) establishing a small group of landscaping plants, or even a single bush can create a nice landscaping feature, while hiding the protrusion and reminding you to be careful when cutting the lawn. It's not much, but people seem to like this cute little fuzzy bush!

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