subject: Garden Privacy Screens - How To Make The Most Of Your Garden [print this page] When you purchase a new house or decide to improve your old one, you are, of course, concerned with every foot of ground that goes with it, for modern living and modern gardening can make each inch of your property usable and desirable. New methods of soil improvement, grading, fencing and terracing make even sloping, hilly lots, hitherto undesirable, now attractive. Modern chemistry has brought new nutrients to the soil and has provided tools against the traditional enemies of the garden: disease and insects.
Architecturally, today's house is much more a component of the outdoors than was yesterday's. Large picture windows, glass walls, glassed-in sun porches and terraces all put together to create the garden a part of the house. Consequently, the view becomes much more important. A beautiful garden, a luxuriant turf and healthy blossoming trees all add as much to the interior of your home as your draperies or wallpaper. The effort and time you spend on your lawns and gardens will repay you in every way, indoors and also out.
Garden books are filled with formal plans for ideal gardens and grounds, but you will want to think about not the ideal garden in itself, but the one plan which will be ideal for your specific family. Analyze your family, its needs and habits; then design your grounds to best satisfy its prejudices, desires and demands.
Generally, most grounds are divided in three ways: the public area, the area that can be seen from the street; the service area, which includes garage and parking facilities, delivery facilities, clothes-drying equipment, outside storage space and garbage disposal; and the private area, located in the rear of the house. Here is your back yard, accessible for games and lounging; a terrace or outdoor dining area; the children's playground and a garden with flowers, fruits, vegetables, walks and, perhaps, pool.
In each division there are things to strive for-and to avoid. In your front, or public spot, for example, plan for a minimum of care. Choose flowers and shrubs which will help you present an appealing face to the passer-by at all times without any undue fussing on your part, so that when you can't manage to give as much time as you would like to your grounds, the front of your home will still be presentable.
Needless to say, landscaping can be a never-ending adventure, a past time that is as gratifying as it is beautifying, for the creation and care of flowers and trees, vines and shrubs, lawns and fences, brings luxury to the home, happiness towards the family, and pleasure to all who behold the beauty of a "well-dressed" house.
