Depending on personal preferences, backyard and garden spaces can serve many different purposes. From growing vegetables to providing a lush oasis in which to relax, careful planning of these spaces is essential to creating usable outdoor areas. Learning more about landscape design and the concept of garden zoning can help homeowners create backyards that better fit their specific needs.
What Are Outdoor Zones?
In reference to garden zoning, backyard zones simply refer to the use of different areas for designated purposes. At a basic level, outdoor zones allow landscapers to divide a backyard into multiple interesting “rooms” in order to maximize overall enjoyment. While careful planning is often required to achieve the desired effect, any size garden can be split into several useful areas.
How to Divide a Backyard
While the concept of splitting a garden may initially seem somewhat daunting, the process is actually quite straightforward. You should make a list of the most important uses for your landscape space. For some people, particular emphasis may be focused on the placement of showy, ornamental flowers. Others may find great joy in the creation of welcoming spaces in which to entertain friends and family. Other popular garden zone ideas include creating outdoor kitchens, meditation gardens, and/or zones which are specifically designed for children to play and learn.
Variety and Flow
After outlining two to three backyard zones, you can begin to plan how each space might look. Most notable among these considerations is deciding how each zone should differ from the others, while ultimately allowing for an overall cohesive flow in the space.
Individual backyard zones can be created through the use of physical structures like decorative fences and hedges, or with the use of flower beds and paving stones. Other inventive ways in which to divide a backyard include using various types of garden lighting, through the use of specific colors, or even decorative theming. Splitting a garden successfully will also require attention to any design elements already present. Large shade trees and other focal plants may be especially useful in defining each backyard section.