When it comes to landscaping around your timber deck, your own ideas and creativity will determine the majority of the job. In this blog, we look at some deck landscaping ideas. Good landscaping can make your deck feel like a natural environment for outdoor relaxation. Poorly designed landscaping can compromise the size of your space, make maintenance a constant headache and destroy the quality of your outdoor space. While a professional landscaping designer can help you in this area, understanding the dos and don’ts of deck landscaping will give you a great head start!
Plant Flowers with Fragrance
One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of deck landscaping is fragrance. By carefully designing your landscaping, you can enjoy relaxing scents year-round. The positioning of your fragrant flowers is very important.
You should have an idea of what you want to achieve with the fragrances. For example, if you’d like an intense aromatic experience near the outdoor dining table, you may want to position fragrant flowers such as jasmine close by. If you are going for a more subtle experience, you can add distance between the fragrances and your deck The direction of the wind can also play a role in positioning.
Use Pots for Small Trees
Planting small trees in large artistic pots adds a lot of charm to any deck landscaping design, especially if you don’t have much fresh ground to work with. Potted trees can serve as important distractions from bare walls or other objects you don’t want your guests to notice. You can also use them as visual partitions and for added privacy.
Don’t Choose Oversized Plants
The most common mistake in landscaping around a deck is using plants that are too large and crowd out precious square footage. When choosing plants for your deck design, check heights and diameters at maturity. You shouldn’t need to spend hours pruning and clipping to prevent a plant from taking over your space.
**Don’t Use Painful Plants **
Although some plants with thorns, spines and sharp leaves are very beautiful; they don’t work well when located near decks. Succulent plants like the agave can bring a unique look to your outdoor spaces, but many have potentially painful spines on their leaf tips. These can rip clothing, scratch legs and worse in certain scenarios. Be very careful about planting these painful plants. Roses, holly and cactus are the most common troublemakers.
Don’t Pick Enormous Pots
Not only do oversized pots stand out as an eye sore around your deck, but they are also very difficult to manoeuvre when needed. You should always be aware of the combined weight of the soil, pot and plant, not just the weight of the pot itself. Use wheeled platforms when possible. Remember, you may need to move your plants for protection during weather events.
Landscaping around your deck should be a fun process that brings out your creative side. Just be careful to keep all of these factors in mind when making decisions. Follow these dos and don’ts and you’ll be enjoying the beautiful setting around your deck in no time!
If you do not as yet have a deck to landscape we are happy to help you design one that suits your needs.
**DeKing Decks service Brisbane, Redlands, Bayside, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, Gold Coast, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim **
See our average cost to build a deck with or without a patio. Or use our Patio Roofing and Deck Calculator to get a more accurate estimate. For more information on decks contact Deking Decks
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