Gardening in the Shade - Landscaping is About More Than Just the Sun

By Julie-Ann Amos

Bright and beautiful blooms certainly do add appeal to a property. They add curb appeal and they add a sort of serenity, too. Flowers can attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and fat bumble bees as well as create a natural fragrance that is like nothing you can buy in a scented candle or plug-in room deodorizer. Being able to enjoy the garden is a reason a lot of us purchase homes. If you have a shady piece of property, gardening is something that's going to be a bit more of a science, rather than something you can simply do on the fly. Despite living in the shade, you can still have a beautifully manicured lot with flowers of a wide variety.

A lot of new gardeners who have a fair amount of shade on their property have either spent time and money (and energy and frustration) trying to get flowers (that need more sun) to grow in the shade or just don't bother. Some gorgeous shade flowers also wither and die because inexperienced gardening enthusiasts plant them in direct sunlight.

Here are some things you'll want to learn more about so that you can grow gorgeous gardens, despite the lack of sunshine on your property:

Amount of Sun
Varying amounts of sun will make a difference. Some flowers grow in very shady conditions and some grow in moderately shady areas. Some areas of your property may get more sun than others and knowledge about the type of sun you get can help you choose the right plants for various areas.

Soil
The soil conditions make a big impact on what will grow and how hardily. Knowing about your soil conditions can help you prepare the ground accordingly. There are tests that can help you and products that can improve conditions as well.

Plant Type
Once you begin shade gardening you'll see that there are a lot more shade plants to choose from than you might have expected. You might begin the process expecting to have just a few different plants but once you begin your landscaping project, you'll see that there are actually a lot of options.

Gardening is a wonderful hobby that's good for the body, mind, and soul. There's a lot of satisfaction in planning your garden, shopping for your flowers, and after the hard work is done --- watching your property come alive with colour and fragrance. There are a number of resources that can help you maximise your shady spaces.

Check out Julie-Ann's Shade Gardening information hub and get information about how to prep your garden, how to choose the right flowers, and browse through many photos of the dozens of beautiful shade flower choices.

Julie-Ann Amos is a professional writer and owner of Exquisite Writing, a global professional writing agency

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Gardening & Landscaping - A Lucrative Career Option

By Mahima Kini

Do you love taking care of plants? Are you always busy decorating your garden and making it look more exotic? Now you can develop your hobby into a career and set up your own business. The demand for landscape artists and gardening experts is rising constantly.

More and more people are seeking the services of professionals to plan, maintain and decorate their private, public and business gardens. Gardening and Landscaping are fields which offer stable employment and wonderful financial opportunities.

Nature of Work:

• Landscape gardeners work to develop muddy fields into beautiful gardens full of flowers and plants.
• They work for private gardens, public parks, golf courses, greenhouses, and terrace gardens to create exotic flower beds, lawns, and trees.
• They use their knowledge of botany, landscape installation, plant materials, soil science, and pest and disease identification and treatment, to create wonderful landscapes and gardens.
• They prepare the ground for planting, transplant nursery plants, use fertilizers and pesticides and sow seeds.
• Trim and prune hedges, trees, and shrubs.
• Install rock gardens, ponds, decorate, and maintain drainage systems.
• Retain walls, fences, and planters, and advise clients on plant care.
• They often work with tools ranging from small trowels to large lawn mowers, tractors, loaders etc.

Landscape and Gardening are tough jobs involving a lot of creativity and knowledge of plants. There will always be lucrative job potential for individuals with the interest and proper training in landscaping.

Career Opportunities in Gardening & Landscaping:

Landscaping professionals mostly work outside in nurseries or botanical gardens. They can choose to become Horticulturists, Countryside Rangers, Garden Managers, Landscaping Architects and can start their own business too. Landscape gardeners can find employment in:

- Retail gardening centers
- Landscaping and lawn care agencies
- Indoor gardens and botanical centers
- Tree farms
- Cemeteries
- Greenhouses
- Government departments

Skills Required for Gardening/Landscaping

Though there is no particular academic qualification for being a landscape gardener yet a few qualities can prove beneficial. These include:

- Love for nature
- Good understanding of plants
- Artistic flair
- Good eyesight
- Physically strong
- Hard-working

Landscaping Business

To start any business one needs to make arrangements for the basic assets required. For Gardening & Landscaping, acquire the following -

Gardener: A truck or trailer to carry your equipment and debris. A lawn mower, rake, broom and other small hand tools will also be required.

Landscaper: Basically you need hand tools and a truck or trailer. While starting, try getting most of the equipments on rent. Once your business is well-set, you can consider buying your own tools and machinery.

InteriorScaper: A truck or other heavy vehicle is necessary. Apart from that, you might need watering cans and other assorted small hand tools.

Start small and then slowly move forward. This way you will not be investing too much and the profits can provide for buying tools and other expenditure. Use word-of-mouth, flyers or classified ads to sell your services.

Gardens and Parks are gaining popularity. The top five botanic gardens alone generate over three million visitors per annum. The total number of businesses operating in the landscaping sector is predicted to rise by 45% in the coming years. So get ready to turn your hobby into a full-time employment opportunity that will give you guaranteed returns !

Mahima Kini has written a wide variety of Career-based articles and created content for Educational websites. To learn about various Unique, career-oriented Online Courses, visit http://www.careerchoicewizard.com

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Having Your Garden Landscaped is a Long Term Investment That Will Pay and Pay

By David A Robinson

Having your garden landscaped is a long term investment that will definitely pay off. It will add considerable value to your property should you ever consider selling it, and if you don't, you will have years of pleasure living in and around your newly landscaped garden.

Landscaping a garden is not for the faint of heart. This is a job for the experts, so don't skimp and save by trying to do it yourself for it will almost certainly cost you more in the long run. Call in an expert to get your garden landscaped, see your money being wisely spent and have peace of mind throughout it all, knowing that the end result will be as close to perfect as it can be.

This is not a task you will be doing on a regular basis, so it's important that everything is done that needs to be done, and that you want to see done. This is a long term investment, so plan carefully.

The landscape gardener that you hire should be a good listener. He or she should be able to take the time to hear all your hopes, wishes and dreams for how the finished product should look. It may not always be possible to accommodate everything you want, but knowing what you want is important. Then the landscape gardener can do an assessment of the garden and the results of that will more definitely determine what can happen next.

Garden landscaping comes in two basic flavours: hard landscaping and soft landscaping. Hard landscaping is where hands really get dirty. This involves construction or restructuring. It can be the creation of a pond or water feature, or it may be the smoothing out of an awkward ridge or rocky part, or draining and filling in a marshy part. This is where developing and remodelling comes in.

Soft landscaping is less of a hands-on discipline. It involves such things as choosing the kinds and types of plants and flowers to plant in a garden. This can be for their suitability to the area and ground type as well as for their aesthetic appeal. The use of plant and flower colour mixed in pleasing and suitable ways can be described as soft landscaping. Where a large area of lawn is concerned, the types of grass used are also important.

When you plan to have your garden landscaped you should be attempting to enhance and amplify the naturally beautiful and pleasing aspects of the garden. You should also try to conceal and lessen and defects. Straight lines and boundaries should be disguised, hidden or smoothed out to give a better impression of free flowing extent. Everything in the garden should appear to be part of the garden and not incongruous and out of place.

Landscape architecture is essentially an art. Land can be arranged and remodelled to accommodate the spaces and elements within it better. Colour as well as light and dark shade can be applied in pleasing ways that can add a splash of elegance and style to any garden.

David A Robinson
Help and information about garden design in Aberdeen.

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