These were just a few of the many varieties of Cherry trees. Next I'll talk about flowering Crab trees.

This is a snow fountain cherry which is another weeping cherry that can be used in the same way.

This is one of my favorite cherry trees, its a weeping cherry. They work well off the corner of a house  as a center piece with a sweeping bed and surrounding shrubs or alone in a tree ring in the yard.

     I would like to talk about flowering trees. This is a Yoshino Cherry tree. They are bred not to bear fruit as are most ornamental flowering fruit trees. They are so beautiful in the spring when they flower and the use of them are a wonderful addition to your landscape.

Here is another ground cover Juniper called Bar Harbor which is green as opposed to the blue color Blue Chip variety and is planted and spreads the same way.

Note: Pachysandra and Vinca have to be planted like flowers so it is time consuming where as the potted spreading ground cover Juniper varieties are less time consuming. They are all evergreen.

This is another ground cover called Blue Chip juniper. It comes in pots and you plant them 1 or 2 feet apart and they spread and fill in like this.

Here they used pachysandra ground cover instead of mulch or stone which grows in shade or sun.

You can eliminate most of your mulch use by using ground cover plantings like the green vinca used here.

    This is a nice way to use red tipple stone rather than mulch. It makes a nice contrast to the light colored stone wall. You want to put landscape fabric under the stone to prevent weeds and to allow water to penetrate for your plants.

This is an example of the use of colored mulch. Some people like to add color in this way rather than the brown mulch.

When you have any type of pavement bordering your bed, you want to dig an edge about 2 inches down and have the soil and mulch curve down to the edge of the pavement.

When you want to make a bed you can use marker paint to mark the shape of the bed. After you remove the grass you put in topsoil mixed with peat moss. You want to use a flat "D' handle square sharp spade shovel to make a clean straight flowing edge around 3 inches or so deep. You want the soil and mulch to curve down to the bottom of the edge so you can see the 3 inches of edge. This will give a defined edge and you want to turn your weed whacker upward so that you can shave the 3 inch edge for a clean sharp manicured look. 

This bed really beautifies what would have been a plain grass hill. They should have left out the front row of shrubs to allow room to plant some bright colorful annual flowers.

t    This is a good example of how you can enrich the look of a hardscape wall with a slightly raised flower bed which has topsoil just deep enough to plant annual flowers in.

    I want to talk about beds. Cutting out beds on a plain grass property can really make a big improvement. You want to have raised beds for several reasons. One is that you can add good topsoil and mix in peat moss for your plantings to flourish in. Two is that it creates good drainage. Three is that you won't run into rocks or roots when you plant. Four is that it helps show all of your plantings at different levels. Five is that it is so easy to plant annual flowers in even with your hands !

I have been trying to give people good ideas by showing different residential landscapes and giving my opinions, tips, and instructions, I hope I am helping people with their home landscapes.

This is how beautiful you can make your backyard with an eclectic mixture of varieties that make it look like a wonderland of color !

This is another beautiful way to incorporate perennials into your yard. If you have a fence you can make a bed along it and have some beautiful color all season ! These climbing roses really top it off if you have a fence it can entwine with.

This is another way to have a nice perennial garden with a nice hardscape built pond and small waterfall. This can be done yourself but it has a lot of heavy lifting involved and some electrical work. I suggest if you want something as nice as this pond & waterfall scene you should find a good landscape contractor. I have designed and installed similar perennial garden ponds and I found it very rewarding and enjoyable to do.