How to Landscape a Side Yard

Enhance the side yard with a flowering cherry tree.

Extend your landscaping to the side yard to add value to the property and create a tended and well-kept space. Include colorful flowers and shrubs around the side yard to accent pathways and patios or any outdoor spaces like pergolas or arbors. Long-lasting plants like perennials are ideal around the side yard to create permanency in the space. Perennials have the ability to grow back year after year, taller and fuller than before, for a constantly evolving display.

Things You'll Need

• Shrubs
• Flowers
• Containers
• Flowering trees
• Mulch
• Creeping plants

Instructions

1. Sketch out a design or blueprint to refer to throughout the project. Observe the amount of sunlight the side yard receives to help choose the appropriate plants for the site.

2. Plant large evergreen shrubs along the property line to add year-round color and serve as a privacy screen on the side of the home. Cluster the evergreen shrubs together to form a row, and make sure they are appropriately spaced out to allow for maximum growth.

3. Grow perennial flowers around the side yard to create a permanent design. Mix together varying flower sizes, shapes and colors.

4. Add annual flowers to create another layer of color to the side yard and help to fill in bare, hard-to-reach spaces.

5. Scatter the side yard with plant-filled containers, especially if space is at a premium. Nestle them along side-yard pathways and directly in flowerbeds for textural contrast.

6. Grow flowering trees like cherry to create a shady escape in the side yard. Place them at the corner of the home's property for a focal point to the landscape.

7. Edge all side-yard pathways and flowerbeds with mulch for a well-maintained, polished look. Scatter 2- to 3-inches of mulch around flowers and shrubs to create a border and help suppress weeds from sprouting up.

8. Plant flowering vines like Carolina jasmine around side-yard fences, trellises or up the side of the home to add color to the space. Add creeping ground covers around trees and especially in side yards that are sloped, where the ground cover aids in preventing soil erosion.

Tips & Warnings

• Create a snaking or S-shaped design with the mulch for an attractive line around flowerbeds and borders.

References

• North Carolina State University Extension: Carolina Jasmine
• "Sunset": Side-yard Makeover