Lakeside Landscaping Ideas

Add color and personality to your lake home's landscaping.

When landscaping a yard at a lake home, work with the natural elements that you are surrounded by. Living lakeside means enjoying what nature has already sculpted and planted on your property. All you have to do is put your outdoor design style imprint on it with small touches to make it reflect your personality.

Go With the Flow

Since you are living by a natural water feature, add more to your outdoor decor. Bird baths bring in color year around with feathered visitors. Fountains come in many shapes and sizes to fit your budget and your outdoor theme. Ponds offer an opportunity to introduce more color through water plants, as well as additional living decorations such as fish, turtles, lizards or frogs. Depending on the size of your yard, pools can be made to look like a part of the natural scenery with stone work and waterfalls.

Naturally Green Ideas

Natural stones, such as limestone, can be used to separate water areas as well as for building decorative fences and retaining walls. Use recycled wood for benches, chairs, tables, outside plant shelving and around flower beds. Stick bamboo candle poles into the ground and use citronella candles to reduce mosquitoes in the sitting areas instead of chemical sprays. Sew plants and flowers that are native to the area.

Ideas to Avoid

Even if an exotic plant or flower looks beautiful, it can cause problems with lakeside landscaping if it spreads and contaminates the lake. If you are not sure about a particular species, contact your local DNR for information on concerns in your area. If you want a hard-surfaced patio to sit on and enjoy the sunsets and sunrises, put it far back from the lake to avoid contaminating it. The same goes for roads and walking paths in your garden or landscape design.

References

• EPA: Landscaping With Native Plants
• Minnesota DNR: Aquatic Plants and Animals