3 Common Landscaping Mistakes

Landscapers say they see homeowners repeatedly making the same mistakes in yard design, whether it’s using the wrong plants or not keeping up with maintenance. Landscapers recently shared with Apartment Therapy some of the most common yard mishaps they see, including:

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Going too big. “Don’t be seduced by showy plants you see on the internet or at the nursery,” says Jenny Jones, senior landscape designer at Terremoto Landscape Architecture. “We see a lot of gardens populated with plants that are inappropriate, either because they are invasive, poisonous, or are simply out of context.” Jones cites feather grass, which can be invasive, or firestick cacti, which grow large and can overtake other plants.

Overpruning. “Pruning is an art,” Jones told Apartment Therapy. Homeowners can remove too much and jeopardize the look of their landscapes. “We cringe when we see natives sheared like boxwood, plants that are cut back so they don’t intermingle, and trees that are rudely trimmed,” Jones says. “Take your time and be thoughtful about it.”

Making it too colorful. Homeowners may want to add color to their yard, but it can be overdone. For example, landscape and interior designer Isabelle Dahlin of Dekor says using warm woods with cool stone is a big error. “People don’t think about how the stone will look,” she says. She suggests trying to keep plants to a color palette of three.