Most people enjoy having a nice landscape. But most people do not enjoy having a landscape that takes a lot of time or energy to care for. If you want to keep loving your landscape, then it is a good idea to design it in a way that is less time and energy-demanding from day one. Here are some landscape design tips that will save you time and headaches later on.

Choose native plants.

If you only follow one tip on this list, make it this one. Choose plants that are native to the area where you live, rather than planting exotic plants. Plants that are not native to the area will always need lots of help in order to stay alive and well. For example, a certain plant may prefer wetter soil than your region has, which means you'll have to water it all of the time. If you choose plants that are native to your area, then they won't need as much watering, trimming, fertilizing, and so forth. For a whole garden, having to do more maintenance for each plant really adds up quickly.

Make your garden beds shallow.

Avoid creating really deep, wide garden beds. Working on them is just tough. You either have to step in the garden bed or have to stretch over the bed to reach the plants in the back. It's also hard to choose plants for the back of the beds since they have to both be tall and tolerate shade. If you instead create narrow, skinnier garden beds, then you will be able to reach the whole bed carefully. This makes it a lot easier to plant plants, water plants, mulch, and so forth.

Mulch with stone or rock.

When it comes time to choose mulch for your landscape, go with rock or stone instead of wood or pine needles. Rock will cost more, but it makes for lower-maintenance garden beds. It's heavy enough to stay in place, so you won't have to push it back into your beds after a storm. It also won't break down, so you won't have to replace or top it off every year as you do wood mulch.

With the tips above, you can create a more time-efficient, low-maintenance landscape. Talk to your landscape designer for additional tips and ideas. They can guide you towards other approaches that make it easier to maintain your plants and other elements. 

For more info, contact a local company like Ray's Landscape Company.