Landscaping your Custom Built Home in Waunakee or Sun Prairie

Landscaping seems like it is the last thing on the list when custom building your home in Waunakee or Sun Prairie. Don’t make this mistake and leave it to the end to plan it. Your landscaping is very important especially in a place like Waunakee or Sun Prairie. Here, we have long hard winters and long hot summers and short spring and fall. You most likely are not located on a lake or even a hill in both of these locations so your landscaping is very important in your first impression.

There are many different ways to look at the benefits of your landscaping. It can add square footage to your home by including a patio and maybe even a fire pit or water feature next to a garden bench for quiet contemplation. It can help to contain your energy costs by having a windbreak in Waunakee’s cold blustery winters and shade your home in Sun Prairie’s hot windy summers. It can help to protect your home from flooding and erosion or the damages of severe weather exposure. It can be functional by including a vegetable garden and compost area, and it can be pleasing to the eye by adding to the style of your home.

When planning your landscaping, take into consideration whether you can afford a landscape architect. If you can, this is easier and faster because they know the zones that Waunakee and Sun Prairie are for plant hardiness, along with common availability of plants that they specify. It is also great because you get to give them your wish list and budget, and they do the work. You can even ask them to do the plan in stages, so that you start with the basics and add to the landscaping as your finances make it comfortable. If you choose to do it all at once, then it is included in your mortgage which can also be a cash flow benefit.

If you are planning the yard yourself, do make sure that you put the time into this before you are at the implementation stage. You may consider driving around some neighborhoods and taking photos of the yards that you like. Make several tips to different nurseries so that you get a feel for the plants that are available to you. You may even find a plant or tree that ends up defining your yard style. Begin with the lines of structure. Do you have an area that needs to be built up? That is where a Rock or Block wall goes. Will you have a fence around the property? Where do you want the flower beds, vegetable garden, fire pit and lawn to go? Now you have your basic structure. Next come the trees and large plants like shrubbery. Last but not least, you add in the small plants such as flowers that you want.

It’s a lot of work and totally ok to do your landscaping in stages. Find out what your neighborhood parameters are if any. Work with your builder to find a person to just do the lawn, or your entire yard. It’s your plan-do it how you want!