Landscaping

History
The Greeks and the Romans were among the first who undertook landscape architecture on an extensive scale. Vitruvius wrote on many topics (eg the layout of towns) many of which still concern garden architects today.

As with many other arts, it was not until during the time of the Renaissance that garden design was revived, with some wonderful examples that include such places like the pleasure grounds at the Villa d'Este, Tivoli. This garden of the golden age developed throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, reaching it's ultimate grandeur in the work of André le Nôtre which can be seen at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles.  Even today, these gardens rank among the best in the world.

Around the 18th Century, England became the focus of a new style of landscape design. Designers like William Kent, Humphrey Repton, and most famously Lancelot Brown remodelled many of the great estate parks of the English aristocracy to resemble a neat and tidy ordered version of nature. Many of these parks still remain today.

 A Scotsman by the name of Gilbert Laing Meason is supposedto be first person to coin the phrase 'landscape architecture' in the title of his book called The Landscape Architecture of the Great Painters of Italy (London, 1828). It's theme centered on the type of architecture found in landscape paintings. The term 'landscape architecture' was then later taken up and used by JC Loudon and AJ Downing.

Through out the 19th century, urban planning became more and more important. The combination of modern planning with the tradition of landscape gardening gave Landscape Architecture its unique focus. During the second half of the century, Frederick Law Olmsted completed a series of parks which still continue today to have a huge influence on the practices of Landscape Architecture. Among these were places such as Central Park in New York, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and also Boston's so called Emerald Necklace park system.

Landscape Architecture continues to develop as a design discipline and art, and has responded to many of the movements of art, design and architecture through the 20th century. Today, healthy levels of innovation continue to provide challenging design solutions for streetscapes, parks and gardens. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License from Wikipedia

Today - The Family Home
When people who may be considering buying your home come to to inspect your property, you can be sure one of the first places they will inspect is your backyard. Your garden should be absolutely meticulous. The more creative you get, the better chance you have of selling your home.

Good quality backyard landscaping is a very cost effective project that can be completed by yourself. It is a great way to increase the value of your property with relatively little capital outlay. Whilst it is definitely possible to over capitalise, a little hard work can actually get you a great return on your investment. There really are so many possibilities for backyard landscape design that will increase the value and enjoyability of your own home environment. Before you begin a backyard design project, there are a few factors one should consider so that you make the most of your plan.

Backyard Landscape Design Issues:

• The area you are working in. When starting a project, you need to determine exactly how much land you have to work with.
• Backyard Foliage Concentration. The amount of shrubberys and trees in your backyard will largely determine the kind of landscaping project that you can realistically complete.
• Backyard Surface Level. The topography of your yard is also a very important factor to consider. Unless you have access to a bobcat, the topography will affect your design plans a great deal, especially when digging.