Wondering what to do with your new home on a lot filled with trees and shrubbery? Rather than chop down most or all of those trees in order to landscape, why not consider incorporating them into your new design plans?

Follow these four steps to help successfully landscape a wooded lot.

Assess the Trees

The first step to including existing trees in your landscaping is to determine their health and safety. Work with a professional landscaping service to find out which trees are healthy enough to keep and which will need removed to protect life and property.

Add Walkways and Seating

Once you know which large trees you will be keeping, you can begin to accessorize around them. Using temporary markers like stones or string, lay out one or more wide, meandering walkways inside the wooded area. Once you're sure where you want your hardscaping laid out, fill in the walkways with gravel, wood chips, pavers, bricks or wood slats. Be sure to include path lighting, such as solar or LED staked lights, for safety.

Where should your walkways lead? One good idea is to lead walkers to seating areas placed inside the woody space. These seating areas can vary in size and design, including simple stops like a bench placed in a bend in the trail or at a particularly nice view point. Depending on the size of your lot, you may want to also include one or two fully-decorated lounging areas in which to enjoy your small forest. Taking advantage of all that shade when placing your entertaining areas will save money on materials and make your family more likely to use the spaces.  

Determine Shade Levels

Once the trees and hardscaping – the skeleton of your lot – have been designed, it's time to flesh it out with shrubbery and plants. But before you buy anything, you should figure out what types of plants will work best in various areas of your yard. Since forested lots have a variety of shade and sun, it's best to work with your landscaper or a local nursery to label your sun levels (shade, partial shade, partial sun, etc) before choosing what plants go where.

Plant Below

Finally, you're ready to plant flowers and small bushes. Native plants are a good choice, as these tend to survive well and require less maintenance. Shade-tolerant flowers such as many lillies, wild columbine, bellflowers and hydrangeas will come back year after year. For variety of height and color, add shrubs like hosta and local ferns.

If you have found yourself the owner of a woody lot, you can create a unique and beautiful space by embracing its nature rather than fearing it. Become the envy of your neighbors with your own personal forest.

For more information, contact a company like Cumberland Valley Tree Service & Landscaping.