The Basics of Hot Tub Landscaping

A hot tub is one of the most luxurious additions that you can make to your backyard. It is a spot where you can entertain, or just sit and soak your worries away. And while the hot tub itself is a great addition to your yard, without effective landscaping, your hot tub experience is going to be lacking in additional relaxation that can come from soothing sights and even smells. If you plan to have a hot tub installed, or if you already have one in your yard, take some time to consider the landscaping for your hot tub.

Not Just Good Looks

Well-chosen hot tub landscaping adds not only great looks to the area around your tub, but can serve to enhance your privacy as well. The right plants, such as dense bamboo, can provide a natural curtain that blocks neighbors for viewing your relaxation time in the hot tub as well as help you to forget your own surroundings. A lattice fence can allow vines to climb up and give you that privacy, or even as set of dense shrubs can do the trick; all you need to do is find options for your hot tub landscaping and you’ll soon have some extra privacy.

Aromatherapy

There is a huge market nowadays for aromatherapy candles, essential oils for the bath, perfumes and sprays of all sorts in order to help soothe people with scents. However, for your relaxation all you need is your hot tub and proper landscaping to give you some relaxing smells while you’re soaking. For instance, lavender or roses near your hot tub will fill the air with the scents of the blossoms, allowing you to breathe in subtle flowery scents while you’re in your tub.

A word of advice so you don’t commit any hot tub landscaping blunders: avoid thorny flowers and fruit trees near your hot tub. You don’t want to step anywhere a thorn might fall and fruit trees tend to encourage bees and wasps, which you certainly want to avoid. Find a breed of rose without thorns for your hot tub or go with another flower altogether.

Create a Theme

When you’re working on your hot tub landscaping project, try to start with a theme in mind, both to create a final, unified look as well as to narrow down the number of plants you have to choose from. For instance, an Asian theme will call for bamboo and other appropriate plants, while a country theme might have rose trellises and colorful, potted plants. When planning your ultimate hot tub landscaping project, be sure to keep an eye out for not only greenery, but flowers that will add color as well as lush plant life to whatever theme you choose. Above all, look towards your hot tub landscaping project as a way to enhance the fun and relaxation of your hot tub, and you’ll be sure to hit on something spectacular.

Tips for Landscaping a Bamboo Garden

Bamboo has become a popular material for landscaping, with bamboo gardens showing up in yards across the country. Landscaping a bamboo garden adds a sort of exotic feel to your yard, and because of the density and height of the plants themselves, adds privacy to your yard. But it’s easy to approach taking care of the landscaping for your bamboo garden improperly. It is important to know what sort of bamboo to plant as well as how to properly take care of it, or you will have difficulties.

Finding Information

One of the best sources of information on properly landscaping a bamboo garden is the American Bamboo Society. The ABS exists to help promote the planting and care of bamboo, so it has an interest in seeing someone successfully landscaping a bamboo garden. The ABS should be able to give you useful information about caring for your bamboo through one of its members, or by pointing you towards someone local who can help. Because bamboo is a unique plant by American standards, getting information on properly growing it can be a big help.

Choosing a Plant

The best place to find bamboo that will grow in your area is locally, since local bamboo nurseries will have the right species of the plant to make landscaping your bamboo garden a success. If there is no local nursery, try to find a supplier as close to your home as you can, and discuss with them what you’re looking for in a garden. In such a case, be sure to explain your growing conditions, including the range of temperatures you have in the year. Different kinds of bamboo grow in many different conditions, but it doesn’t handle very wintry temperatures well.

Controlling the Bamboo

The great news about landscaping a bamboo garden is that bamboo can grow well and spread without more attention than a little water. Unfortunately, this is also the bad news about adding a bamboo garden to your landscaping. If you are not careful, your bamboo can spread much further than you like, and it can be hard to get rid of. And while that might turn out to be an inconvenience for you, should the plants spread to a neighbor’s yard, they may find themselves upset with you.

Your best bet for controlling the spread of bamboo is a deep root barrier placed around the area in your landscaping for the bamboo garden. Remember, if you get good advice before you plant bamboo, adding a bamboo garden to your landscaping will be a great success.