Nothing is more aesthetically pleasing than to see a home from another era surrounded by lawns and gardens of the time.
Many times when a property owner feels that something about the outside of the home just isn't right, it turns out to be the landscape design.
No matter how beautiful, it just doesn't quite fit with the architectural lines and details of the house.
To buy an older house, make any necessary repairs and restorations and then attempt to research and duplicate the period gardens and landscape designs of the time is an enormous task...
one that most of us do not have the time for today.
The fact remains that if you bought a Victorian style house or any other from a time gone by, and find it pleasing, you would also find the the landscape designs of the same era pleasing.
Rather than give up on the idea, try piecing together your new landscape like a puzzle, working piece by piece until ultimately the entire landscape is one beautifully cohesive statement from another time.
Where to begin Just knowing a few facts about the feelings and beliefs of an era will help you to design your landscape with some proximity to your home's time period.
There are many books on the market filled with the history of gardens and landscape design.
One trip to the library can help you make some of your larger landscaping decisions, such as the shape of your lawn and your foundation plantings.
The next step will be to start making decisions about what kind of plantings you will eventually begin to bring into your plan.
When you begin to catch the fever, you can even get your hands on hard-to-find period plants that many nurseries are now specializing in, like heirloom seeds or seeds of change.