Landscaping can add beauty, value and functionality to a home. However, before you actually start buying plants or digging into your yard, it is essential you take a look at your yard and think about what you need to do and what you want to accomplish with your landscaping. Start out by answering the following questions:

1. Are there problems with the yard, house, etc. that need correcting - problems such as drainage, erosion, areas where the sun beats down that need to be shaded, etc.

2. Do you have specific needs and priorities? Are you looking for a place for a flower bed or a vegetable garden or just a patio sitting area for relaxing? Other considerations may be if you have children or pets or if you want to do a lot of outdoor entertaining.

3. Consider the style of your house and the size of your yard. A small house can be overpowered by using big trees, but a large house and yard can be empty without them.

4. What do you have existing in the yard? Do the existing trees provide much needed shade or are they old and in need of pruning or perhaps even need to be removed? Are there specimen plants you want to keep? Or do you have large, overgrown shrubs and perennials that need pruned or even removed?

5. How much light do you have to work with? Certain plants require almost full sun while others thrive in the shade.

6. What is your budget? Can you do your landscaping over several seasons or do you have projects that need to be completed all at once?

7. Are there significant features that need to be emphasized or hidden - things such as rock outcroppings, phone poles, sheds trash receptacles, etc.

Although the task of actually landscaping might seem overwhelming, begin by answering the above points and then start by putting together a site inventory map or sketch of the yard. This will include the house, lot lines, major features, large trees, fences, sheds, etc. Also make note of other neighboring influences - noisy neighbors, dusty roads, and prevailing winds.

Then get ideas. Look around the neighborhood and see what plants do well, and also make note of plants that appear to be suffering. Visit neighboring gardens and garden centers, and look at gardening books at a local bookstore or library.

The next step is to prepare a bubble diagram. The easiest way to do this is to place tracing paper over your site inventory map and casually sketch in various areas - garden areas, patio areas, lawn areas, etc. This helps to make sure that the entire area is unified into one design, rather than just a scattering of plants.

From the bubble diagram the next step is to get the drawing more formalized. Add in the specifics in your bubble areas. For garden or planting beds, draw in circles for plants, for patios, fences, retaining walls, trellis use squares and lines. Make the drawing to scale, the general scales used are 1 to 8 or 1 to 10. By drawing to scale the appropriate number of trees, footage for walls, amount of mulch, etc. can be determined.

Once your drawings are completed begin estimating your costs. Get prices from various nurseries for your supplies and start your work! Remember not to cross your work.

Donna Evans is co-owner of Gizmo Creations LLC,a landscape design and website design company located just north of Brainerd MN. For more information on landscaping, including sample landscape plans and photos, go to http://www.gizmocreations.com.