Tips for Designing a Lawn for a Modern Home

The benefits of having a lawn for your yard are many, including soft spaces for playtime and the prevention of soil erosion. Additionally, lawns carry environmental benefits as well, including trapping dust and smoke to keep the air clean and filtering precipitation before it enters the groundwater. Sod installation is an ideal method to start a new lawn.

If you have a modern house, though, you may wonder if you can reap the benefits of a lawn, even with the ease of having sod installed. Modern design features sleek lines and manufactured materials, which may not seem conducive to lawn design. However, you can utilize sod with other landscaping and hardscaping features for an attractive contemporary yard.

When you think of lawns, you probably envision a rectangle. But a hidden benefit of laying sod is your contractors can cut the edges to any shape you want. So you can have them curve the edge or even create a perfect circle. You can also design repeating patterns of shapes. Because you're having sod installed, you can more easily see how the shapes are going to look in your yard.

Pathways are common backyard staples. They not only provide a convenient method of moving from one point to another, but they can also provide a design focal point. In fact, you can promote the modern aesthetic of your lawn by designing a mod walkway.

A mod walkway should feature clean lines. It can meander through your yard, but the border between the walkway and lawn needs to be crisp. Look for a hardscaping material that creates a stark contrast to your verdant green lawn. Concrete or pea gravel are ideal options that will stand out.

An attractive idea for your mod walkway is to use square concrete pavers. You can have these installed as contemporary stepping stones so that the grass shows between.

Along the same lines, you'll want to create a border for your lawn. Concrete is a good material for this hardscaping, too. You can extend the path to border the lawn or simply create a design feature. For instance, you could have the contractors install concrete planters bordering your lawn. Utilize this border to emphasize the shape of your lawn.

Contemporary landscapes aren't only about clean lines and manufactured materials. Contemporary design also favors utilizing different textures to draw the eye. To that end, you can incorporate ornamental grasses into your landscape plan. Look for grasses, such as New Zealand flax and Egyptian papyrus, that carry strong visual impact.

When planning your landscape with ornamental grasses, you want to show a restrained hand. Such ornamental grasses should provide a design focal point. For example, you could plant them with a fence or wall behind them so their visual impact is intensified. You can also choose grasses in colors that will stand out against your green lawn.

When you first have your sod installed, you'll want to contract to have it maintained at least at first. There's no sense in going to the time and expense of having sod installed just to watch the grass die because you missed a crucial step in cultivation. What's more, you'll want to work with the lawn care experts to formulate a maintenance plan for your grass.

That said, one piece of advice they'll likely give you is to install a drip irrigation system. A stalwart of xeriscaping, drip irrigation is an eco-friendly method of watering plants because it delivers water right where they need it with little moisture loss. The grid system is likely the best method for a lawn because it delivers full irrigation over a large area.

Turn your yard into a contemporary work of art by incorporating sod and other landscaping plants with hardscaping materials. Consult with the lawn care experts at Wright Turf Farms for the right sod type and care your yard's needs.