Your landscaping decisions will also determine how much enjoyment you get from your garden and outdoor living areas, and how much time and effort you need to spend watering and maintaining the garden.

You may need to consider the impact of landscaping, particularly paved areas, on managing stormwater.

What to consider

Good landscaping involves thinking about your site as a whole. Soil type, landforms and waterways, orientation, climate and other local conditions will all affect your landscaping decisions.

Consider your garden as an ecosystem rather than a collection of individual plants. This means selecting the right plant for the conditions and grouping companionable plants together.

It’s also worth considering:

• whether you want to spend time gardening, or would you prefer a low maintenance garden
• the purposes of your garden - entertaining, playing, private sheltered spots for reading, looking attractive from inside the house, growing food, attracting birds, a source of cut flowers
• how your needs might change over time.

Planting for local conditions

If you choose plants that are suitable for local conditions, your garden will be easier to look after and won’t need as much water. Your local or regional councils may have a list of suitable plants for your area. Garden centres can also help.

Soil type

The type of soil you have will determine the kinds of plants that will do well.

If you have little topsoil because the site has been excavated, seek advice from a garden centre and check out what the neighbours are growing. Compost and potting mixes can be used to substitute for topsoil or a heavy clay soil.

Moisture and shade

Some plants thrive in wet, shady conditions while others prefer lots of sun. Consider each part of your site - how sunny or shady it is, and how moist or dry it is - before deciding what to plant.

Planting for food

Collecting food from your own garden to eat fresh is one of life’s great pleasures. Fruit trees and a vegetable garden can also cut your food bills. You will be surprised how much food you can grow, even on a small urban section.

You don’t need to have high quality topsoil to establish a productive vegetable garden. If you are on clay or an excavated location try no-soil methods that use compost or potting mixes.

Your local garden centre can advise you on what fruit trees grow well in your conditions. Surpluses can be preserved, swapped or given away.

Sun and shade

When you’re planning your garden and outdoor areas, it’s worth considering:

• how much sun and how much shade you want - too much shade in winter might make your home cold and damp
• the direction and angle of the sun in summer and winter
• the size of any existing plants and the fully-grown size of any you want to put in
• how far away trees from your home and any outdoor living areas
• whether your plants and trees will block neighbours’ sun.

Shrubs and trees

Shrubs and trees can be used to provide privacy and shade for your home and outdoor living areas. Deciduous trees and shrubs will provide shade in summer but allow the sun through in winter. Evergreens can provide year-round shade.

Paving

Paving laid directly in front of north-facing windows will absorb heat and reflect it into the house, making it hotter in summer. A shiny surface will create glare. You can avoid these problems by shading the paving during summer, or using decking or other materials that don’t store heat to the same extent.

Plants

Plants, often combined with fencing or trellis work, can be used to provide privacy and shelter from wind.

For really windy locations, choose tough plants that are acclimatised to your area and are compatible with each other.  Plant them close together so they filter the wind.

It’s a good idea to avoid planting rows of trees that will eventually be tall and clean-trunked -- the solid trunks speed up the wind through the gaps.

Fences

Slatted and trellis fences, often combined with plants, make better windbreaks than solid fences, because they filter the wind flow and reduce its force. A solid fence directs the full might of the wind upwards and increases its force in the turbulent wind flow on the other side.

Erosion and stormwater control

Plants

Trees and shrubs provide some protection against stormwater erosion, partly by reducing runoff and partly because their root networks hold the soil together.

Paving

Paving reduces the amount of water filtering into the soil and causes flooding, erosion and pollution. If you pave large areas of your property, you may be increasing the  risk of flooding on your and your neighbours’ properties.

Permeable surfaces such as wood chips, stones or pumice can be used as alternatives to paving.

Noise control

Place plants or screens between your home and any sources of neighbourhood noise. This may not mute the noise completely but should lower it to a more tolerable level.

Water use

Use mulch and compost

Mulch such as bark, untreated wood chips or shredded garden waste reduces water evaporation from bare soil by up to 70%. It also suppresses weed growth.

Adding compost to your soil increases water retention.

Group plants together

Group together plants with similar watering requirements, and site them in suitable areas of the garden. This will save you wasting water on plants that don’t need it.

Soil types

Some soil types retain moisture more than others - for example, clay soils retain more moisture than sandy soils.

Keep your garden sheltered

A hot, dry wind can quickly evaporate moisture from the surfaces of leaves. You can limit plants’ exposure to wind by sheltering them.

Consider a rain garden

Rain gardens absorb and use run-off from your roof. Your council may have information about rain gardens.

Pesticides and fertilisers

Pesticides can be washed off plants and soil and enter waterways. You can avoid the use of pesticides by using plants which are naturally resistant to insect pests, or by techniques such as companion planting.

If you do use pesticides, use the least toxic ones. Check at your local garden centre.

Excessive fertiliser use can cause algal blooms and oxygen deficiency in streams, rivers and lakes. Other natural fertilisers such as lime and blood and bone are generally preferable to those made from fossil fuel.  However, some plants may be intolerant to such fertilisers. Compost is generally safe.

More information

From Smarter Homes

• Native Plants and Wildlife
• Managing stormwater
• Collecting and using rainwater
• Orientation
• Exterior design

From ConsumerBuild

• Landscaping

Your regional or local council will have information about plants for local conditions. Consumerbuild’s Council finder web page has contact details for New Zealand local authorities.

From consumer.org.nz

• Home and DIY; for information on gardening.

Note: you may need to be a subscriber to access some of this information.

From other sites

The energywise website has a page on landscaping.

The New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network website has information on which plants are suitable for different New Zealand locations.

The Landcare Research website has databases on plants in New Zealand.

The Department of Conservation website has information about native plants and wildlife.

The Weedbusters website has information about reducing the threat of weeds to New Zealand’s natural environment.