Landscape Planning Guide for the New Year
New year, new landscape vibes. If you’re dreaming about a fresh outdoor makeover, a pollinator paradise, better curb appeal, or that long-overdue privacy hedge, starting with a clear plan is the real secret sauce. This guide packs in landscape planning tips, plant ideas, and action steps to help you map out your year.
From wildlife gardens to annual flowers, shrubs, and fruit tree upgrades, we’ll walk through how to set garden resolutions you’ll actually keep! If you’re brand new to gardening, this beginner’s guide and these tips for new gardeners pair perfectly with your New Year planning.
Planning ahead helps you avoid rushed decisions, plant regrets, and budget surprises. Think of this as your blueprint for designing an outdoor living space that works with Ma Nature instead of against her. Along the way, you’ll discover the joy of mixing Perennials, flowering bushes, full sun annuals, fruit trees, and evergreen garden backbones that keep your yard blooming every season.
Let’s break ground on your best gardening year yet!
- Define Your Garden Goals
- Map Out Your Space
- Choose Plants That Fit Your Goals
- Create a Timeline You Can Actually Stick To
- Set Your Budget
- Create Your Master List and Start Your Wishlist
- Prep Your Landscape Before Planting
- Plant With Purpose
- Track Your Progress and Adjust
- Growing Forward into 2026
Step 1: Define Your Landscape 2026 Garden Goals
Before ordering a single plant or grabbing a shovel, get clear on what matters most. Your outdoor space works best when it’s designed with intention.
Common goals gardeners set include:
- Boosting curb appeal with easy, high-impact shrubs like Butterfly Bushes, Boxwood, or Oakleaf Hydrangea
- Adding privacy with Fast-growing Privacy Bushes, Green Giant Arborvitae, or Small Bushes for tight spaces
- Creating outdoor living zones with low-maintenance Perennials
- Attracting wildlife with nectar-rich plants like Lantana, Salvia, Catmint, and Annuals that attract hummingbirds
- Starting a Foodscape with a Fruit Tree, Dwarf Fruit Tree, or Berry Bushes such as Blueberry Bushes, Raspberry Bushes, or Blackberry Bushes for an edible landscape.
- Designing seasonal interest with flowering annuals and bulbs
Write down your top priorities, then circle your top three. These become your roadmap for the year.
Step 2: Map Out Your Space
Walk your yard and study the light, soil, and airflow. Ma Nature tells you everything you need to know if you slow down long enough to notice it.
Look for:
- Full sun vs shade areas for choosing Sun Annuals or Shade Bushes. For full-sun areas, this guide on understanding full sun can help you make smarter plant choices.
- Drainage patterns to determine drought-tolerant vs moisture-loving plants
- Wind pockets where Tall Bushes or Evergreen Bushes can act as buffers
- Slopes where Ornamental Grasses like Prairie Grasses, Pink Muhly Grass, or Side Oats Grama thrive. If you’re thinking about adding grasses, this overview of ornamental grass types is a great companion resource.
- Room for expanding perennial beds, adding a Peach Tree, Plum Trees, or even an Espalier Fruit Tree along a fence
- Sketch it out. A simple phone photo with notes works great.
Step 3: Choose Plants That Fit Your Goals
Once the bones of your yard make sense, build your plant wish list with options that match your style and maintenance level.
For curb appeal:
- Hydrangea Bushes
- Flowering Bushes like Spirea Bush or Butterfly Bush
- Dwarf Pine Trees for structure
- Climbing Roses like Zephirine Drouhin for vertical charm
For wildlife-friendly gardens:
- Full sun perennials like Salvia, Catmint, Prairie Grasses, and Russian Sage
- Annuals, like Salvia and Lantana, that attract hummingbirds
- Botanicals that feed or shelter birds
- Plant native plants that songbirds and wildlife thrive on
For privacy screens:
- Arborvitae like Green Giant
- Broadleaf Evergreens like Skip Laurel Bushes
- Tall Ornamental Grasses
- Barberry Bush or Rugosa Roses for colorful hedging and thorny deterrents
For foodscaping:
- Fruit trees like Apple, Pear, Peach, Figs, or Chicago Hardy Fig
- Citrus like easy-to-grow, Dwarf Meyer Lemon Trees
- Cane fruit like Blackberry, Raspberry, and Gooseberry
- Superfruits like Blueberry Bushes and Chokeberry
For pollinator support:
- Nectar-rich Perennials like Salvia, Catmint, Coreopsis, and Coneflower are must-haves for pollinator gardens
- Shrubs that feed pollinators, such as Butterfly Bush, Summersweet, and Bluebeard
- Flowering Trees like Crabapple, Redbud, and Serviceberry
- Annuals that support bees and butterflies, including Zinnias, Lantana, and Sunflowers
- Host plants for caterpillars such as Milkweed for Monarchs and Dill or Parsley for Black Swallowtails
- Add water sources, low dishes, or a bee bath to keep pollinators hydrated and returning
If you need help narrowing down which shrubs fit your space, this guide on how to choose shrubs for the landscape is a fantastic starting point.
Make sure your wish-list matches your growing zone and sunlight. This overview of USDA Zones will help ensure every plant is set up for success.
Now, Nature Hills has Shop Pay to streamline your shopping experience and even allow paying in installments. Preordering now and paying as you go eliminates the spring rush!
Step 4: Create a Timeline You Can Actually Stick To
Think of this step like planning a garden marathon, not a sprint. Break your year into seasons:
Late winter: Order plants early, especially Flowering Bushes, Rose Bushes, and Mature Fruit Trees.
- Spring: Prime planting season for Perennials, Ornamentals, and most Fruit Trees.
- Early summer: Add heat-tolerant annual plants like Lantana, Zinnia, and Sunpatiens.
- Late summer to fall: Perfect for shrubs, Tall Grasses, and evergreen structure.
- Fall: Plant bulbs like Tulips for spring magic.
Step 5: Set Your Budget
Landscaping doesn’t have to break the bank, but creating a plan helps. Budget categories include:
- Hardscape or soil amendments
- Plants (Perennials, Annuals, Shrubs, Trees)
- Mulch or compost
- Tools and irrigation
- Fertilizer for fruit trees
- Dormant oil spray for fruit trees
Start with must-haves, then add nice-to-haves when sales pop up.
Step 6: Create Your Master List and Start Your Wishlist
Once your goals, space, and budget are locked in, build your master plant list.
- Front yard
- Backyard
- Shade areas
- Full sun beds
- Foodscape
- Containers or patio decor
- New mailbox planting
- Privacy hedges
Then load your wish-list at NatureHills.com so you're ready when preorder season hits!
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Step 7: Prep Your Landscape Before Planting
A smooth planting season starts with good prep. Do these early:
- Clean up debris
- Edge beds
- Remove failing shrubs
- Add compost to improve soil
- Check irrigation
- Plan arborist mulch depth for Perennials and Shrubs
Decide where to plant Raspberry Bushes, Rose Bushes, and Fig Tree plantings for the best sun.
Step 8: Plant With Purpose
When plants arrive, plant in stages based on size and sun needs.
- Trees (Fruit Trees, Small Fruit Trees, Flowering Trees)
- Shrubs (Evergreen Bushes, Tall Bushes, Shade Bushes)
- Perennials and Ornamental Grasses
- Annuals and accents
If you're planting lots of Perennials this year, this guide on planting perennials is a helpful review before you start digging.
Step 9: Track Your Progress and Adjust
Gardens evolve. Pay attention to what thrives and what struggles. A monthly check-in helps you adjust watering and care.
- Use 3-4 inches of arborist mulch to conserve moisture
- Prune your trees and shrubs based on variety and season. If you need help planning annual tasks, this seasonal pruning guide is a fantastic reference.
- Note when to trim shrubs to avoid cutting off next year’s blooms
- Monitor sunlight changes as trees mature or new structures cast shade
Growing Forward Into 2026
Landscape goals are like resolutions, but more fun because you get to watch them grow. With a little planning, thoughtful plant selections, and a timeline rooted in Ma Nature’s rhythms, you’ll build a landscape that supports your lifestyle for years to come.
Happy Planting!