Backyard Landscaping in Allen, TX

Backyard Landscaping for Allen Homes

Allen backyards are usually wider than they are deep, boxed in by board-on-board cedar fences, with a covered patio slab off the family room and a lawn that turns to mud after spring storms. A backyard landscaping plan treats that space like an outdoor room: where people sit, where kids and dogs run, where shade falls at 5 p.m. in July, and how water leaves the yard. The strongest results come from deciding all of that before choosing a single plant or paver.

Common upgrades include extending the patio with pavers or flagstone, adding a pergola or shade sail, planting evergreen privacy screens along the fence line, building a Bermuda or synthetic turf play lawn, and tucking in a fire pit or grill station. Drainage usually comes first. Flat backyards on Blackland clay hold water against fences and slabs, so installers often add swales, French drains or surface inlets that move runoff to the street or a greenbelt edge. Planting beds get the same deep compost and expanded shale treatment as the front, just with more room to layer.

Lots backing to the Cottonwood Creek or Rowlett Creek greenbelts, or to ponds in Watters Crossing and Twin Creeks, often have wrought iron view fences instead of solid wood. Those yards call for screening that frames the view rather than blocking it, plus plants that tolerate wind coming across open space. Many also slope toward the open space, which makes grading and erosion control part of the plan.