Landscaping glossary
Homeowners mix these terms up all the time. Here are the plain-English definitions.
- Lawn care
- Ongoing maintenance of an existing lawn — mowing, fertilizing, aeration, weed control, seeding.
- Landscaping
- Adding or changing living things in the yard — planting beds, trees, shrubs, borders, yard-wide design.
- Hardscaping
- Anything non-living and permanent — patios, walkways, walls, fire pits, stone, brick, concrete.
- Grading
- Shaping the dirt so water flows away from your house. Fixes wet basements and boggy yards.
- Aeration
- Pulling small plugs of soil out of the lawn to relieve compaction and let air, water, and nutrients reach roots.
- Mulch
- Organic layer (usually shredded hardwood) around plants. Retains moisture, moderates soil temp, suppresses weeds.
- USDA Hardiness Zone
- Cold-hardiness rating that tells you if a plant will survive a typical winter. Crystal Lake is Zone 6a (–10°F to –5°F average annual extreme low) under the 2023 USDA map; pre-2023 references called it Zone 5a.
- French drain
- Perforated pipe in a gravel trench that collects and redirects groundwater. Fixes chronic wet spots.