Posts: 1,601
Thanks: 3290 in 15 Posts
20 Achievements
In addition to what joandsarah77 and attuned said, try to think about where plants would be located in real life. They tend to group where they find soil, so rather at the borders of the pond or around stones than in the middle of a lake. Group plants, place them asymmetrical and irregular. Where sims walk (or animals graze), plants tend to be lower, where sims don't go, plants can grow higher and much more dense.
What you already said: Use terrain tools to make pond borders (or other areas of a lot) more interesting. Flat terrain is good for building, in reality a terrain is rarely entirely flat. So if you have "natural" areas like light forest or meadows or ponds on a lot let them have small hills. Paint the terrain accordingly. Might be a stony patch, or a fertile spot with softer grass.
Isn't there a cheat in sims 2 which allows you to work on terrain even in the neighbourhood itself, not only on lots?
What you can also do is trying to visually "connect" lots. So, if you have a group of specific trees or shrubs on one corner of a lot, repeat this specific kind of plant at the adjacent side of the next lot. Same with houses - if they were on a huge lot how would you group them? Try to mimic that when building them on separate lots. Same with terrain paint. The weeds might spread to the next lot, or the big muddy spot.
Maybe you'll find pictures of prehistoric dwellings on the internet and can use them as reference. Or pictures of wilderness you like. You could also do some rough sketches on paper before you start. For some people this helps a lot. Like, where would you place groups of plants? Or a path? How is the neighbourhood structured (e.g. deep forest, village, main paths, ...) and in which part are the lots located? Try to landscape your lots accordingly. A hut that is closed to a deep forest might have more trees than one that is next to the meadows.
About using terrain paint: try to find reasons why a certain spot would use a certain terrain paint. Is it muddy there because it's a hollow? Or do sims walk there often so the ground is hardened? Is it a fertile area with flowers and greener grass? Or mossy, because of all those trees around?
In the end, it will take time, no matter what you do or how you do it. Maybe you could do it in "chunks" to prevent that you get bored/impatient? Decorate as you play your world. Or make it a collaboration project with someone who loves landscaping and building?
All in all, what I can see from your pictures, you're on a good path already!