Abstract: With the rapid development of the national economy and the improvement of people’s living standard, recreational activities have become indispensable to people's living needs. As a recreational activity, outdoor gardening can not only beautify the environment, but also edify the mind, and gradually become popular with the public. Based on the present status of more and more spontaneous outdoor gardening activities in residential areas, relevant theories are studied. And 20 residential areas in Beijing, built in different years, are surveyed to investigate spontaneous outdoor gardening practices and to collect data. Finally, 20 overall layouts of activity on outdoor gardening and 306 plans of detail planting are made. And the list of plants is sorted out, including 78 species normally used in bounded area, and 21 species in unbounded area. According to the results of the survey, comparative analysis is made to summarize the features of distribution, site enclosing, and plant species favored by residents.The results of the study provide a reference for the greening construction of the residential area in the viewpoint of landscape construction.