Entries for March 2010

It is very easy to start off on the wrong foot when planning your landscape project. You stop in at the nursery or garden center and see all those wonderful choices. All the color, texture, and blooms can be intoxicating. You hastily make impulse purchases based on what catches your eye. You bring it home and plant it. Somehow it does not look right. You like the plants all right but what’s wrong? Further down the road many of your plants are struggling for survival and others quickly outgrowing their location. This happens with homeowners as well as with some landscape contractors.

There is a method to invoke to avoid many of these problems. That is the process of planning and design. With home values skyrocketing do you want your home’s curb appeal left to chance? A design, whether done by you or a professional, is important in helping you make important decisions about what you want and of course plant selection.

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Most people will spend time researching a major purchase. If they are buying a major appliance they will often choose a higher priced model that was manufactured by a reputable company over a “bargain” brand. They will pay 30 – 50% more for this item. They do this because they know it will out perform and out last the cheaply made unit. They see the value in it.

So why is it that from my perspective so many people contract the low bidder landscape contractor?

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When I was a kid I always wanted to do what my friends were up to. I would run to my parents and ask if I could also do as my peers. My parents would often say no and I would quickly say but everyone else is doing it! To answer me they would say “if your friends jumped of the Brooklyn Bridge would you”?

This familiar childhood problem can be compared to how most people select the landscape for their homes. They see their neighbors and friends installing a project and they purchase a similar style project at their home.

Our homes already are losing their individuality in these vast developments of modern center hall colonials.

Why would we want our landscapes to be so similar as well? Or if we do have a different style home why should its landscape look alike as well. There is inadequate public appreciation for the value of design and planning in enhancing the quality of life in our communities.

Your landscape should reflect your personality and lifestyle.

Don’t get caught in the “keeping up with the Jones’s” trap. Why not do a web search (or an old fashioned library search) for the history of landscape architecture. Study some of the greats like Frederick Law Olmsted, Beatrix Farrand, Ellen Biddle Shipman, Fletcher Steele and other major influences in garden design. If you read about these people you will come to understand it is not all about a serpentine paver walkway and a collection of varied plants mounded in rock and mulch. They studied spaces, views, textures, shadows, and other nuances that created an experience when you enter their gardens.

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As the weather finally turns to the hot summer time weather a landscape (especially a new one) must be prepared to survive the extreme heat and dry conditions we generally have in July and August here in New Jersey. Many new and even established landscapes develop a host of problems from these conditions and our mismanagement. Water and how we apply and use it will determine our success.

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Traditional Masonry block walls still have a useful place in the landscape. They can be veneered with brick, stone, or plastered to accomplish a variety of colors and textures. Understanding the basics of this type of wall system will help you whether you plan on building your own or hire a professional to install one for you. The following is a basic guide and as always you should refer to your municipality for any permit or engineering issues with your particular project.
 

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