Landscaping 101
Good landscapes serve several functions; increase home value, improve quality of life, improve aesthetics and improve functionality of a space. Bad landscapes lower your home value and all that other stuff! One of the top questions we get at The Good Earth is, ‘What plants should I put here?’ Although correct plant choice and placement are key, there are other considerations to keep in mind when landscaping, especially if you are doing a big landscaping project. As you get started on planning your landscape, here are some considerations to keep in mind:
Considerations for a landscape
- How will my family be using the space now, in 10 yrs, in 20 yrs?
- What is the traffic flow of the space…parking, foot traffic, etc?
- What are my goals?
- How much time/money do I want to invest?
- How much maintenance can I handle?
- What is my style? The style of my home?
After answering the above questions (and be realistic!), you are ready to consider the actual design of the space… which again includes more than plant choice and placement! Creating good bed lines, that are in scale with the house and make sense with the rest of the area is key. And so are the rest of these basics:
Design Basics
- Choose the right plant for the space
- Keep the landscape in scale with the home
- Accommodate traffic flow; foot, vehicle, play
- Is the design easy to maintain?
- Improve visual appeal
- Accommodates drainage and irrigation needs
Now, let’s say you have a landscape space that looked great five years ago…and now…not so much. What happened? Is it recoverable or do you need to start over? This is where answering some hard questions comes into play. For example, did you treat for weeds or kinda, sorta ignore them? How about insects? And diseases? Was the plant in the right place and did the soil get amended before planting? How much water was it really getting? We have customers come in all the time that say, ‘well, I just don’t have a green thumb.’ And that simply isn’t true; we ALL have a green thumb! And the first step to cultivating that green thumb is a collection of reliable, local information. Local is key because soils and other environmental factors vary greatly. Rest assured, once the correct plant is properly planted in the right place and then well taken care of, you will see that yes, indeed, your thumb is very green! And then you will have the confidence to tackle the next issue and so on. And yes, you are sensing considerable enthusiasm because this is what Good Earth is all about; your success is our success! Ok, alright, so what does that mean and how do you start cultivating that green thumb? Here are some questions to consider and then address:
Top Reasons a Landscape Declines
- Wrong plant choices; sun, water, size
- Lack of maintenance of plant materials, weeds, structures
- Aging plants
- Lack of attention to soil quality on front end
- Lack of drainage consideration on front end
- Traffic flow changes are not addressed
Maybe you don’t know the answers to these questions; that is where Good Earth can help! Bring in pictures, measurements, samples of plants that aren’t doing well; we are here to help address all of these issues and more. So, in conclusion, if you are about to start a landscape renovation, this is what you need to ask yourself:
Renovating a Landscape
- Acknowledge what is working and what isn’t; be realistic.
- Is it just the plant materials that needs to change… or is it the entire layout?
- Do you have enough visual interest? Pots, plant textures, plant layering.
- Put the plan on paper.
- Take pictures.
- Decide on level of maintenance.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of seasonal and perennial color!
And maybe this should go without saying but we have to bring it up…it’s very important to talk about your landscaping project with your spouse; get on the same page or at least the same book before getting too far in the process. We hope this blog post has helped you feel empowered to make a positive impact on your outdoor space; please come by and see us so we can get started on your outdoor space! And if just want it to look good and are looking for a landscape contractor to make it happen, our team can do that too!