Jeff Halper asked:


Have you cut out and collected pictures of great landscaping ideas, but now wonder how to actually put them onto your own property? Have you wanted to capture the vision of a stately French mansion on your property in Houston, Texas? Would you like to know whether the plants you’ve admired in European and New England countryside estates will grow on the Texas coastal plains?

If so, you need the services of an experienced residential landscape design professional. A competent landscape designer or landscape architect takes you through the entire design development process, which includes: consultation and program development, analysis of the existing site, conceptual landscaping design, construction documentation and permitting. And then on towards turning the vision in your mind from virtual reality to actual reality.

Landscape design and Analysis of the Site

An essential part of the initial consultation with your landscape designer or landscape architect is a walk around your property. Here is where you get to share your overall vision, detail your wants and needs and desires. It should be a free-flowing discussion about aesthetics, which includes your likes and dislikes of materials, preferences on arrangements-all the “wouldn’t it be nice if…” things you’ve been considering.

Try to be as specific as you can. For example, you may want a deck to seat a party of ten people or a large lawn area on which your three- and five-year-old can play with your Labrador retriever. This detailed information will be brought together by your residential landscape designer or landscape architect to create a program of uses. The program organizes uses by their relationship to one another, much like the inside flow of your home. In fact, the architecture and flow of your home should relate to the architecture and flow of your landscaping. Understanding these relationships and interpreting them well separates the artist-architectural designer from a landscape horticulturalist-contractor.

Residential Landscaping Design

The next step in the design process develops out of the meeting notes, site analysis, program of uses, and the design professional’s experience. At this conceptual level, the landscape designer or landscape architect conveys the overall design intent, such as the general use areas and their sizes, swimming pools and other hardscapes, outdoor kitchens and outdoor fountains, lawn areas, and plantings. This phase will also be the time when it is determined which wish list items are possible on the site and which are not. An overall cost study is developed from the conceptual landscaping design as well.
Moving Forward with you Landscape Design:

Once you have agreed on the overall design intent, sizes of use areas, general material selections and their applications, you are ready to begin the landscaping design development and construction phase. The documentation for this phase can be broken down into three groups: 1) landscaping design drawings for permitting. 2) landscaping design drawings to convey final design intent and material selections for you and the installation contractor 3) landscaping design drawings, called construction documents, with specifications for materials, specifications for their installation and installation methods.

These drawings may be accompanied by a full package of additional drawings to include an existing site survey, tree disposition and elevation plan, tree preservation plan, demolition plan, swimming pool plan, landscape drainage systems, irrigation systems, hardscape plan including outdoor kitchen and outdoor water fountains, landscape planting plan, landscape lighting plan, and construction details for the above plans.

As for permits, each city has its own unique requirements for landscape plan approvals. The norm is a submittal of the entire permitting package to be approved or rejected by a committee board. For this reason, it is important to hire a landscaping company that is fluent in these areas, one who knows what vital information to include, such as lot coverage ratios, engineered drainage plans, pool fencing layout and specifications. It is equally important to omit unnecessary information that could create confusion or send up a red flag that would keep the project from getting approved. A knowledgeable residential landscape designer or landscape architect helps win approval as quickly as possible.

Garden Design and the End Results

Whether your project is a simple landscaping design that only encompasses landscape planting or is a complex construction package, it is vital that you hire a landscape designer or landscape architect that is competent in the skill sets detailed here. For your satisfaction, it is also important to distinguish between off-the-shelf landscaping design and a designer who can reflect your unique style. Always ask to see a portfolio and visit the website to determine if the landscaping company under consideration has the sense of style you appreciate and is one who can design a landscape that complements your home and lifestyle.

Additionally, it is highly recommended that you utilize a landscaping design company that not only does the design work, but also performs project management and landscaping installation. There is a world of difference between someone who has great ideas and another person with great ideas who also knows the availability and best use of local materials, local contractors and their methods of construction, overall cost and budget development, and can then maintain the finished product. In short, you want a landscape designer or landscape architect who can deliver a landscape design solution that flourishes in the Houston climate over the long term.



FREEMAN

Karen L asked:


It’ll be one of those ones for landscapers and so on, about 4′x6′. The trailer hitch on my car says ‘max tongue weight 700 lbs”. Any features or construction types I should avoid or look for?

BLAIR

mya222 asked:


I hired a landscaper who pillaged my property. Used a bobcat to knock down 10 beautiful cherry trees when he was supposed to remove the small spindly trees so the cherrys would have more room. He did mass damage to my property.I am holding some of his equipment hostage. (He scratched the vin# off it) He cannot remove it from my property without 2 grand or the police. But if i take this money will the matter be considered settled, by the courts?

RONNIE

Boris C. asked:


Landscaping is one of the most cost-effective tools for improving and sustaining the quality of life, whether in the city, the suburbs, or the country, however it is usually a fairly big task, consuming much time and energy. By itself it implies the physical change of outdoors to serve the needs of people by planting, altering the contours of the ground, and building structures and amenities such as pedestrian ways, paths and picnic areas. This activity is one of the few improvements that adds more value to real estate than it costs to install. People often associate landscaping with garden apartments that boast acres of land and rolling hills decorated with towering trees, bountiful flower gardens and lush courtyards.

If you haven’t heard about natural landscaping, then it is a relatively new term that is also called native gardening. Natural landscaping implies in itself the use of plants, including groundcover, grass, trees and schrubs which are endemic to the geographical area in which the garden is located. It is an opportunity to re-establish diverse native plants, thereby inviting the birds and butterflies back home. Natural landscaping is good for your health and it is an aesthetically exciting, ever-changing tapestry of hardy, primarily native plantings well adapted to the local climate and soil.

Philosophers in the 17th century debated whether visual beauty was a necessary goal of landscaping. A good landscaper understands the elements of nature and construction, and blends them accordingly. Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including but not limited to: living elements, such as flora or fauna or what is commonly referred to as gardening - the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.

Whatever you may call it: beneficial landscaping, environmentally friendly landscaping or sustainable landscaping, is a way of designing and maintaining beautiful yards, gardens, and larger landscapes to:

- Save time and money with lower maintenance

- Reduce harm to the environment

- Have healthier places to work and play

Landscaping is art and science, and requires good observation and design skills. In do-it-yourself landscaping are many variables such as your personal design tastes, the climate of your region, what you want to do with your yard, budget and skills.

If you didn’t think about it, landscaping is one of the most cost-effective ways to customize a home to meet your needs and tastes. If done well, one receives the added benefits of beauty and increased real estate values. Landscaping can increase the value of your home while making your surroundings more attractive and enjoyable.

While landscaping can reduce direct sun from striking and heating up building surfaces it is a natural and beautiful way to keep your home cool in summer and reduce your energy bills. The tough part about landscaping is coming up with unique landscaping ideas and landscaping designs, but looking at the designs of the other houses in your neighbourhood can make it easier for you.



CARLTON

Hank Gordon asked:


There are many different ways you can make use of a landscape stone, they come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors and are also available in different price categories. So for every home owner there is a landscape stone that will fit his needs.

A car size landscape stone

Car size sounds a little bit to big but when you have a large yard and you want to prevent unauthorized access by vehicles, one very large landscape stone can do the trick. You can also use a group of landscaping stones for the same job. You should be aware that it is posible that neighbours can have rights of way and if you place these kind of large stones in tghat spot it is possible that you have a problem so always ask around before you place such a landscape stone.

Uncluttered landscaping

Using one landscape stone as a feature point in your yard gives a uncluttered look and a neat appearance. but you can also make a choice for the use of many landscape stones as stepping stones or as a separation between plants. Stepping stones are a wonderful way to have a natural appearance and it makes it easy to weed and do other maintenance jobs without getting your feet dirty. Landscape stones as a separation of different kind of plants also give a natural uncluttered feel to the yard.

Outline planting areas with landscape stones

To make isolated flower beds from the rest of the yard you can also use landscape stones. You can create beds by using old stones from a wall or new stones that you can buy in any garden store. when you use two layers you can divide an area of the yard and keep it isolated from the grass or the drive way. you need to find landscape stones that will fit your needs be because there is a landscape stone for every purpose in many different shapes and sizes there will be no problem.

Use a complementing or contrasting landscape stone

It depends on your taste, the shape and color of your outdoor living space, the size of your yard and the type of yard you want to have what kind of landscape stone you need to buy. Some people prefer it if their landscape stone stand out as a big feature point with a contrasting color. Other people like it if the landscape stone they have chosen seems to disappear and naturally fits in when it is put in to place. They often choose a color that blends in the yard and complements the house.

In this natural way of landscaping fits also a walkway of landscape stones, you can fit them together like a big puzzle and create a beautiful natural walkway around and through your flower beds. It depends on the kind of landscape stones you choose if the surface will be rough or smooth, rough stones are much less slippery and this can be a better choice in areas where it rains a lot or if the path is near a pond.

As you can see there are many landscaping ideas for the use of a landscape stone or stones.



FELIPE