Do-It-Yourself Landscape Part #1 Design Goals

When you first decide to tackle that landscape project you may want to gather your thoughts before you grab a shovel.

First thing to consider is what are your design goals?
Some goals may be:

• Curb Appeal
• Re-Sale
• Add Function
  
• Update
• Fix Problems

Remember the old Saying "Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative"
That is the best way to describe adding CURB APPEAL.
Some of the most noticeable and usually needed element are adding or revamping walkways, especially if you have been stuck with the original builders idea of a walkway that is barely wide enough to walk on or lacks function or creativity.

When adding plants or other design elements look at the Architecture and Style of the house. Victorian style house you may choose a more pyramidal style tree such as a Linden or Cleveland Select Pear. For a Modern style house, a more round tree may work better like Ginnala Maple, or Hawthorn.

Another Design Goal may be for Resale. In this case you will want the maximum return for the least investment. Simply replacing overgrown shrubs with smaller versions, getting rid of the out of style junipers, and most of all eliminate all weeds. Irrigation systems are one of the best investments for your landscape, and despite the typical cost of $2000-7000 you will get that money back when you sell.

Keep the plants to a minumum but remember to add color and texture. Not every potential buyer will appreciate a large perennial garden especially if they are looking for low maintenance. Keep the design with simple clean lines that flow, you may want to invest in some select larger specimen plants by the doors or patios.

A third design goal may be to add Function to your landscape. This may be a Courtyard, a Circular Driveway, Patio, BBQ, or any element that will improve your enjoyment of the property.
Typically these are larger ticket items and unlike most landscape improvements will not have as great of return on investment.

Another design goal may be to fix problems. Especially removing those old junipers, replacing a decaying timber wall, or thin out overgrown plants.

The Last design goal may be to Fix Problems. These are the problems that you must address or the issues will cost more in the long run, and could possibly cause other major issues. 90% of the time this will involve drainage issues, keeping water away from the foundation is always need to be a consideration in every landscape project no matter how big or small.

I have seen many "Landscapers" install berms for a decorative feature, but the homeowners soon find that they have disrupted the flow of drainage and now have a water feature where the flow of drainage has been stopped.

Common Landscape Installation Mistakes.

Today I visited one of my clients, the contractor he had selected needed some guidance on the location of a Tree. When I arrived on site I quickly saw many small details that were not up to my specifications or expectations. I completely understand that landscaping has become very expensive for what seems to be a simple process of planting trees, pounding some steel into the ground, running some irrigation lines, and then covering it all up with fabric and rock. A no brainer right.... OOOPS.

The first item that caught my eye was that the grade had not been properly cut around the driveway and sidewalk. The proper way to handle this is to cut the grade down against all hardscape 4" and a minimum of 18" into the landscape. This creates a gentle, natural edging that will hold the mulch (rock or wood) in place. On this job the grade had not been cut down at all. The ramifications of this will be immediately evident as the much will be spilling onto the sidewalk as soon as the mulch is installed and inevitably the addition of edger will soon follow to add an unnecessary, and ugly addition, let alone added expense.

The Next thing I saw was the drip line installed on top of the weed fabric. This is a major headache in the long run. The clients will be continually having adjust the mulch to keep the lines hidden. If this happens in the backyard, with the dog, it is all over. The Dog has the best toy ever.

On to the Hardscape. To preface this, it is important to know that Denver Colorado has the most freeze thaw cycles of any inhabitable place in the world. Most places will freeze for weeks or months at a time. In Denver we can have 2 cycles a day.
Back to the Hardscape. The sitting patio I designed was "Up Graded" not sure if it was a client request or contractors recommendation. Because of the issues mentioned i do not recommend mortared patios especially flagstone. Flagstone is a porous, natural product and will absorb moisture and so may the grout between the stones. It is just a mater of time before nature takes its course and the patio will start losingg grout then stones will lose there bond to the base. The most troubling element of this installation was the thinness of the stone used. I would estimate about 1/4" thick. I would never go less than 1"- 2" is better.

Now on to the planting of the trees. To my Horror I found a tree that the burlap was still in place and the tree was planted 8-10" to higher then the recommended 2-4". If the twine is still in tacked the tree will die within 2 -5 years. Important to note that burlap in other parts of the country will decompose on its own, this would not be a problem. In Colorado it will not decay we do not have the moisture to support the bacteria to aid in the decomposition.

Lastly I noticed the Lawn that had been sodded late last summer. The bumps and humps are very noticeable and could easily interrupt a game of Croquet

All of these items that I noticed were quickly shrugged off by the contractor. In my opinion there is absolutely no excuse for a seasoned landscape company to have such poor craftsmanship. These are all rookie mistakes that after one warranty call they should have learn the lesson. It does not cost any more to to these things correctly, not even in these hard economic times can these contractors rationalize the extra minutes it would have taken to do the job right the first time. I am not sure what the cost difference between my recommend contractors price and the price that was paid. I am sure it will be more expensive let alone frustrating. What happens all to often is the customers do not know what to look for and end up with a high maintenance, non thriving landscape- not to mention that ultimately my name is on it.

Oh ya the tree in question, well it was in the right place after all.

Not the end of the story. After I blogged, I had to notify the client of the condition of his landscape. I have been burned before by giving my two cents without being asked and ending up in the middle of trouble, but in this case the clients know that things were wrong and were glad to receive my email. I ended up walking though the project with the clients and with my copy of the plan in hand and it ended up much worse. The plan had loosely followed.
Basically the contractor did not remove any of the existing planting that were too be remove and just planted around them.
The original tree issue, turns out that because the sod had been laid out in the wrong spot the tree needed to come forward 3' to provide the screening that is was designed for.
IN the end the clients asked what grade i would give the contractor. I replied hesitantly a "C", then we talked about the price and compared to my Designers Cost Estimate that the price was right in line with the contractor's performance.