VisionScape Featured Articles

Landscape Design: Investing in Health, Wealth, and Happiness

john — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:10:21 -0700

By Ivy Pressman, VisionScape

Did you know that your backyard could tell a story? That it could set a mood or immerse you in a feeling? Did you know that your property could become a functional living environment, where you play and work, relax and celebrate?

In an age where our sedentary lifestyles are creating major quality of life problems, it’s important to use the space that you have to really live life to the fullest. Having an outdoor environment that you use like any other part of your home is good for your health, good for your spirit, and it allows you to make the most of the space you own.

It’s for Everyone

Making the most of this space can require careful planning, and probably a substantial investment. But enjoying a well-designed outdoor living space is by no means the exclusive providence of the extraordinarily well-to-do. There are several significant reasons why more and more people are investing in well-designed landscapes:

Thanks to our culture’s love of design and customization, a ton of resources are emerging geared towards helping us find inexpensive design solutions.
Many homeowners with families recognize the importance of having a healthy, safe living environment for themselves and their children.
Investing in landscaping is one of the best ways to increase the value of your property. A well-designed landscape pays off hugely when selling your home.

But why is design so important? You put in a few juniper bushes and a bird bath and you’re done, right?

Wrong!

The Value of Planning Ahead

A haphazard approach too often results in homeowners throwing away their investment on a poorly conceived design plan, or beginning construction with no plan at all. We would never spend money and time on building a house without knowing anything about it, because if we did, we’d have a lot of leaky roofs and drafty bedrooms.

It’s for this same reason that homeowners should never go about overhauling their landscape without having a design plan. Many environmental features that we cannot anticipate come into play to determine the practicality of a project. For example:

Are soil or erosion problems going to make certain plants impossible to grow, or wash away the foundations of hardscape features?
Will slopes or weather conditions affect the placing of a water feature?
How will sun and shade patterns affect everything from plants to entertainment areas? (Hint: enormously!)
What design will best enhance your relationship to neighboring properties? High fences and running water to block out noise? Or a row of shared rose bushes and a granite path to connect friends?

Some of these are easy to figure out on your own, others are invisible to the untrained eye and also, at times, to the soaring imagination. But the key to creating an outdoor living space that’s functional, aesthetically appealing, and sustainable is to work with what you have and make the most of it.

Living Creatively Outdoors

Once you have determined what your landscape needs, you can begin to design exactly what you want. Regardless of the geographic area you live in, or what kind of space you have to work with, you should be able to create a design that makes outdoor living a fun, year-round part of your lifestyle.

Many landscape designers and crafty DIYers like to begin by thinking about functionality. What exactly are you going to use your outdoor environment for? Will you want play areas for kids? Open space by the tool shed for big projects? Or maybe relaxing glades to doze in while a waterfall murmurs in the background?

Often homeowners want it all, which is why it’s becoming popular to divide landscape into living areas. Maybe you start with an outdoor kitchen by the porch where you can grill and entertain. Beyond the stonework fireplace, you watch as the kids have a blast in the pool rec area. To the right along the west side of the house is your space, where you can relax in the dappled sun under a pergola dripping with grape vines.

Today, featureless green lawns are something you only see in reruns of old TV shows. Landscape design makes the most of large spaces by developing them into “rooms” that actually get used. Small properties can, in fact, be made to look and feel bigger thanks to this design technique.

Defining Your Style

On the other hand, you may want to begin your landscape design by considering aesthetic appeal. Design elements such as color and form play a major role in defining what the overall look of your outdoor environment will be. This can have a major effect on the value of your property.

Color can be used to define spaces in a property and create lines of sight, patterns, and even feelings. A front yard of cool greens and blues can give a stylish but relaxing face to your home, while a backyard of sunny oranges and yellows will bring warmth and cheer to your space on even the gloomiest day.

Alternately, color can be used to unify the different areas of your environment into a cohesive whole. This can also be done with form and texture, creating subtle effects that emphasize a personal style or mood that you would like to convey throughout your property. For example, using a variety of wild grasses would evoke a rustic, laid-back mood, while a series of zen garden elements would convey a hip, minimalist style.

It’s also important to remember that you donâ€™t just want your yard to look beautiful at the height of summer. Any property can look stunning year round as long as the right design principles are in play. If your yard is covered in snow all winter, then turn it into a wonderland of bright berries, green firs, and maybe even a skating rink flanked by a rustic red brick fire pit.

Once you begin to research and uncover the strengths of your property and your climate, it’s easy to find ways to draw the best of each season out of your landscape. Your design should include layers that reveal themselves as the planet revolves around the sun.

Getting Professional Help

Flowing with the changing seasons isn’t the only way in which landscape design is a many layered thing. When deciding what to do with your property, it is helpful to consider the elements of hardscape, softscape, water features, lighting, irrigation, and even sound as unique layers that require individual attention.

Sounds complicated, huh?

Many homeowners choose to get help from professionals like landscape designers and gardening experts as they work to create the perfect design for their property. Taking time to make a plan with the help of experts can save you thousands of dollars, and ensure that you get exactly what you want out of your investment.

Too often, homeowners make the mistake of leaving their landscape design in the hands of contractors. Problems of miscommunication and misunderstandings can lead to you paying thousands of dollars to fix mistakes (like a raised flowerbed where a sunken path should be!).

If you have a well-laid out design plan to show contractors before they start to work, or even bid on your project, you can make sure that you will get exactly what you want. A detailed plan can also allow you to complete your project over time in cost-effective phases.

The end result of this careful process is an outdoor environment that not only meets all your needs, but tells a story about who you are. Visitors to your property will immediately be greeted by a powerful sense of style and tone. And the story told by your carefully designed property will speak of the health, wealth, and happiness of you and your loved ones. A landscape overhaul can change your life in the best possible ways.

Just remember that taking the time to plan carefully starts with a design.

Fertile Ground

john — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:51:03 -0700

By Chris Taylor Published by SmartMoney Magazine: March 3, 2003

YOU'VE DONE EVERYTHING humanly possible to boost the value of your home: put a trendy island in the kitchen, laid fresh carpeting to replace that dusty '70s shag, constructed a spa-quality bathroom bigger than most studio apartments. And now you're scratching your head, wondering how to jack up your resale price even more.

Look outside, silly.

After all, when well-heeled buyers pull up to your home, it's not the luxury faucets or the gorgeous granite counter they see first. It's the landscaping. And if your lawn is patchy, your trees are on their deathbed and your plants are a poor excuse for flora, it isn't going to matter what kind of magic you've worked indoors. Those buyers may keep on driving. "When people ask me how they can get strong interest in their property, I always tell them to fix up their landscaping,' says Walt McDonald, president-elect of the National Association of Realtors. "If a homeowner is reluctant to do it, I tell them they won't get top dollar."

That's the payoff. You will not only attract more buyers and get a quicker sale but also probably get a welcome boost in your sale price. "If you spend 5% of the value of your home on landscaping, and do it wisely, you might get 150% or more of your money back," says Massachusetts Realtor Gill Woods. And sometimes that number can go even higher. If your home's landscaping is on the low end for the area and you're putting it on par with your neighbors, you could be looking at a 15% rise.

Just ask Chuck Mitton of Cherry Hills Village, Colo. He and wife Jean went to town on the nondescript backyard of their ranch home a few years ago. A tangled mass of overgrown plants became a three-level wonderland, complete with ponds, waterfalls, dwarf conifer trees and fresh flowerbeds with roses and azaleas. Oh, and don't forget the new "hardscapes," such as a winding brick walkway, a backyard hot tub, and a barbecue pit and dining area, where the couple eat "almost every day" during warm weather. "If you're going to do some landscaping, I'd say do quite a bit," suggests the semiretired bookkeeper and investor, who spent $60,000 on his additions. "Then you can enjoy it yourself — and the value of your home will go up too."

The proof: When Mitton refinanced in 2001, the originally $250,000 home was reappraised at $750,000 — roughly $150,000 to $200,000 of which he attributes to the landscaping. "Landscapes take time to mature," says the 59-year-old, "but I'd say people might be able to make 200% of whatever they put in."

Plus, it can be fun. Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in America: In 2001 homeowners spent $37.7 billion taking care of their yards, up from $22.5 billion five years earlier, according to the National Gardening Association. While the increase has been fueled by a maturing boomer population and a spike in homebuying, people are also clueing in to the fact that it can add dollars to their home's value. And academic studies are proving it. A study by Clemson University and the University of Michigan found that consumers value a landscaped home up to 11.3% higher than its base price. And one Quebec survey found that hedges raised property values by 3.6%, a landscaped curb by 4.4% and a landscaped patio by a staggering 12.4%.

In fact, you're going to have to do what you can to make your property stand out, now that the housing market is cooling. Most real estate watchers, such as home-price research firm Fiserv CSW, are predicting slower price increases in the coming years; other market bears are warning of a steep drop-off. "Six months ago anything on the market had people clamoring," says Woods. "In a cooling market, it's going to be more difficult to get a buyer into a piece of property. The key thing now is 'curb appeal.'"

Such appeal isn't just about your lawn, trees, shrubs and flowering plants, though — these days you'll want to consider popular hardscapes such as gorgeous walkways, sweeping arches, full kitchen areas and barbecue pits, elongated patios and decks, elaborate backyard retreats and gazebos, and more. The stakes have been raised.

To put it into perspective: For a $500,000 home, on which you spend $25,000 to spruce it up, even a modest gain of 7.5% would put $12,500 of straight profit in your pocket. Though the result — a perfect yard â€” may look beautifully simple, a thousand factors contribute to it, from dealing with contractors and knowing what to plant to hiring landscape architects and designers, and making sure your costs don't spiral out of control. To sort out the complexities, we've broken down the four big trends du jour: curb appeal, the year-round yard, the sanctuary and bringing the indoors outdoors. And we've got insider tips for every stage of the process.

Project 1: Curb Appeal

FIRST IMPRESSIONS, AS anyone in the dating game will tell you, are key. So before you start designing that luxurious backyard koi pond, get the front of your house in order: mowing, weeding, trimming shrubs, putting in fresh sod if you need to. "If you have a budget, it's important to focus your landscaping around key areas," says Kevin Selger, a landscape architect at Philadelphia firm Kling. "Something that's going to be viewed a lot — like the front of the house."

When the no-brainers are done, you can start getting serious. The hot trend at the moment: beautiful pathways, made of brick or concrete pavers, winding from the street to the front door. "You have to eliminate the 'garage walk,'" says Linda Engstrom, president of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, referring to the typical 3-foot-wide path that routes visitors from the garage to the front door. Contractor Bob Novelli of Selbyville, Del., tackled the project on his own home, ripping up asphalt and concrete and replacing it all with 1,800 square feet of interlocking concrete pavers. After adding lighted retaining walls and a screened back porch — at a total cost of around $25,000 he had his home reappraised at $325,000 this past October, up from $225,000 in October 2001. "This project had a lot to do with it," he says.

Make the path slightly staggered or curved to give it some character. Place a wooden "pergola," or archway, over the path to define an entranceway; one can be purchased at a home-improvement store for a few hundred dollars. Flank the path with Mediterranean-style pots featuring flowering container plants.

Next, add some light. Low-wattage ground lighting to sandwich the path is fairly easy to install and will boost the effect immeasurably in the evening hours (do-it-yourself kits are available from around $100). For showstopper trees, add one higher-wattage lamp beneath. "It gives the whole front yard a soft glow," says Maureen Gilmer, host of the Do It Yourself network's Weekend Gardening and a nationally syndicated columnist based in Palm Springs, Calif.

Redoing the front of your home can have spectacular effects. Anneke Moore of Portland, Ore., tackled the project to get her place ready for sale in 2004, when she and her husband, Dan, plan to retire to Arizona. "I wanted the landscaping to be an asset to the house," says Moore, a manager at a local high-tech firm. "And I wanted it to have enough time to grow into something special."

With guidance from Linda Engstrom, Moore installed a pathway of concrete pavers, wooden pergolas to frame it as the main entranceway and a boundary hedge to give the home some privacy from their busy street. With those changes to the front, along with a similar overhaul of the back — which totaled around $25,000. "I should be able to clear $250,000," predicts Moore, judging from other recent home sales in the neighborhood. Her original buying price for the home 25 years ago: $70,000. "I was surprised at how much hardscapes became part of the plan," she says. "It was a lot more than somebody just suggesting plants to throw into the ground."

Remember, low-maintenance plant material is best. Buyers want the yard to look great, but they don't want it to be labor-intensive. "I call it meat-and-potatoes landscaping," says Gilmer. Otherwise, "you may turn off buyers — particularly downsizers." Also keep in mind that these trees and shrubs are going to grow by leaps and bounds, so you want to give them the space to do it. "The biggest single mistake people make is overplanting," says Selger â€” say, crowding two majestic oaks within 10 feet of each other. "Plants grow. If you want instant impact, be prepared to have maintenance problems in a few years."

Project 2: The Year-Round Yard

THE NOVICE GARDENER might plant once a year, enjoy a single blooming and not think about winter much at all. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But now it's time to take it up a notch. By smart planting and giving color to the yard year-round, you've instantly set your home apart from most others in the neighborhood, which will likely be leafless and drab in the winter months. At her home, for instance, Anneke Moore has nandina "firepower" shrubs in the front yard, with their brilliant red leaves, along with mock orange trees for some fragrance. "Getting color in winter is not easily done here in the West, so people go to evergreens all the time," Moore says. "But now, in the winter, my yard is full of color."

Other ideas for year-round color, which are good for most areas of the country: flowering shrubs such as viburnums with their colored berries, or trees with colored bark such as coral bark Japanese maples. Ornamental grasses, including fountain grass and maiden grass, are hardy through different seasons — as well as ultra-trendy and easy to maintain. And always remember to match the plants to the home. Pansies and petunias may be perfect for a cottage-style house, but not for one that's sleek and contemporary.

Whatever you plant, insiders say the soil is just as important as what's going in it — maybe more so. "We have an adage around here: Plant a $50 plant in a $100 hole," says Selger. One tip is to contact your local agricultural agency (often on the county level), which can either test your soil or refer you to a local lab. In a couple of weeks, you should have an analysis of your soil, along with tips on how to improve it. A few common problems: Your soil is either too acidic (which requires lime) or too alkaline (which requires sulfur), or there's not enough organic matter, which means it's time for mulching or composting.

Likely your most valuable asset, though, is your trees. They're also the perfect investment. "You buy a tree for $20 when you first put it in, and immediately it starts to rise in value," says Mayita Dinos, host of the Do It Yourself network's Weekend Landscaping and a garden designer in Los Angeles. "It's one of the few things that appreciates over time; almost everything else depreciates the minute you install it."

When deciding which tree to plant, look around your neighborhood to see which tree the municipality plants in public areas. It's always very carefully picked, in terms of hardiness in local weather conditions, susceptibility to disease and structure that's not prone to falling branches. Depending on your region, you might opt for oak, maple or gingko biloba (which all do well in colder climes), crepe myrtle (flourishing from the D.C. area south to Florida), or magnolias and liquid ambars (best in areas with milder winters), to name a few.

The payoff: You might get a buyer like Jane Billish of Naperville, Ill., who owns a scaffolding business. Billish and her husband, Scott, bought a property with a modest home three years ago, attracted almost solely by the three-fourths-acre wooded lot. "We'd all but given up," she recalls. "Then I saw this place one Sunday morning, and by the next weekend, we'd bought it."

But Billish figured there was even more value to be plucked, so she brought in arbor specialists The Care of Trees. They removed some diseased elms, which were crowding out higher-value trees. They also did some pruning and fertilizing, and now Billish has a property full of healthy oak, maple, ironwood and hickory. In conjunction with renovation projects Billish did on the house itself, the property was recently reappraised at close to triple what she paid. "We've made 200%," Billish marvels. "These trees are such an asset, it's hard to adequately express their value."

Most experts say that younger is usually better when it comes to planting trees, but if you're selling within three to five years, you'll need some size to get the full effect. Maureen Gilmer's favorite size is 15-gallon — maybe 1 or 2 inches in diameter, around 8 feet tall â€” which will set you back around $50 to $150. "The numbers I've heard are that trees can enhance your property value as high as 5 to 20%," says The Care of Trees President Scott Jamieson.

Depending on where you live, going ultra-native with your trees and surrounding landscaping can be downright trendy. In the drought-prone Southwest, for instance, it's known as xeriscaping, in which gardeners opt for a truly desert look: sand, cactus and boulders, as well as a variety of native plant materials such as mesquite, or acacia trees; cassia, or "Texas Ranger" shrubs; sage; and more. Projects might start at $2,000 without any existing turf, or at around $3,000 if you need to take up your current landscape, according to Robin Jablonski, a construction division manager for The Groundskeeper in Tucson, Ariz. But talk about easy to maintain.

Project 3: The Sanctuary

ONCE YOU'RE DONE WITH the front of your house, your next point of attack is the backyard "sanctuary." More and more, people are valuing a private place they can retreat to — away from work, from plummeting 401(k)s, from those heart-attack-inducing news tickers on CNN.

And the key feature of any sanctuary is water: fountains or small ponds that bring motion to an otherwise static environment. "Water gardens are hot right now, and the trend is only growing," says Nancy Jacks Montgomery, spokeswoman for the American Nursery & Landscape Association.

For $500 to $1,500 you can buy a simple fountain, says Gilmer (to have a contractor install it, it could cost $1,000 more). Stick with classical forms, nothing overly elaborate or tacky, and try calming colors such as a subtle bronze or a moss green. For an even more budget-conscious option, take a large terra-cotta pot, add a small recirculating pump from a hardware store, and you can have "a small water feature for under $50," says Linda Engstrom. Or just have those pots collect rainwater, creating a mirrored effect around the garden.

A more elaborate project is a small pond. Confident do-it-yourselfers can tackle this for a few hundred dollars, with preformed plastic liners from Home Depot or Lowe's. You'll need a pump to keep the water moving (you might need to call in an electrician to install an outdoor electrical circuit) and the right chemical balance to prevent algae buildup. Jazz up the effect with miniwaterfalls, smooth river stones or colorful fish such as koi (although be warned, that may attract some unwanted wildlife into your yard). To have it professionally done might cost around $2,000 for a basic pond and upward of $8,000 for an elaborate setup, according to contractor Bob Novelli.

To have the water effect without the actual water, try a dry riverbed, as Anneke Moore did. It not only looks terrific, as a curving trench with artfully placed rocks, but also has improved a drainage problem she'd had for 20-odd years that had left her with a soggy basement. With the right design, it almost becomes like a Japanese rock garden. "We're seven minutes from downtown, and it's a real haven when we come home," she says.

The crucial part of any sanctuary, however, is a seating area where you can drink it all in and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Get some additional privacy with tasteful wooden screens, install a couple of wrought-iron benches, and make sure you're not blocking your sight lines to the foliage or water features.

One kind of water feature that may not be the smart way to go is a monster backyard pool. If you're in a warm clime and it's the norm for your neighborhood, then fine. But if you're looking to make big money on the project, forget it. "People tell me, 'I've got $75,000 in this pool — retaining walls, cabanas, dressing rooms,'" says real estate agent Gill Woods. "But are you going to find someone willing to pay extra for those improvements? The answer, normally, is no."

The reasons: One, it's a relatively high-maintenance project; two, it might turn off safety-conscious buyers. "If I have a small child, that's a danger for me," says Mayita Dinos, noting that big ponds can give people pause as well. "In this economy you don't want to be eliminating people like that."

But get your sanctuary right and buyers like Robin Whitesides might come knocking. When she was hunting around Newport Beach, Calif., for a new home, the choice was clear. She could opt for a property with awful landscaping and then invest another $50,000 or so to get it up to par, or she could buy a place with everything already in place. Guess which one she chose?

It wasn't just the basics, either. Her backyard retreat features year-round color shifting among the azaleas, gardenias, camellias, lilacs and hibiscus ("something's always blooming," she says), mature trees that screen out the neighbors' yards and a wall fountain that's lit up at night. She and her husband, Glen Esnard, have added their own touches in the past year, such as flowing vines (passionflower and scarlet trumpet creeper) and banana plants and dwarf lemon trees, in keeping with the "tropical" theme. The happy ending: They bought at over $800,000 and had their home reappraised at about 15% higher in less than a year.

Project 4: Bring the Inside Out

IN THIS RECENTLY white-hot housing market, some buyers have had to settle for less space than they would've liked. The magic solution to the problem: Extend your living space outdoors, especially in sunnier areas of the country. In one shot you've increased your usable space. "It's almost as if the wall between the indoors and the outdoors has come down," says Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association. "You're seeing outdoor rooms and living spaces that have all the features of indoor kitchens or family rooms."

That means cooking areas, such as a barbecue fire pit or even professional-grade kitchen setups; elongated patios and decks; or high-end gazebos. Just talk to Robin Whitesides. In the top-of-the-line backyard that attracted her to the property, she has a curved bar with seating for six, a cooking area with a built-in barbecue and a refrigerator, and a hot tub. "People are spending more these days on their outdoor cooking rooms than their indoor kitchens,' marvels Linda Engstrom. "Elaborate stone fireplaces, full kitchens right on the patio. It's amazing."

Deck and patio additions are the natural way to extend one's living space outside, and decks bring one of the highest cost recoupings of any home project (76%), according to Remodeling Magazine's "2001 Cost vs. Value Report." (An indoor sunroom, by contrast, gets you only 60% of your dollars back.) Redwood or cedar is still a high-end choice, although more recycled plastics that look like wood are being used for long life, according to Kling's Kevin Selger. Redwood is a popular option for gazebos, too, and you can even buy premanufactured versions that are dropped on-site. A 10-foot-wide model might cost between $4,000 and $5,000, says Selger.

If you're putting in significant hardscapes, make sure of a few things. Don't damage the root systems of major trees in your yard, which could potentially cost you thousands of dollars. The Care of Trees' Jamieson even recommends roping off areas around trees to the furthest reach of their branches, at the very least. Also, find out whether you might be about to dig into any utilities. Hit a gas line or TV cables and you could be liable for repair costs — if you don't check with the local public service commission. Once your property is marked by the proper local authorities, "if you do hit, you've covered yourself," says Bob Novelli.

Huge hardscapes are often the most expensive projects you can undertake, so if you want to know up front what kind of return your landscaping investment might get, "it wouldn't hurt to talk to an appraiser," suggests Jim Park, director of research for the Appraisal Foundation in Washington, D.C. "They'll tell you whether what you're about to do is too much — or too little." Check with the Appraisal Institute or the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers for member listings.

Some folks, however, just follow their gut. Michael Wessels of Salisbury, Md., recently went to town on his waterfront backyard, so he could maximize the use of an area that had been underutilized for years. Using Novelli's firm, Hardscapes, he installed a patio of brick pavers, brick retaining walls to shore up areas that sloped down to the river and the piece de resistance: a hot tub recessed into the patio. Wessels splashed $55,000 into the project on a $450,000 home — more than many would spend, especially if you're looking to flip. But he's planning to stay and enjoy the work, and along the way he "without a doubt increased the value of the house," says Wessels. "We live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, with blue herons, bald eagles and ospreys all around, and this whole project helped to open up more of the outdoors to our home. I can't say enough about it."

Growth Industry

SO YOU HAVE GRAND plans for your landscaping, a veritable Elysian Fields in your own backyard. Unless it's a quick fix, though, odds are you're going to need some help along the way. Too bad that "everybody seems to have a story" about a bad contractor, according to Los Angeles garden designer Mayita Dinos.

Including her.

"I just came out of a project that was a royal nightmare for everybody," she says of one client, who was installing a pool. "[The contractor] didn't have the proper subcontractors, it went way over in terms of money and time, and they ended up firing him — and having to redo a lot of stuff they'd already paid for." A couple lessons the clients learned the hard way were that their contractor's license had expired, which they could have checked in public records, and he was hired by the hour instead of by the project, which was practically an incentive for him to drag things out. Here are some other things you can do to make sure you have a good experience:

Get at least three different bids
Not just a total sum, but a line-by-line breakdown of specific costs. And don't assume that you'll go with the cheapest bid; more likely, if you're going for a true balance of value and quality, you'll opt for a bid that's "somewhere in between" says Dinos. (How much you can expect to pay may differ by region, thanks to varying supply and labor costs.) Hiring a landscape architect to do the initial plans might serve you well too. Often he can work in tandem with the contractor to make sure that no crucial corners are being cut and that costs aren't spiraling out of control. "Contractors have the tendency to do work that's easiest and most profitable for them," says Maureen Gilmer, a design consultant who also hosts a show on DIY. "Not what's best for the client."

The perfect place to look for seasoned pros is Alca.org, the site of the Associated Landscape Contractors of America, which has a search engine for its 2,500 corporate members. Find a designer or architect at Apld.org, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, or Asla.org, the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Ask about licenses and insurance.
Make sure the firm has all the proper licensing — you can check out your state's requirements at www.contractors-license.org. Then, find out what accreditation it has â€” preferably, it will employ a CLP (certified landscape professional) or a CLT (certified landscape technician), each of which requires extensive testing. Finally, if a firm doesn't have any insurance coverage â€” commercial and, ideally, liability, too â€” it could end up suing you if something goes horribly wrong on the job site. "Seventy-five percent of the people out there today are driving pickup trucks with no name on it," says industry pro Bob Novelli. "So you're almost guaranteed they're not insured."

Go out in the field.
Evaluate the firm's past work by talking with past clients and going in person to see how projects have held up. Make sure that the work you're seeing is no more than five years old. Why? "Workers change; equipment changes," says Kevin Selger of architectural firm Kling.

Pay attention to the "maintenance period."
It's usually between 30 and 90 days after a project is completed, and "during that time, a contractor is required to return and repair anything that's not right," says Gilmer. A tough-guy tactic: Withhold a portion of the final payment until that period is over. And get any warranties for plant material that you can. Many pros guarantee it for a year, but 18 months is ideal, since that'll take you beyond a full growing season.

Greener Pastures

WE ASKED NURSERIES around the country which trends are sprouting up in local gardens. Here's the dirt.

Minneapolis
The city's planning department has encouraged locals to install "boulevard gardens," or public gardens in front of their homes. Because of the long winters, homeowners favor hearty perennials such as black-eyed Susans and light-yellow moonbeam coreopsis flowers. Even more winter-proof: the locally crafted sculptures that have been steadily popping up in yards.

Greater Boston
Ornamental grasses are in vogue here, in a variety of colors, textures and sizes. Plus, in a colder climate such as this, these grasses don't take over the garden bed as they can down South. Two favorites: the low-to-the-ground sedge, which does well in the shade, and the late-blooming maiden grass, with narrow stems. In an effort to keep year-round color, some locals are also opting for dyed mulch, which keeps its reddish color longer than all-natural blends.

Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y.
Native and naturalistic plants are showing up in plant stores more here, such as highbush blueberries, which have beautiful color, and viburnums, whose fruit attracts birds. Water elements are going natural too in the suburban New York area: negative-edge pools are very popular, as well as those with waterfalls. And in yards once victimized by munching deer, spruce, boxwood and daffodil are the pest-resistant plantings of choice.

Greater Atlanta
Once seen only on commercial property, computer-controlled irrigation systems are showing up on more residences; they can help regulate water use during droughts or bans. Home systems start at about $1,500 — that's about 10 to 15% more than a regular irrigation setup, but the systems will cut water use by about 25%. Locals are also eschewing disease-prone trees such as dogwoods or Leyland cypress in favor of cherry, redbud and cryptomeria, some of which are the same size and structure as the cypress.

Flagstaff, Ariz.
"Xeriscaping" is big here, thanks to the severe watering bans from last summer. That means drought-tolerant plants such as junipers, pi-on pines and the flowering "Purple Robe" locusts; gardeners use heavy organic mulch to preserve the ground's moisture. Also on the rise are rock gardens made with locally found stones.

Jackson, Miss.
Gardeners have been replacing their roses with hearty "Knockout" rosebushes, a hybrid that doesn't require spraying and won't fall prey to black spots. And while tropical plants — banana plants and hibiscus â€” are very popular here and in Florida, some nurseries are reporting a huge increase in requests for the sweet potato vine, which comes in bright colors, such as lime green and purple, and bears "fruit." Even though it's inedible, "once [homeowners] see it, they want it," says Green Oak Nursery owner Karen McKie.

Buying Plants for Your Garden

Ivy Pressman — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:28:47 -0700

What You Need to Know When it Comes to Buying Plants for Your Garden

By Ivy Pressman, VisionScape

“When it comes to your garden, quality isn’t an expensive extra, it’s a must-have guaranteed by Mother Nature and her gardeners to save you money in the long run.”

Many great thinkers, from ancient philosophers to founding fathers, have noted that the garden is a place where we can bury our troubles and reap the benefits of a joyful spirit. And indeed we find many reasons for gardening, most of which involve the simple fact that it makes us feel fantastic.

Gardening is a deeply rewarding personal expression of who we are. But what if someone tried to take that away? What if someone told you that your garden had to be the same as everybody else’s, and that it was completely disposable, like Styrofoam packaging – you just use it, and then you throw it away.

But that’s ridiculous. No one would ever try to turn plants and flowers into low-quality, disposable commodities, would they?

The unfortunate truth is that they would, and they have. As big box stores have gradually taken the place of the independent business in our society, they have also taken over our gardens, and not for the better.

Growing Greedy

The goal of any box store chain is to dominate the marketplace, and this can be done very effectively by offering consumers a standardized, cheaply made product that appeals due to its low retail cost. Of course, we know where this has lead us: to appliances that break in a few years, linen and clothing that falls apart at the seams, and perhaps worst of all, to fake wood paneling.

It was with the birth of the box store garden center that this insidious trend finally sunk its claws into the loamy soil and tender roots of our plants. Essentially, box stores had to find a way to mass-produce the miracles of nature.

This was difficult. Big Box demanded huge volumes, and didn’t care if quality had to be sacrificed in order to get the numbers. But growers cared, and as such, many of the most well-established nurseries in the U.S. refused to work with the box stores.

Because of this, box stores found themselves working with start-up contract growers that came into existence specifically to meet the enormous demands of the bloated commercial chains. Often with no previous experience or tradition of skill, these wholesale suppliers agreed to meet the needs of box stores, whatever the cost to plant quality.

We all understand that cost because we have paid it again and again. We receive a flier in the mail that boasts “Fruit Trees for Five Bucks,” “Perennials for Pennies!” Blinded by sale-day enthusiasm, we run down to the box store and load up on plants that look great on the shelf.

But when we get home, something goes wrong. Was it us? Was it something we did? Grandpa had such a green thumb, why does everything we touch die? The answer is not in the thumb, but in the practices employed by big box stores that are supposedly saving us so much money.

It Begins with the Nurseries

The best nurseries in the industry have long since established a standard by which they grow plants for as many as eight years before releasing the healthiest to trusted garden center partners. These plants live longer, bloom bigger, and fight pests better than their Big Box counterparts.

Independent nurseries often minimize the use of strong chemicals and employ natural pesticides not only to ensure the health of plants but the sustainability of our planet. After all, what’s the point of growing a beautiful plant if you’re not protecting its environment? Buying from eco-friendly independent nurseries is one way that gardeners can ensure plant quality and make a powerful statement in favor of positive change.

With an eye to profiting rather than preserving, nurseries catering exclusively to box stores pump their plants full of chemicals to have them out on the shelves in two years or even less. These chemically poisoned “plants from the black lagoon” look good at first, but they almost inevitably whither outside of the carefully controlled environment in which they were grown. This is because when you take away their plant-steroids, you’ve got nothing left but a weak, stressed-out plant.

It Affects Your Entire Garden

Weak plants are highly susceptible to trouble like root-rot and insect infestation, both problems that can spread and negatively impact the other plants in your garden. It’s bad enough to get home and find out that a plant you just bought is crawling with spider mites; it’s worse when you don’t discover the problem until all your other plants are crawling!

Conversely, choosing to invest in plants grown by independent nurseries can benefit your garden as a whole. The most respected growers in the industry often infuse plant soil with beneficial mycorrhizae that help nourish root systems and ensure plant health. Once introduced, mycorrhizae will spread to benefit all the plants in your garden.

When it comes down to risking the contamination of your garden, or taking steps to ensure its continued health, the Big Box bargain stops looking like such a bargain. And in fact, this is only one of the ways in which we lose out as box stores struggle to keep their costs low on a naturally high-quality product.

Other major drawbacks of box store plants include:

Stress and damage caused in transport by low-paid laborers.
Stress and damage caused in-store by low-paid clerks who know very little about their “products.”
Limited growing information that contains blanket statements which ineffectively standardize care for a wide variety of plants.
Misleading displays and information that imply a plant can be grown in our area when it cannot.
Limited selection that forces us to “choose” between impatiens or petunias as the be-all and end-all of gardening options.

It Makes All the Difference

In the end, we spend more money replacing dead plants and compensating for the failings of mass-production then we would have spent investing in plants grown by high-quality nurseries to begin with.

Meanwhile, garden centers supplied by independent nurseries sell an enormous variety of hardy, unique plants that you would never find in a Big Box, and that will last a lifetime if properly cared for.

The Difference?

The plants are grown by people who love plants, and sold by people who love plants.

That’s the secret to Grandpa’s green thumb. He didn’t get plants from people that sold toilets or curtains or fake wood shelving. He got plants from people like him that loved to garden. And as much as things have changed in our lifetime, the garden remains the same. It loves sun, water, and rich soil, and can only really thrive made up of plants that aren’t disposable.

Well Designed Outdoor Living

Ivy Pressman — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:59:11 -0700

A Vision of Well-Designed Outdoor Living for Every Homeowner: The Style, the Substance, and How VisionScape is Making it Happen

By Annabelle J. Stewart, VisionScape

We all imagine growing up, getting a job, buying a house, and settling down. When we think about the future, it often happens that an image of a plain, white picket fence springs to mind. Maybe that white picket fence represents everything we’ve always wanted, or maybe it represents everything that scares us about 'getting old.'

Either way, for some reason, the white picket fence is where we stop. Beyond a vague fantasy of kids or a dog romping through a lawn sprinkler, we don’t tend to put a lot of thought into what our property is going to look like. And generally, we don't consider it again until the moment comes that we need to do something about that patch of grass, those tangled bushes, and the crumbling pavement around the pool. We know that we need to change, to allow our property to evolve, but the question of how to do it seems impossibly daunting.

And so the search begins. We ask our friends, our family, and Google: what do I do about my lawn? We find that many people are, in fact, very serious about what to do with lawns. They call it landscape design, and some people do it all themselves, while others (usually the “others” we see smiling out at us from Better Homes & Gardens) pay fancy design firms to do it all.

But how are we supposed to do it ourselves, or hire pros to do it for us, when we’re not even sure where to begin? Luckily, there are a lot of people like us, and thanks to our old buddy, Technology, there are simple, affordable solutions.

Solving the Design Dilemma

The solution that more and more homeowners are turning to is to get connected with a service that works with you, and within your budget, to help create the landscape you are just now realizing you’ve always wanted.

These services include everything from online forums where professionals post to help you brainstorm ideas, to graphics experts who design using computer software, to horticulturalists who help you choose plants fit for your property and your climate zone. But how are you supposed to sift through so many options?

In order to make the entire process as simple and enjoyable as possible, VisionScape Landscape Design has brought together all these services, and many more, creating a comprehensive resource that homeowners can use along every step of the way to their new backyard oasis.

VisionScape’s goal is to make the landscape design process as simple and affordable as possible. A well-designed landscape where you can spend your free time (or work time!) enjoying fresh air and sunshine significantly increases your quality of life. That's why VisionScape believes that an ideal outdoor environment should be available to everyone.

Way Beyond White Picket Fences

VisionScape helps you get started by brainstorming with you to figure out exactly what you want out of your property. Imagine having areas in your backyard for physical activity (maybe a half-court?), for relaxing (a pond-side arbor?), and for entertaining (outdoor kitchen, anyone?). VisionScape introduces you to the huge range of potential just waiting to be uncovered on your property, and the team of experts assigned to your case helps you figure out how to do it on your budget.

But don’t worry, at VisionScape, you won't have to deal with a million different professionals trying to get you to see things their way. When your design process begins, VisionScape assigns a Master Designer to your case. This Master Designer works with you to make your dreams come true within the framework of strengths and weaknesses possessed by your property.

Understanding your property, and working with it, is key to a successful landscape design project. This is where your Master Designer’s years of field experience come in handy. Designing without this expertise can lead to disasters. Picture goldfish flopping around in the driveway after a rainstorm floods them out of the pond, or peach trees that don't bear fruit because the climate's not right, and you'll get the idea.

Once your ideas, your property specs, and your budget are all working together, VisionScape works with you to create plans for hardscape, softscape, water features, lighting, irrigation, and even acoustics.

All these layers come together to create a detailed richness in your landscape, making it beautiful, functional, and easy-to-maintain in ways that a one-dimensional landscape isn’t.

During the design process, you will gain an in-depth understanding of your design, so that you know exactly what the finished product will look like. You don’t have to put in your whole landscape in one expensive shove. With phased planning, different elements can go in gradually as time and budget allow.

A Long-Term Investment

Complete landscape design services go way beyond helping homeowners with designing idyllic outdoor environments. VisionScape connects clients with contractors and other landscaping services that represent the best of the industry today.

A major mistake made by many first-timers is going the box store route. This usually involves buying inexpensive, mass-produced plants, fixtures, and hardscape features. These seem like a great deal at the time, but inevitably prove to be the source of much trouble and expense as they fail and are in need of constant repair and replacement.

VisionScape points homeowners in the direction of landscaping materials and services that combine the best of quality and affordability. This is because a major part of the VisionScape commitment is that our relationships with clients are for life. While many services seem to be looking over your shoulder at the next client in line, VisionScape is always happy to hear from clients with questions, concerns, and of course, success stories!

To that end, VisionScape includes many service guarantees that homeowners who are careful about where they invest their money appreciate. Not only are you directed towards the best contractors, nurseries, and garden centers in the business, you also come out of the process with several handy tools and resources:

Detailed renderings and images of what your property will look like. These help contractors get their bearings, and they don’t look too bad in a frame, either.
Complete materials lists that outline exactly what you will need for every phase of your project.
A custom bound Landscape Maintenance Handbook that details how to care for all the features of your outdoor environment.

Pool Building 101

john — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:53:20 -0700

Pool Building 101 – What you should know before purchasing your new swimming pool.

by Scott Stratton, Anthony & Sylvan Pools

As summer approaches many people are planning to build a pool to enjoy the upcoming warm weather. As a pool builder who has been creating backyard dreams for over 60 Years, Anthony & Sylvan Pools helps the customer focus on the three phases of the pool: Design; Construction; and Ownership. What many people don’t realize is that the design of their pool affects not only the length of the construction phase but will also influence the cost of ownership in the future. By making small changes in design and adding the latest technology, you can make you pool more economical to operate and more environmentally friendly. Here is a sample of what a good pool designer should discuss:

Technology - good for the environment, better for your wallet!

LED Lights reduce electricity consumption by 75% and offer a much longer life than standard bulb lights (50,000 hours vs. 8,000 hours). Many LED lights also provide you the ability to change colors and even have color shows.

There are many ways to heat your pool. The new gas heaters are up to 82% efficient, much more than even 3 years ago. Heat pumps are starting to become popular as they greatly reduce the amount of energy and cost of heating a pool by up to 50%. Lastly, solar systems can warm a pool 5-10 degrees depending on the size and the location of the panels and the pool.

The new pumps are more efficient and cost effective. Pump manufacturers are now offering 2-speed and Multi-Speed pumps. Multispeed pumps can cost triple the price of a standard single speed pump, but they can reduce electric usage by 50-90% depending on the operation.

Pool control systems allow the owner to operate the pool. A good system will allow you to program the pumps to automatically filter water during off peak hours, saving you money. Many systems also offer remote controls that make it easier to enjoy you pool and spa.

Pool covers reduce heat loss by 5-10 degrees and reduce evaporation of water and pool chemicals. Covers also reduce amount of time to clean.

Pool Design – Beauty that saves you money!

The closer the equipment to the pool, the less energy needed to pump the water through the filter. Keeping the equipment close can also reduce the construction costs.

Reducing the pool’s size and depth can also save you money as there is less water to pump and heat.

Dark interior finishes (quartzite and pebble coatings) absorb more heat during the day than a standard white plaster. They also last longer and often have better durability warranties.

As with everything, going with a reputable, licensed builder will save you the hassle and the expense of having large construction mistakes. Spending time on the design with a knowledgeable design consultant can speed your construction process and save you money while increasing your enjoyment of your pool.

Scott Stratton is the General Manager of Anthony & Sylvan Pools’ Southern California Division. Anthony & Sylvan Pools is America’s largest non-franchised pool builder and has been building pools for over 60 years.