If you plan a landscaping project to beautify your yard, you’ll have to make several decisions. A reputable landscaping company can assess the soil in your yard and be knowledgeable about the growing plants in your climate. The landscape company you choose will combine all this information with your wishes for the landscape and more to finalize a landscaping plan for you. Here are some things to consider:
1. Unify the Project with a Theme
Perhaps you have a landscaping theme in mind as you begin the planning stage of a landscaping project. You may have only some vague ideas. However, if you can decide on a unifying theme for the landscape and more, the overall effect will have a harmonious result. Your personality can be displayed throughout your lawn and garden if you carefully select a theme.
One of the most popular landscape themes is the Mediterranean style. The historical grandeur of Italy, Greece, and Spain can be shown through some careful styling of your grounds and their decorations. You’ll need to utilize tall marble columns and use olive or lemon trees to carry out the theme. Mediterranean gardens can give a sense of wideness to a smaller yard.
If your preferences lend themselves more to Zen or meditation, a Japanese garden may be your choice. Choosing tiny bonsai trees or topiaries will convey the message you intend. Most Zen gardens include a koi pond, and for taller accents, you can plant cherry trees. A karataki (dry waterfall) can be built from rocks and sand to complete the Japanese theme.
2. Research Different Landscapers in Your Area
Finding the right landscaping company will involve talking with several local landscape designers. The best way is to begin looking online for reviews from reputable sources of available landscapers. You can also ask friends and family to recommend a company where they’ve had a good experience.
When your choices are narrowed down, meet with some landscape companies in person. Look for their licenses and ask how long they’ve been in business. A professional contractor should be willing to share pictures from past jobs. Not only will those pictures let you see the quality of that firm’s work, but they may also spark some ideas you may not yet have imagined; to use in your yard.
Don’t hesitate to ask for a warranty for the quality of their work. Ask if they provide printed care instructions for any plants or materials they will be providing. You’ll also want a written estimate for the project. Once you make a final choice, get as much of the plan in writing as possible.
3. Search for Tree Maintenance Companies
New trees may be part of the landscape project, or you may prefer the contractor to work with trees already in your yard. Either way, you’ll want to find and enlist one of the local tree services that can keep your trees healthy. Not all landscaping companies have experience with trees; it takes expert care to keep trees thriving.
Tree maintenance services can be indispensable when someone is evaluating the appearance of your landscaping and more. Tree maintenance experts will provide a regular assessment of your trees and make sure ‘that they stay healthy. They’ll also be able to do any needed pruning (cutting damaged branches.) Tree services can also help when you’re ready to shape or level your land.
When searching for a tree maintenance service, use the same criteria you used, when searching for a landscaping company. You may have chosen a landscaper with a business relationship with a tree service. However, searching for a tree service will be essential if no such collaboration exists.
4. Find Stump Grinding Support
You may discover you have tree issues when you first assess your yard. When problems with your trees are worse than routine maintenance will fix, the solution will be more extreme. If you need to remove a tree stump from your yard, a general tree service may not be equipped to do the job. Stump grinding is also not a task that a layperson can handle.
If your tree service can’t perform this task, you’ll need to search for local stump grinders who can do the job. Grinding a stump utilizes a chainsaw and a grinding tool, but more severe methods are sometimes necessary. But an arborist (tree expert) can choose the best solution for the challenges in your yard.
In addition to stump grinding, arborists are also able to help if you need to have a tree removed. A dead tree can cause damage to the surrounding soil and spoil the overall appearance of your yard. The process of tree removal can be dangerous if not done safely.
5. Learn About What Trees to Plant
Tree planting may be included as part of your landscaping project. There are many types of trees, so how can you choose the correct type of tree? Botanists recommend you first measure and examine the area where the trees will be planted. After that, give some thought to the type of effect you want the tree to create.
One of the most crucial decisions is your intended purpose for the tree. If you want a shade tree, you’ll need a tree that can grow 30-60 feet high. If you select a tree for its color, you’ll need a flowering tree. A garden store can advise you about your landscape and more, so they can suggest suitable trees you could plant.
Another factor helping you choose suitable trees is your soil composition. The amount and duration of light in your area will also influence the best trees to select. With those factors in mind, your landscaping company or a garden store can pick out the best type of tree.
6. Hire Expert Lawn Care Services
Whichever plants, trees, or flowers you decide to include in your landscaped creation, it’s sure to have a lawn surrounding it. Many people can care for their lawns by themselves. However, others feel that paying for the services of a professional lawn maintenance company is a wise investment in the overall presentation of their yard.
One major obstacle to maintaining your lawn is the equipment cost. One national lawn service estimates the price of a lawn mower, leaf blower, and weed eater would be at least $2000. Adding the cost of regular maintenance plus repairs to that total might convince you to hire a lawn service instead.
In addition to the cost, the time it takes to mow and care for your lawn – not to mention caring for your landscape and more – is a significant consideration. When you consider that amount of time, you’ll see the advantage of a lawn service. The quality of work and the time a lawn service will save will be worth your investment.
7. Ask About Your Patio Ideas
A landscape project can sometimes encompass the whole yard. If that’s the case for your landscaping project, you may decide to feature your patio as part of the plan. You may decide to update your outdoor patio and make it part of the landscaping project’s theme.
Incorporating your patio with your landscape and more can be done simply by strategically using a stone or concrete path. You may decide your patio needs to be separated from the yard, but that can be done with plants or a rock wall. Using your landscaping theme, you can continue using flower colors or planting similar trees near the patio.
You can integrate your yard’s theme using a particular shape as a unifying feature. Begin with rounded topiaries around your yard and patio chairs with rounded backs. You can also hang rounded patio lights and place round pillows on the patio sofa. The finished picture will be a sight you and your family can appreciate for many years.
8. Discuss Ways to Improve Your Concrete
If your sidewalks or garden paths are concrete, you can expect them to be durable and easy to clean. If the concrete is intact and the stark surface of the concrete is compatible with the theme of your project, you can use concrete in your project. If the concrete has more broken areas than intact areas, you’ll find there are uses for broken concrete.
Small cracks in concrete can be repaired. It would be an excellent investment to perform concrete repairs rather than to grind or replace it. Before fixing the damage, remove any debris with a whisk, broom, or wire brush. The cracks can be filled by using concrete caulk or a liquid filler.
By further grinding the concrete, you can use it as a gravel substitute in your pathways or to divide garden areas. When further crushed, concrete can be mixed into a new concrete structure. Crushed concrete could also be an excellent base layer for an asphalt walkway.
9. Speak About Your Deck
If you decide to incorporate your patio into your project, the next logical step might be to add your deck to the theme. Your deck is like the bridge from your home to the yard. Using the same methods that blended the patio into the theme will also work with the deck.
Additionally, building a deck would be a tremendous crowning touch to your landscape and more if you don’t already have one. Bringing food or other items directly from your home to the outside areas will be invaluable. You may delay the deck’s construction due to financial constraints, but keep it in mind for future projects. A deck will also increase your property value.
Companies that specialize in landscaping may not always have expertise in constructing decks. Working with wood takes a different skill set than styling earth, plants, and flowers. If you want a deck, you’ll therefore need to find professional deck contractors.
10. Inquire About Stone and Other Materials
Natural stone is one of the many categories of materials you may want to include in your landscaping project. Stones give any scene a sense of permanence and strength, so its inclusion can be a great idea. Whether you use them as cornerstones in your pathways, as focal points in your yard, or as part of a rock wall, you’ll want to use stone as part of your project.
If you’re wondering which types of stone are ideal for landscaping projects, it depends significantly on its purpose. If you want to use stones as part of a pathway or to provide a border, you should look for gravel or flagstone. If you want a lighter-colored pathway, choose marble chips instead. One of your local stone suppliers can help you select the correct boulders or other stones.
Using stone can be a substantial asset to the overall picture of your landscape and more. Remember the continuity of shapes if you’ve used a shape as your style guide. If not, keeping the color of your rocks consistent will help them blend seamlessly into the overall picture.
11. Commit to the Landscapers With the Best Value
All these components of styling the landscape and more may be overwhelming. Keeping each company’s details and contact information on a clipboard which also holds the master plan for the project, is a good strategy. When you first begin your project, finding a landscape contracting company that can handle as many parts of your project as possible should be part of your strategy.
Make a spreadsheet on which you write details of what each company can do and their price. Prioritize the parts of the plan by which of them you prefer to complete first. Your budget may only allow you to complete some of the projects. Try to find at least one company that can do two of your project’s functions for a price less than the projected price for both functions. Through careful analysis, you’ll be able to select the right companies.
A good landscaping plan will increase the property value of your home. It will also add beauty and color to the yard. You’ll need to locate contractors to properly carry out all the functions required to complete the landscaping project. In the end, you’ll have a valuable and picturesque asset.