Landscaping. Lawns and flowers, right? Well, yes. But let’s expand that thinking a little bit. Beyond the outside walls of your house are yards, side yards, front yards, back yards, fencing, trees (sometimes), and, depending on the size of your family, yard toys like sports nets, swings and seesaws, and pools.
Sometimes tables and a fire pit for outside dining. Like the sports nets, a lot of it might include baskets of balls and rackets. Pools usually include ladders, racks for drying suits and towels, and pool floats and toys.
Chances are, most of that stuff has been placed by circumstance (flat place for soft pools) or need (grassy areas for games). So, let’s begin by taking a short flight of time and imagination. Do you remember what your yards looked like the day after you were done moving in? Were they grassy? Dusty? Piles of lawn sod? They were, in some way, a clean palette of yard space that you could randomly fill, or plan and design, to fit your needs.
Use Your Imagination
What would you choose if you could design your property areas around your house from scratch? Would you like a large family outdoor area for feasting and play? A pool or other water features? Trees and shrubs? Flowers and bushes? Broad acres of green lawns? Some mix of all these?
Winter in Florida is usually mild, with occasional frost and maybe a shortfall of snow (a VERY unusual occurrence, of course). However, spring will be here in almost no time, and now is a perfect time to think about your yards and landscaping possibilities.
Custom Acres, who probably already helps you keep your lawn manicured and your trees healthy, also excels in landscape design and planning:
- They can tell you what each of the principles of landscape design means: line, form, texture, color, and scale.
- They can show you how each element would apply in your yard and garden and what plants would most likely flourish.
- They can guide you in planning tree planting so that your growing trees can contribute to the cooling of your house, especially in the hottest of summers, reducing your energy bills for air conditioning.
Another design thing to consider is the type of landscape you’d like to build. If you want, for instance, a coastal type of landscape, they can give you an idea of added cost for water, coastal grasses and plants, and other elements of coastal living. Others may want a garden filled with color, attractive to butterflies and bees.
You would meet with a designer with all your ideas and plan, which are the features most important to you, and how to incorporate them into the new landscape. The result of the interview and planning will be a detailed plan, probably with sketches and measurements, for reference and scheduling.
They will also discuss accessibility to materials, planting schedules, and work on the various elements of your new landscape. Even your pets will be part of your plan, as some plants might be unhealthy for them.
Planning Ahead – So Many Decisions!
There are many things to consider in making these decisions. For example, suppose it’s important to you to recycle materials. In that case, you might discuss using used tires as retaining walls for stepped gardens, used glass for greenhouses, or used building materials for garden buildings or play areas for the kids.
If you want water features, your decisions about whether people or fish will be swimming will be significant. Pools are costly to fill and keep filled, and energy spikes when using hot tubs. But, oh, how lovely to sink to your chin in bubbling warm water and float there while your muscle aches and pains go wandering off into the watery universe.
Many people find fish ponds and fountains relaxing, and the sound of water tumbling over rocks is very soothing. Others look forward to nightly tennis or badminton games with the kids or sitting around the fire pit, making gooey sandwiches out of chocolate and marshmallows. Then, of course, bird gardens or butterfly gardens are popular.
And some want to add a little something to vast green spaces, with a splash of color or some vertical enhancement. Or you might want to add fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs to your table. But, again, your landscape partners at Custom Acres will have plenty of ideas for the most accessible and most convenient planted areas for harvesting your bounty.
Your Vision by Your Pros
Your personal tastes and styles will be incorporated to make your yards and gardens the delights you anticipate. Maintaining the landscaping, including plants, water features, ground scraping, irrigation, and sprinkler systems and controllers, will be discussed and agreed upon by both you and your yard crew at Custom Acres Lawn Services.
A schedule will be set for the variety of seasons and weather in Florida. You will also have a good idea of seasonal hazards (hurricane season, frost, drought) common for that part of Florida. The cost of building and maintaining your landscaped yard will be discussed in detail, with all partners agreeing to the terms and schedules.
It may take some time to make all your landscape plans come to fruition since plants and trees have seasonal planting schedules, and some installations will take more time than others to build. For example, a pool with a pool house and hot tub will take longer to build than a garden shed for yard toys. Eventually, though, you will see the planned landscape when you return home from work or watch out the windows while doing home chores.
So, let your imagination free! Remember or note your favorite garden layouts in your magazines and online activities. Let colors and flower types riot through your daydreams, and birds and butterflies flutter through the leaves and grasses. Close your eyes to allow the sparkle of the water and the quiet splashing of fountains to calm you and inspire you. And call Custom Acres to help you create the reality.
Wait, you want a dragon from recycled tires and a dragon’s cave where?