Landscape architecture is the work of making specific kinds of areas around your town or your own home. It could be designing playgrounds, city squares, or your own backyard. It could be designing an area that is good for wildlife such as a pond or park.

A landscape architect is the person responsible for doing this. They have many years of college that allows them to do this. They are responsible for doing great things around your city or your yard.

There are many different companies that hire one or more of these people. You can find a landscape architect in Dallas by doing a simple web search. Make sure that you do your research to make sure that you find a reputable company to do the work for you.

This article will give you some things that your landscape architect wishes you knew. It will give you some ideas of what to expect from one. You can also do more research to find the information you need.

What They Wish You Knew for Your Home

1. Your Kids Will Outgrow Their Space – Time moves fast, and before you know it, your children will have outgrown the play space that you spent so much time and money creating. You don’t want to plan your whole yard with a play space for your children in mind. There are usually nearby parks that you can take your children to if you want this type of space.

Instead of designing a space for small children, think of one that will be good for young teens and young adults. You can create private spots for them to go and hang out with their friends in a safe place. This would be a better way to spend your money and resources.

• Xeriscape – Xeriscape doesn’t mean that you don’t need to water your yard: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/xeriscaping/. Most xeriscape yards need extensive watering for the first five years while they are being established and still need limited water after that. They will need much less water than your typical yard, but they will require it.

To minimize your water use, you should install a smart irrigation system for your space. After the initial three months, you can dial the system back to do the minimum watering while still maintaining plant health. You will then only need to change the system during seasonal changes, but your work will be at a minimum.

• Artificial Grass – Artificial grass isn’t always the answer, either. It can look good for your yard, but it can lead to issues with the environment that you might not have thought about, such as giving off gases into the environment. You will also have the underlying granules everywhere including in your house.

Instead of artificial grass, you should plant low maintenance grass that requires little work and is specifically designed for your area. You can also add low-water plants around the area to add to the look you are trying to achieve. You could even plant a meadow or no mow lawn to save even more time and effort.

• Mulch is Better Than Gravel – While mulch can sometimes look messy after the wind blows it onto your sidewalks and patios. However, gravel won’t provide the nutrients for your plants that you want and need. Instead, you should plant ground cover that will spread once it gets established.

• Specimen Trees Don’t Live Forever – You don’t want to plant specimen trees – which are trees that hardwood trees that are larger than twenty-eight inches in diameter – because they don’t live forever. See more here. You should speak to an arborist to see which type of tree would be best for your yard and would live the longest. You don’t want to design your yard surrounding one type of tree no matter how majestic it might be.

• Don’t Cut Corners – You want to pay for the best job that you can afford, don’t skimp on the job. Sometimes the biggest expense that you encounter will be something that you can’t see such as infrastructure or foundation. You will need to pay for those things even if it is not noticeable because it sets the tone for your area.

Don’t forget to add in labor costs because these are another large part of the expense. You might think that this is expensive, but the landscaper is usually just trying to provide a living wage for their workers. Remember, you are also paying for their expertise, so this cost usually isn’t as expensive as it could be.

• You Must be Patient – Time will move by very slowly, and you need to expect that. Renovating or building a garden can take a lot of time and you won’t see progress quickly. You being there all the time and in the landscapers way won’t help your garden to get done any faster, and can actually take more time because you are in the way.

• Inspectors Happen and Codes Change – It doesn’t matter how much expertise your design team has, the process can still be long and inefficient, or so it seems. This is because there is an ever-changing staff and officials at your local inspector’s planning and building departments. You should be prepared for unforeseen circumstances.

Conclusion

There are many things that your landscape architect wants you to know before you design your yard or garden. They want you to know that things aren’t always as they seem and that things can take longer than you expect. They also want you to know that they are doing the best job they can and want you to be happy with their work.