Welcome to our article for May. I hope everyone has had a good spring. With these warmer temperatures, summer is fast approaching. As I am writing right now on 4/10, spring is beautiful. The Azaleas are in full bloom, the roses are in bud and some have their first set of blooms. The Pink Jasmine, which is a vine, is also in full bloom and super fragrant. I have a long row of them just outside my home office window. It covers a portion of the fence and makes the air very sweet and a pleasure to work in the office. I could go on, but the point is to take time to enjoy these seasonal changes. It takes a purposeful disposition that says part of living life is to enjoy the simple things. Look for the things that everyone else just walks by. Nature provides many of these opportunities. I love training myself to take note of these events, from new leaves emerging, to flowers budding, and even to new nests in the trees. It all speaks of LIFE, which brings a richness to one’s soul. So please take the time to enjoy.
The landscape we are featuring today is no exception, it looks beautiful. We have shown this landscape two other times. It was first completed back in 9/2017, and then I featured it again in 3/2019. As you know, many of our pictures are of our recently completed jobs, but the real joy is showing jobs that have matured. When I landscape, all my decisions are based on three years of growth, so this yard is right there. Ed and Melissa were a joy to work for. Ed hired us to prepare the yard for Melissa. Ed had cancer, but was mobile and I could visit with him and learn his values so they would be reflected in our work. Since that time Ed has passed away. His final statement to me was that he wanted to leave a colorful, turnkey landscape for Melissa to enjoy. We were so honored that he selected Executive Care. Since completion, the yard has been under the personal care of one of my men. This was a commitment I made to them both.
It brings me pleasure to follow up on and show the progression of our jobs. This way you know that it is our work, and not just a pretty picture that has been cut and pasted for advertisement. It legitimizes our work. I believe our March 2019 article for this yard can be read on TheHomeMag.com website. This is one of the few yards that we designed with two dry stream beds, in fact it was the first residential landscape that we did with two streams. Since the home sat below grade, there was a problem with water collecting by the front window. By removing the lawn, we reduced a large portion of the run off and by adding a dry stream bed in front and between them and their neighbor, we were able to minimize much of the standing water. Any rain or other source of water that came, we were able to route via the dry stream beds into a drain along the side of the house. A good drain system is one of the keys to landscape health.
I also needed to figure out how to use the elevation between the sidewalk and the front door to our advantage. We were able to create steps leading from the sidewalk to the front walkway. This gives one the feeling of going into something. (see video) The elevation difference was something that was fun to play with, however it did require us to create a boulder wall between the planter beds and the front stream bed. There is about a 15” difference in grade, which is not readily visible in the pictures or video (the boulders disguise it as well as the plants). As mentioned, Ed wanted a turn key landscape, and Melissa wanted color. In revisiting the yard after three years, I think we accomplished both goals which is a great feeling.
The yard at night is beautiful. I always encourage my clients to do night lights even if we have to install them later. At times, the job with night lights pushes the job beyond the budget, and that is understandable. We use solid brass light fixtures with LED lights, so they do cost a bit. However, we can always defer the lights to later and “prewire” the landscape at the time of install. By doing that, when the finances are available, we can come back and add the fixtures without digging up the yard. There is always a way, and with that said, please enjoy the progression of Ed and Melissa’s yard.
Gardeners, hopefully you have your gardens planted, if not you need to hurry. Remember to space the vegetables sufficiently, as these summer crops grow extremely large. Till next time, Good Gardening – Arthur