Landscaping is part skill, part art. The entire goal of landscaping is to make your property look beautiful while increasing its value at the same time. Your landscaping also needs to be functional and should be designed in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with your everyday life and the use of your backyard. It doesn’t do any good if you can’t enjoy your backyard because you’re too busy dodging tree branches. All these factors combined mean that landscaping is something that truly needs to be customized to suit your yard and your needs.
Landscape design is indeed a form of visual art. The flowers, trees, shrubs and other plants all need to be arranged in a way that is pleasing to the eye. They need to be properly balanced, have enough variety that they don’t look boring, while still repeating several of them in order to give them emphasis.
On top of this, landscaping consists of much more than just green leafy or flowering items. Stone pathways or borders, wooden planters or details, and even water features can be added to enhance the appeal of your landscaping. These additional details help create a total outdoor environment.
Outdoor Solutions offers a full range of landscaping design services. These include perennial gardens, arbors, water features, landscape lighting, annual flower design, patios, foundation plantings, retaining walls, and even irrigation systems.
Our design service will work extensively with you to ensure that you receive the landscaping that best fits your vision and your yard. Each member of our landscaping design staff is fully trained and has plenty of experience in both landscape design and installation. We make it our goal to solve any potential problems and make the experience pleasant for you.
The process starts after you contact our office. A landscape designer will meet with you for an initial consultation, which involves discussing preliminary ideas and getting a feel for the scope of the project. There is also a client questionnaire that must be filled out in order to determine exactly what type of landscaping you’re looking for, as well as a client application and a design service contract. All of these forms will give you the details concerning our service, as well as help us form an estimate and proposal for your landscaping project.
Depending on your specific needs, our proposal will cover everything from a detailed, comprehensive plan for your entire yard or for a specific, smaller area that needs to be spruced up. The proposal is specific to your needs, and consists of measurements of the space, as well photographs of your current yard in order to ensure that every detail is thought of. We work with your needs in order to create a design that allows you maximum use of your yard.
Environmental conditions are also considered, and we will take note of the sunlight and soil conditions in your yard, as well as any pets that you may have. The proposal contains all of these details, as well as a breakdown of the specific plants that will go in your yard, any additional materials, and a listing of the installation phases for your project. Once the proposal has been signed and the deposit received, your project will go on our installation schedule and you will be notified when it is scheduled to begin.
The installation phase of the project is what really brings it to life. There are a number of important factors that are involved in installing your landscaping, including:
SITE PREPARATION – All planting beds have to be properly analyzed to determine your soil conditions before the soil is tilled. Otherwise, issues with improper drainage and balance might become a problem. These things need to be taken care of before the plants go into the ground.
QUALITY PLANT MATERIALS – We follow the correct USDA hardiness zones for your area in order to ensure that the plants chosen will thrive in your environment. We also only choose quality plants from the best nurseries and growers, and guarantee all trees and shrubs for a specified period of time.
PROPER INSTALLATION – We keep several horticulturalists and project managers on staff who have degrees in their fields. This ensures that each plant, tree and shrub is going into the right section of your yard and is planted in the correct manner. We also take the time to remove any nylon string or metal baskets that may be covering root balls, and go out of our way to avoid soil compaction. Plus, your property will be left neat and clean when we are done, as we remove all debris from your yard.
While some landscaping projects are simple and consist only of arranging new plants, trees, and shrubs, others are complex and involve plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and stonemasons, on top of the horticulturalists. Outdoor Solutions has a number of licensed subcontractors that we work with on a regular basis to ensure that your landscaping is installed as smoothly and as professionally as possible. We will keep track of these many subcontractors and keep their schedules coordinated in order to keep your project on schedule.
