Landscaping Ideas: Small Yards

By Maria Bargellini

Dallas Landscape Contractor

If your planning to transform your small yard into something more beautiful, and what to do it yourself- read this article first. Before you spread your wings and fly let’s start crawling first shall we. Landscaping is so much more than just pretty flowers. You must first consider your soil, irrigation, drainage and lighting before you ever step foot in the nursery, (this will be difficult). You need to learn the basics in order to pull off a beautiful small yard that will surely surprise yourself and everyone in your family.

Tips for landscaping a small yard

Research

• On-line Research: The internet is a fantastic gardening tool. Just remember that when you are researching Landscaping solutions for Dallas do not follow sources from other locations like San Francisco or NY. Make sure that the site you are on specifically states that the plant material and suggestions are for your area.
• Nursery research: There are great nurseries all over Dallas. DO NOT go to these places to buy just yet. Leave your house without money if you think you can’t resist. Go to look and ask questions. If you have a yard that’s full sun stay out of the shade house. Go with a plan-focus and execute.
• The Dallas Arboretum and Texas Discovery Gardens and The Heard Museum: These are invaluable resources to visit and talk to people who know what they are talking about. What better place to see for yourself what plants will do well in your conditions. They hold educational classes, plant trials and plant sales throughout the year. It’s also a  fantastic low cost way to spend a great day alone of with your family.
• Local Extension Office: Call or email your local Master Gardeners to ask questions and get advice on plants your interested in. The advice is free and is a great way to get current information for your area.
• The neighborhood: Whether it’s your neighborhood, garden home tour or a local park, get inspiration from your surroundings. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Look around and use what works

Your sprinklers and drainage need to be able to support your plants when they go into the ground. It’s not worth the investment if you cannot keep the plants alive. We all have the best intentions but when it’s 90 degrees at 8am and you have to go out there to hand water–well, your will might start to fade after a  bit. In order to figure out your drainage and sprinklers you need a design. If you are on a budget and cannot afford a designer don’t worry. Some nurseries have free or low cost design help if you buy the plants from them. have your survey or plot plant ready to bring with you or make several copies and start designing your self. Research the mature heights and widths of the plants and scale them on to your survey.

Outdoor Lighting Dallas:  Choosing Outdoor Lighting fixtures

Landscape Lighting by Dallas Curb Appeal

There are many types and brands of outdoor lighting fixtures to choose from. Here is some information to help you in choosing which types of fixtures you want to invest in for your Dallas Landscape Lighting.

Length of time you will be in the home

• If your are only going to be in your home for another 1-5 years- is a lifetime warranty worth it? The ROI (return on investment) just isn’t there.
• If you are or are planning to retire in your home than I would definitely choose fixtures that carry a lifetime warranty. These fixtures are made to withstand the test of time and will be a better investment.

Available budget

• Landscape lighting fixtures are not all created equal. If you want fixtures with a lifetime warranty but it’s just outside your budget you can go with a less expensive landscape lighting fixture with a 3-15 year warranty and when your budget allows- you can have the fixtures replaced with ones that have a lifetime warranty.
• You can also buy less fixtures but increase the wattage of your transformer to accommodate additional fixtures in the future. If you want landscape lighting for both your front and back yards you can also increase the wattage of your transformer to accommodate all the fixtures on the property. Keep in mind that the lights can only be run off of 1 timer, meaning that all the lights will turn off and on at the same time.

Finishes

• Specialty finishes like Verde, which are hand painted can add to the price both for the additional labor required to produce them and the freight to get them as they are usually not in stock.
• Solid and spun brass landscape lighting fixtures are the most popular finishes used today. They can range in warranty from 10 years to lifetime.
• Copper landscape lighting -either you love it or hate it. It’s a bright shiny color initially and over time it will give you a nice patina finish. This is purely a personal aesthetic choice.

Maintenance and Adjusting

• Ah maintenance. Landscape lighting has to be maintained in order to properly function and look it’s best. As your landscape grows your needs change. Larger shrubs, and growing trees can change your lighting needs over time. Path lights may need extension to make them larger, bulbs may need to be changed to widen angles, etc.
• Path and area landscape light can be easy to change the bulbs. They can also be hard or require tools to change. If you are maintaining your own lights ask to be shown how to maintenance them and how difficult it will be to change the bulbs.

Bulbs

• Low voltage landscape lighting bulbs or lamps come in many different wattages and beam spreads. When dealing with fixtures that are in hard to reach areas, do yourself a favor– splurge on good bulbs. MR16′s are rated in colors, beam angles and hours. The average life hours can range widely starting at 1,000 hours up to 18,000. Prices also vary widely, as much as $10 difference. Trusted brands like GE are a safe investment.
• Tree lights have to be considered first and foremost. If they are installed up in the canopy you or your Dallas landscape lighting contractor will have to climb up on that tree to change the bulbs. This service is considerably more than changing bulbs on the ground. Depending on the type of fixtures you have installed these bulbs can be upwards of $40 just to buy and over $100 to have changed. Generally, the higher the fixture the more it’s going to cost–if there’s special equipment needed hold on to your socks when you get the bill.
• Consider LED landscape lighting for hard to reach spots and in cases when you will be using more than 10 fixtures to save on electricity.

If you would like a complimentary night time demo or have additional questions please feel free to call Dallas Curb Appeal, your landscape lighting experts at 214-257-8155 for more information.

Coming Up With Landscaping Ideas for Dallas

If you’re not that into landscaping and own a home with a yard you should at least learn a little bit about landscaping. Eventually you will have some type of landscaping done and it is best to be prepared if you can. Basic, effective landscaping ideas are not that hard to find and the landscaping process can actually be fairly easy if you have some landscaping knowledge. And if you are an expert landscaping hobbyist, then you are always on the lookout for new ideas.

Where To Look For Landscaping Ideas

The Internet is one of the first places you should look for good landscaping ideas. You can easily and quickly search through many different sites to access many landscaping ideas. You will be able to obtain many options and can dramatically shorten your search for landscaping ideas. You can search by specific designs, focus pieces or plants and determine what will work for your area, weather and soil.

About.com is an Internet website you should visit when looking for landscaping ideas. This site provides how to information about anything. A few landscaping topics that are discussed on this site are Tree problems, Landscape design in Seattle, Fall Webworms, Perennial Flowers that Bloom in the Fall, Moonbeam Coreopsis Plants, and many more topics. You may find that you are able to do many of the landscaping yourself.

About.com is a great website and may be the best place to begin your search for landscaping ideas. Besides describing different landscaping ideas they also provide how-to information about even the most basic landscaping procedures.

All About Lawns is another available website that provides resourceful and useful information on landscaping and landscaping ideas. Find ideas in magazines, landscaping online, talk to local garden merchants, look at your neighbors gardens, and make a landscaping wish list are some of the more popular topics presented on their website.

No matter what method you use to come up with new landscaping ideas you need to remember that you should be having fun with landscaping. If you don’t put yourself and your personality first when landscaping then you will not create a unique design that you will enjoy. This is your project so don’t let anyone push you around.

If you did not find the Internet helpful then you should visit your local landscaping or hardware stores. The professionals there will be able to answer your questions and provide you with landscaping ideas, tips and suggestions.

Landscape Ideas for Dallas: Garden Decor

A garden can be a place of peacefulness, or a place of entertainment. It really is all to you and the type of garden décor that you choose. The point of garden décor is to bring your garden together.

Garden décor is similar to home décor but with different elements. For your garden you would use things like fences, trees, grass, walkway, bird feeder, and flowers. Furniture is not uncommon in garden décor but it must be made of material that will hold up on all kinds of weather. Of course you can store your furniture during your winter months is you live in a state that has winters.

The first thing to think of before you begin shopping for your garden décor is what sort of theme would you like. Do you want a more country rustic feel to it? Are you looking more for a Zen garden type décor? Do you have young children and want to create an ideal outdoor play area for them or are you looking for a Japanese garden? Once you decide on your theme, then it is time to go shopping. Keep in mind you don’t need to color coordinate your yard. You can mix and match with your ideas. Have fun with it. Think of the feeling you want your garden to give off. If you are going with the country feel and theme, you can put wooden flower pots out there, and other country pieces. A Zen garden might have a small waterfall in it and be arranged very specifically. If you are having trouble coming up with a theme, think of what you will be using your garden for. If you have children and allow them to play out in the yard and Japanese style might not be right for your yard.

Some people treat their garden décor as serious as they do their home décor and you should get in the habit of doing this also. Your pieces could be at more risk for damage due to the environment they are placed in. They are exposed to severe temperature, wind, rain and even snow. Make sure you take care of your pieces.

Also remember that keeping up with your garden décor also includes maintaining your garden. You want to keep your lawn cut and trimmed and watered routinely especially during the summer months. You also will want to keep your bushes trimmed to so they do not bring your garden décor down by being overgrown. Keep your flower beds free of leaves. If you are one who likes to have a pond in their garden with real fish, make sure you keep up with them. Feed them and clean the pond accordingly. If you have a fruit or vegetable garden, make sure you keep up with it and water it. Pick the fruit and vegetables before they go bad. If you are a pet owner, especially a dog, make sure you pick up after it.

There are endless possibilities for how you can decorate your garden. Your garden is a blank canvas and the garden décor is the paint. Have fun painting your masterpiece.

Landscape Design Dallas

By Dallas Landscape Contractor Maria Bargellini

This is a 3D virtual Tour and Landscape Design for a Water Feature Project. This “Before Video” has been created to give our customer a better idea of what his water feature will look like one installed.  Check back for the After pictures and Video later this summer.

Standard 2D and 1 dimentional drawing are great for installers and for those of us who are knowedgable about plant material. For those of you who are not, it can translate into just pretty shapes and colors. If you are going to re-d0 a front or backyard landscape consider investing in a 3D design to get a better idea of what you are buying.

This is helpful for the following  reasons.

• It will allow you to see your project from all angles
• You can see a night time version of your design
• You can better estimate cost for the overall project and individual phasing
• You can install your irriagation tubing or lighting wires for future sections
• It doesn’t allow for miscommunication

If you would like more information on 3D Landscape Design contact us at 214-257-8155.

Client Information: Client operating information

Hi there, and thank you for visiting the site.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you Welcome to Dallas Curb Appeal, we appreciate your business and look forward to exceeding your expectations.

Estimates

Estimate pricing is good for a period of 15 days. In most cases we will honor an estimate that it past that date but because of various factors, such as material price change and gas prices increases we reserve the right to make changes as nessesary to estimates that are past the 15 day mark.

A 50% deposit is due before the work is to be scheduled. This is to limit delays for both parties. The balance is to be paid at the projects completion for smaller projects, (less than $10,000). Deposits for large scale projects will vary according to the scope of the project. If the client is responsible for delays, such as in but not limited to instances when materials are to be provided by the client and are not available-then an additional payment not totaling the complete balance is to be made. This next payment amount will reflect the work that has been completed to date. Employees will not return to the site until all the materials are made available.

Mathematical errors in calculations are rare because we primarily invoice items separately to allow you to deduct and add to your project as you seem fit. But if an error is detected you will be notified immediately. In cases where individual numbers or parts/items are listed, the total will revert back to the sum-total of all individual items to insure that both parties are protected.

Lighting Demo estimates: These Demos are free of charge but we ask that you only request a demo if you are seriously considering installing outdoor lighting in the near to immediate future. Demo locations of fixtures are not recorded nor saved passed 15 days.

Invoices/Late Fees

• Payment for final invoices are due upon receipt and have a 15 day grace period. Unpaid invoices will be charged a $25 late fee for every 15 days that they are paid. After 30 days of non payment one or more of the following may occur.
• A mechanics lien will be applied to the real property
• The account will be forwarded to a collections agency
• Suit will be filed with the local court house–Please note that once a suit is filed the court house automatically reports your information to the credit bureaus

Customer responsibilities

Call in to Dig Test 811. Dig test is to be notified 48 hours prior to the start of any digging by the homeowner. We do not perform this function because the information needed, such as your cable provider is not available to us. In addition not all carriers participate in the 811 dig test program. Dig test contractors are usually the major utility providers, this may include water, gas, and electrical. Please note Dallas curb appeal nor Dig test is responsible for marking things added by outside contractors. Samples include but are not limited to the following

• Electrical lines–This refers to any electrical lines after the meter -dig test will only mark the main lines to your meter and not any incidental lines that may have been added by the past or present homeowners such as for landscape lighting
• Sprinkler wires–These wires are not marked by 811 dig test. They are installed by individuals who may or may not have located wires as per a design. We are not responsible but will repair (in most cases in the same day) any damages to wires due to field conditions in which they may be cut or we may need to be re-routed.
• Un-tagged or loss flags are not the  responsible of Dallas Curb Appeal

If the area is not flagged by Dig test this may mean that there are no major utilities in the area. We are not responsible for for wiring issues if the customer fails to have the area flagged– but we will do our best to make sure that the problem is fixed as quickly as possible.

Rock and Other Field Conditions

If a field condition exists, such as rock, spring, etc, you must notify us in advance of your estimate. For example if you live in an area when there is rock close to the surface and extra labor is needed to deal with this field condition, we reserve the right to adjust our estimate to account for the additional labor, equipment etc, involved in working around the field condition.

Coupons and Discounts

If you qualify for a discount or have a coupon you must present it or notify your estimator at the initial time of the estimate. We honor all coupons and discounts, but at times some estimates may be more aggressively priced for seniors or for scheduling reasons and additional discounts cannot be applied afterward.

Change Orders

Every time you make changes as a client you must notify us in writing-this may be done by email or letter. There may not always be additional cost associated with a change order. In some case items are switched out for equivalent materials. In either case a record must be kept as to what transpired to keep accurate records. If you change an item that was previously agreed upon in your estimate that has been already delivered or installed you will be charged for those materials and or labor associated with it’s installation. There are no options for return with live and delivered materials. Once materials are purchased and are on site they will not be credited if unused. You may choose to keep the material or have it donated or destroyed.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call the office at 214-257-8155 or e-mail us at sales@Dallascurbappeal.com.

We reserve the right to amend or alter this policy at any time.