When you get a first look at an impressive new landscaping project, it’s often the pretty green stuff you gawk at first.
Majestic palm trees, maybe, or striking tropical croton.
But what makes a project really work is the skill and labor behind the scenes.
Expert drainage work. Precision hardscape. Attention to detail that comes from the landscape designer camped out on site with his laptop computer day after day, supervising every detail.
Is it possible to find paradise in your own backyard?
What if it had a pool, a mini beach with a hammock and fire pit, festive string lights, and plenty of comfy lounge chairs?
Pretty close.
Maybe you’ve noticed your pool or lanai area needs some pizzazz.
It’s understandable. These leisure areas are so popular here in Florida can be tough to spruce up.
Pools are often covered with large screens that are great for keeping bugs out but pose pool landscape design challenges.
If you’re getting ready for a whole bunch of new landscaping plants at your house, you’re really excited.
You can’t wait to have your plants installed.
But please wait, just a minute. A bunch of new plants is a big deal. You should ask landscapers some questions before you sign that contract.
When they say a picture is worth a thousand words, they’re talking about photos like you see here, the before and after photos of this Windermere, FL front yard.
Before: scruffy old shrubs; a leaning, aging palm tree; a bunch of brown sticks; ratty old mulch.
After: Wow.
If you look out your window and see a family of otters frolicking in your yard, you have a drainage problem.
No otters? That doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. Or in this case, lake.
You wouldn’t think a driveway would be the centerpiece of a stunning Orlando residential landscape design.
How great can a driveway be, right?
At this Spanish Colonial home in an Orlando gated community, a paver driveway made all the difference.
There’s a reason professional landscape designers get college degrees.
Man, there’s a lot of stuff to keep in mind.
When Orlando landscape designers study landscape design, they learn about mass, form, line, texture, and color. Then they combine these elements to transform your yard.
Sounds kind of fancy. But it’s why your new paver patio could have such graceful lines. It’s why your yard could be filled with plants with a variety of intriguing colors and textures.
“I love that big prickly pine tree by your pool.“
That’s a sentence you’ll never hear.
Not every plant is perfect for planting around a pool.
No spines, dripping sap, or falling burrs, please.
Ground Source landscape designer, Eric Frisch, shares a few of his favorite pool landscaping plants — and a couple of other pool landscaping tips.
This is Central Florida, land of palm trees.
Pick a palm for your yard or property, and it’ll thrive, right?
Actually, no. Just because this is Florida doesn't mean every variety of palm loves it here.
Some varieties, like Royal, Traveler's, or Coconut palms will likely die here in Central Florida if we get a bad frost or freeze.
If these three are your favorites, Traveler's palm, which looks like a banana tree, is the most likely of the three to survive in Central Florida, if not exposed to cold winds.
But there are better choices.