Landscaping

Pick up any recent issue of House and Garden and you’ll see that the trend in rear garden design is toward a soft, natural look, away from the manicured flower beds and sculpted hedges of a formal garden. It’s easy to see why. Shrubs in their natural shapes provide plenty of visual interest, and seldom need clipping: flagstone and exposed aggregate walks never need mowing; trees can drop a few leaves into the ivy beds and the picture is not spoiled. There are economic as well as esthetic motives behind the trend, however: Most homeowners would rather not spend every weekend laboring in the flowerbeds, to say nothing of paying the increasing cost of garden help.

Even if garden help has never been part of your budget, there are financial reasons for looking closely at the landscaping on your property. According to Bill Pardoe, president of Lambert Landscape Company, real estate prices are becoming more and more sensitive to landscaping values. (Ten years ago the market value of a house was hardly affected at all by what was planted around it. ) The increasing capital value of landscaping reflects a general growth in ’ ’outdoor awareness” in the last fifteen years; it also reflects the expenses involved. Lambert’s, the Cadillac of Dallas landscaping, provides the works – including patios, plantings, lighting, and sprinkler system – for $10, 000 to $15, 000. Green Acres, a nice Chevrolet in comparison, generally charges $3, 000 to $4, 000 for putting trees, grass, shrubs, and sprinkler into an 80 by 120-foot lot (to set off a $50, 000 house).

Whether you’re doing your own planting or bringing in a landscape contractor, you’ll need a complete set of plans in hand before breaking ground. Probably the best way to hire a contractor is to get plans drawn up and take them around for bids. For $500 to $800, a registered landscape architect will visit with your family, work up preliminary sketches for your approval, and then draw detailed plans. Or you can provide the architect with photographs of the house, thus saving the cost of his initial visit.

However, many landscape contractors argue that it’s a waste of money to have plans drawn up by an architect, who has a degree but may have no experience actually working with plants. They claim that a good contractor, who lacks a diploma but has a feeling for the materials, can produce superior design. And the savings are impressive: Many contractors will spend a few hours at your house and draw up working sketches for $50.

People moving to Dallas from cooler, moister parts of the country are often disappointed to find that they can’t have flowers blooming all summer. Aside from the expense of planting every spring, bloomers like petunias and snapdragons just don”t make it through a spell of 110-degree weather. Some thought must go into choosing plants that will survive in our harsh climate and alkaline soil.

For spring color, nurserymen suggest crepe myrtle, which is very tolerant of heat, caladium, day lily, and periwinkle. Roses seem to be coming back into fashion. Good big trees are live oak, sweet-gum, and little leaf elm (also called cedar elm). Avoid pecan trees, which are susceptible to many diseases and attract bagworms. Sycamore and maple are messy and short-lived; maples yellow easily in Dallas’ alkaline soil and make lots of little maple trees. Dwarf trees at the corners of a house soften its outlines. Good ones are yaupon, which looks like a small multi-trunk live oak, crepe myrtle, and crabapple.

Shrubs are sold according to the size of the buckets holding them – one, two, or five gallons. It’s a good idea to check before buying to be sure the amount of foliage matches the size of the container. If you have a landscape contractor do your planting, he will probably guarantee the shrubs and trees for 90 days, long enough for the roots to take hold. Nurserymen recommend against buying bargain plants at discount stores, citing a lack of protection against disease. Shop around: Nursery prices vary 50 percent or more for many plants.

Unless you have a swimming pool, it won’t be much fun out in the yard on those hot summer days. But outdoor lighting lets you enjoy your garden in the cool of the evening, and makes your house more secure. The dean of American outdoor illuminators is John Watson of Dallas, who has replaced incandescent floodlights with more efficient gas discharge lamps, artfully placed for a “moonlight” effect. The worst way to light a yard is with the Coleman-type gaslights promoted by the gas company a few years back. They use a lot of fuel, about $3 worth per mantle per month at current rates. If you have them, turn them off: The 1978 National Energy bill calls for a fine of $500 to be imposed on anyone still using gaslights in 1983. Electrically powered gas discharge lamps are 40 to 50 times as efficient.

Automatic sprinkler systems can do a great job of keeping your greenery green; unfortunately, many systems installed a few years ago hardly work at all. But that’s all been changed: A state law passed in 1974 requires every irrigation contractor to pass a state licensing examination; the work permit for every installation bears the contractor’s name. As a result, there are fewer sprinkler companies in Texas now than there were five years ago. Sprinkler systems are expensive to dig up, fix, and rebury. so shop for a good warranty. Your contract with the irrigator should guarantee thorough coverage for at least a year. For most sprinkler equipment, price equals reliability; buy all the reliability you can afford. There’s not much opportunity to get fancy, but deluxe models do offer a switch that turns off the sprinkler if there’s been plenty of rain. And Weathermatic has a new device that shuts down the sprinkler if the temperature is below freezing. A word of caution: Dallas’ population is growing faster than its water system, and in many areas the pressure in the mains is insufficient for a sprinkler. So be sure to compare the minimum operating pressure of the sprinkler with the pressure in your pipes.