University Place

-

Jeff Moyer

Today's seminar is on 10 common landscape mistakes, and most importantly, how to avoid them. We're more of an optimist company, rather than a pessimist, so the format of this presentation, you'll see, is more or less the solutions. I'll touch on the minor mistake, but we'll talk about solution and possible considerations instead. The biggest thing with landscaping, whether it be design, whether it be installation, master gardening, a lot of you folks probably have experience with that, would be focusing, or lack of focusing on the big picture. Too commonly, we get into that trend where we start planting a new specimen, maybe a new garden. Maybe we're working with a contractor, and we chunk off a certain project. Well, two years down the road, and we never really had a plan for the grand scheme, the big picture, and we discover ourselves having to redo what we just did two years ago. Or splitting plants, or not understanding the horticulture elements, and different sizes and maturities. Focusing on the big picture is very important. And when you don't do that, it can really set you back. A prime example is, you know, in our end more of the landscape design build realm, when we create a design or a plan or when we meet with folks that would like a design or a plan put together and they just want to focus on one phase, and even if the other phases maybe can be considered for future, down the road, five, 10, 15 years, it's still good to consider where that plan is going to go to, the big picture. It allows you to efficiently manage your budgets. It also allows you to efficiently manage your planting schemes, your progress, your aspects. So again, we're not doing things twice. So big mistake, not focusing on the big picture. The best idea is to focus on the big picture. You know, start with your wish list, your plans, your likes, your dislikes, whether it's you designing or working with a professional design firm, have most importantly your dislikes, because a good-quality firm should be able to read in between the lines, understand the horticulture elements and gain, focus on the big picture. What is that plan gonna look like in five 10, 15, maybe 20 years? That's a big trend. Topography. Too often, I don't know, maybe I'll just get a show of hands where we've created a project, a garden bed, a landscape bed, maybe a patio or a walkway, a driveway, and all of a sudden we realize there's a water issue maybe after we finished it or we had something professionally installed. Has that ever come up where, almost suddenly, the water becomes a problem, it's flowing back towards the house, we find a low spot? I see a couple of nods, some hands in the back. It's okay, don't be shy. We're in here to learn, right? That's the whole point, we've all made mistakes and certainly, we've made our mistakes too and have learned from them. But topography and grading, especially along the foundation, really needs to be considered. Beyond any functional or pretty picture, the grading and the topography is so important. Navigation, where is that water going to flow after we construct a certain phase or certain project? Perhaps even with plantings. Am I planting this specimen too close or too far away from the house where water is not gonna be able to have its proper swale or pitch to get away from the home foundation? And I keep referencing the home foundation and that's important because it always is the green industry, and we focus on plantings and landscape beds. And quality landscape design, ultimately landscaping, is a complementary aspect of the home, you know? We spent a lot more of an investment, in most cases, on the home rather than the landscape. If we create a hindrance or a water issue where damming occurs, frost issues may happen. That's a big problem and that can really cause financial stress and some other burdens down the road. Storm water management, another key topic. Whether it's coming off of the roof or coming off from your neighbor up the hill that you guys are always cordial with but by God, his water always comes down on my property. We have to be prepared for that. Creating swale lines. Considering the big picture, but also considering the topography, where is that water going to flow? And also, for folks that live along shoreline, and we see it right now on Lake Monona, ice damming is a big problem. It can cause major structural issues, and that also coincides with topography. Where is that ice gonna go? Where is the water gonna flow? Do we have proper pitch away from the home? And quite frankly, in our designs, we really try to shoot for a minimum of a 2% pitch on any hard surface, whether it be a patio, a walkway, driveway. But also, for the plant beds, we look for more of like a 3%-5% pitch coming off of the foundation. Your home should be on the pedestal and should have grade away, okay? Sometimes homes aren't at the highest point. Sometimes we have to create false foundation walls to make sure that the drip line coming off the roof can still direct water and surface and subsurface waters away from the house. So definitely, topography is a major consideration in terms of water. So some examples of topography and retention there. As you can see towards the front, retaining along the house foundation, the picture to your left in the main screen, that is a handicap-accessible ramp rate here in Madison, but at the same time, we needed to create frost protection in order to create that ramp from the driveway up to the house, and also, of course, redirect water. There are drainage, subsurface, and behind the wall drainage considerations. There's a little black square box, if you will, on the picture to the left, and that allows basically the water hydraulic pressure from behind the wall to weep out. Again, subsurface and surface topography drainage is very important. Biggest mistake, I think, as far as aesthetically or connecting the whole picture is really not focusing on, "How does your inside flow with the outside?" What are the connecting aesthetic features as far as ornamental design? Does the outside landscape, does it connect with how the interior views are, the picture window? A lot of folks spend their time maybe behind the kitchen sink doing dishes or preparing a meal. It'd still be nice to have that view towards the outside. And is that view to the outside pleasing? Does it match with the rest of the home? And the solution to that is connecting the interiors and the exterior. Easier said than done, but a good thing to take from this part, number three. I would say, essentially, if you're hiring a professional design firm or looking to have a plan drawn up either by yourself-- you're sketching notes, you're putting together that plan-- make sure yourself, or that professional individual, comes inside the house. Very important, very important. And for multiple purposes, not just the feel or the certain design style that it connects with the outside, but also, you know, you want to make sure that, that landscape from the inside looking out is enjoyed as many parts of the seasons and as many times of the day as possible. Last thing that you want is to have a beautiful landscape done, maybe some professional low-voltage lighting put in, but that big window-- you're sitting by the fireplace inside and just like what I'm experiencing right now, there's a light bomb you know, just hitting me in the face. And, "Oh, I really wish I would've considered that." You know, connecting the inside and outside is very important. Is your home more of an open grand scheme, more open views? Or is it more of a historic, let's say like a Victorian-style home? I do think it's important that you should be able to match those qualities inside and out. And quite frankly, it's capturing the views and using the material selection is very important. Considering those is a good thing. Some good examples. As you see the picture on the left here that you're viewing, that's a Lake Wisconsin home property. We've decided to go with a natural, irregular flagstone patio, and the veneer, the facade on that beautiful home is that same exact material. It's a Lannon buff and a Lannon gray thin veneer stone. On the inside of that house, which of course we're not showing, which is unfortunate, but the fireplace has all that same Lannon irregular stone, all the way up the fireplace, the large wood structures, even the dark soldier course on this patio. They have all that dark crown molding in the house, and really, it connects that whole space, inside and out. And quite frankly, I think it's very pleasing, but it's also, it's functional too. You're not, all of a sudden, gonna go from a Rembrandt room to a Picasso room. And that's appropriate in some art studios, but we want to keep that Rembrandt or that Norman Rockwell approach consistent, or that Picasso approach consistent. It just adds value to the home and quite frankly, it really extends the feel. To the right, that's the picture of Wollersheim Distillery. The project there, again, the exterior of the stone walls is the same exact material as the retaining walls that were designed. Very wonderful example. On the interior of that wonderful project up there, again, it has some of that stone feel, the natural mixed with the Kentucky feel. Those lines need to mimic each other, and I think that's very important. And again, it draws the whole experience, both commercially and residentially. Focal point. This can be interpreted in many different ways. Focal point, in my opinion, a good example of what is not a good focal point is when you drive past the home-- curb appeal-- say you're driving at 15, 25 miles an hour in town, and you can't find the front door. That may seem really simple, or what's the importance of that, and that's a philosophy of design, a very ornamental aspect. But you should be guided either on the property or away from the property with curb appeal, bringing you to the front entrance. The warm welcome, okay? And sometimes, that's accomplished through architecture. Sometimes, that's accomplished through the landscaping. And sometimes, it's corrected by the landscaping or can be. Not to disrespect any of those quality builders out there, but in the design, finding that focal point, guiding somebody to the main characteristics of the home or specifically the front door, is very important. You almost want your vision to be tunneled or funneled to that focal point. And that can be for the front yard, good example in the backyard so you have a wonderful westerly view, a great view of a conservatory, or somebody in the backyard, maybe a tree, even if it's a cottonwood and it drops all those limbs but man, it sure is beautiful because it's 130 feet tall, you know? We want to try to drive those views from the inside out and also from the outside in. Finding that focal point allows, as we say, allow the eye to rest. It's not so busy where you're confused with what you need to be looking at. And also, focal point can be stemmed off of softening architectural lines as well. That's a whole 'nother topic but essentially, if we have a lot of hard, tall upright lines, a lot of the big, beautiful homes of today, big gable roofs, a lot of architectural squareness, a lot of neat things going on, but we want to soften and bring some focal point to the corners. We want to bring those lines down, soften it with different plant specimen selection, perhaps with even a different type of stone, offering contrasting mulch and stones within the same landscape bed to bring your eye to that one particular spot that you really want the focus to be on. So focal point, lack thereof, is an issue with design. Here's a pretty strong example in the picture to the right. That's definitely like a monoculture design, but it is drawing you to that main window? I mean, it is hard not to stare right where you need to go, guide you right down the path. And that can be incorporated again with some height variations of plant specimens, also softening with maybe some low-growing or curb appeal, curb-type specimens as well. Again, another example. Now these are also cleverly taken with the camera to really guide that focal point, but picture on the right, more of a hardscape-dominated project. But even the pergola, not just planting, but that pergola offers a focal point to, quite frankly, their feature, which is their exterior fireplace. The walkway also guides towards that, and having the backdrop of the existing vegetation and tree line really helps draw that eye to rest, bring you right to that fireplace, which is, quite frankly, what those homeowners really want people to be proud of and see. And they're, quite frankly, proud to show it off. And the picture to the left there with the bubbling vase, the way the architecture is drawn with the patio and the softening of the specimens around the edge, of course, it's circular. It brings everyone right to that middle. That is the focal point. Now some pretty, I would say, normal examples that we would see here in our area. Variety. Well, that's an interesting picture right there. There's not a whole lot going on. This is also more of a theory, but mass plantings, especially in the residential landscape, really don't invite for a warm cozy feeling. You get a monoculture that, you know, it's too much of one thing and I am trying to say this in the most realistic terms as possible, but we do want a good variety. And a mistake that people make is, well, quite frankly, you've probably seen it. Development from the 60s or 70s, maybe it still has that existing landscaping and the massive dense use, you know, the evergreen use or the big great-- I see some mm-hmm, yup, yeah, all right-- The big green junipers all along the front. That's a monoculture-type landscape planting. There's no variety there. And it's not that, that's just a trend, but think about it. There's no changes throughout the season. Where is the spring flower, you know? Where is the fragrance in July? What about fall foliage? Not that sea green junipers or even dense use don't have a place in the current landscaping, but they should be balanced with a good mix of evergreen, a good mix of flowering ornamental, get a good, strong spring flower, maybe a Forsythian spring, a great first splash hint of spring, and then I don't know if any folks are from Stoughton, but that hit that P.J.M. rhododendron, and that nice lavender flower, right around Syttende Mai. And then, after that's done, the Weigelas kick in, okay? Maybe the Ninebarks start to flower late summer. You have purple foliage, you have green foliage, you have pink flower, white flower, you know? A good example, Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry offers multi-seasonal interest, beautiful white spring flower in the summer; nice, green, rich foliage. But in the fall, beautiful burnt red foliage, almost like a burning bush red. And you know, picking that variety and having that within the landscaping, incorporating some evergreen so when we have "snowmageddon" again, it actually looks like there's something out there-- not just a bunch of twigs. It's very important, you know? That doesn't just coincide with planting. That can also be a variety of hardscaping materials, having accent lines, inlays, different colors and textures to create different room space. I mean, just like in a home, if you walked into a house and it was all white wall, all the same flooring, the same window coverings, it would kind of feel like you're walking into a clinic. And I mean that respectfully, but very clean, very sanitary. If you also look at the landscaping outside of clinics, more commercialized, mass clusters of plantings, 150 Karl Foerster grasses all in a row, 300 spirea along the foundation. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's a place for that, and it's more of the commercial setting. The residential home, you need some variety. Quite frankly, in Wisconsin, we need to mix it up a little bit ourselves too so we have some interest throughout the year and throughout different seasons. Brings me back to that first example. Now this picture was taken in August during the drought of 2000 and-- what is it?-- '12 or '13? Massive sea green junipers up in front and now the grass is, unfortunately, deader than a doornail too. But just to offer, these folks wanted a simplistic but an aesthetically pleasing design, and this is the picture of the immature design right after it was installed. We do have a good mix of evergreen. We do have a good mix of upright, on a stand with some beautiful burgundy foliage, a foundation, but they'll get changes throughout the season. And quite frankly, it almost makes that house come right back to life, and that's a very simplistic and do-it-yourself approach. But again, it accomplishes so much compared to what those junipers were doing for that foundation before. Planting for all the seasons, kind of a stem off of my previous topic. We want seasonal interest in our landscapes, commercially, residentially. And not to sound too vague or too broad, but we do want good wintergreen mix within our landscapings. We don't want all deciduous or all perennial, all herbaceous. To have the combination and the proper ornamental design is very important. Again, it keeps our interest activated, keeps our senses alive. Fragrances stimulated, if you will, and that's very important to have that spring flower, the beautiful red bud. Not the dead buds, but the eastern red buds. I see some smiles. Yeah everyone knows what we're talking about there, but have that beautiful pink flower, again, maybe the white spring flower off of flowering ornamental crabapple, getting the Forsythia and that first hint of spring. It's important, especially in our climate. Everyone's at the Garden Expo because we're just anticipating spring, you know? We have this good vibe of spring is coming and we're gonna force the issue even if it's negative 5 outside. But that's something to look forward to, you know, to have that spring flower. With an evergreen massing, or even with just a deciduous massing, you may get that flower. But then maybe after that first two weeks, it's gone, and then nothing else throughout the season. To have the summer with a perennial flower during the hotter times of the year but maybe the, you know, the flowering ornamentals are done, they're in the full leaf, that's where a great opportunity for the different daily variety to take off, you know? Maybe the blanket flower, different approaches that have some spring and summer continuation even in the fall, you know? Some of our hydrangea specimens in the late fall, their beautiful blossom even as they start to brown, can be used for a dry cutting. Getting that seasonal change is very important. And, quite frankly, my favorite time of the year-- for multiple purposes, not just because of Green Bay and Wisconsin Badger football-- but Wisconsin fall foliage is very important. And you can accomplish that with more than just trees. A Little Henry sweetspire, wonderful opportunity to get some of that red foliage, that burnt foliage. The burning bush, everyone is familiar with that, that fiery bright red in the fall. And even some of the yellows. You get that with the birch and other different varieties, but try to have it so we're having seasonal interest. The evergreen is the foundation of color throughout the year, and the evergreens aren't just green. We can get beautiful blues, yellow tones, rich greens, light greens. But to have the color and the foliage interest is very important. And so many times, we forget that when we go to the local garden center and we want to try to plant up the foundation. "Oh, I love that shrub, that's beautiful. "I'm gonna buy six of them," you know? "Plant them along my foundation." Well then, a week later, it loses its seasonal interest and not a bad shrub but it's kind of boring now, you know? We wanna mix, we wanna mix it up a little bit. So planting for all seasons is the solution to just considering one hot item during a particular part of the year. Scale and proportion. (audience chuckles) Yup, we're looking right at it and we're laughing and we're smiling and quite frankly, I love the cacti picture on the right. I think it's great. A little different concept of what we experience up here. But what I'm getting at with scale and proportion, guys, is quite frankly, knowing what the maturity sizes of plants are. We don't expect everyone to be a horticulturalist or an arborist. We don't expect everyone to have gone to school for five to six years or more to learn these plant specimens, but it's okay to ask and be familiar with how large, wide and height are some of these plants going to be. It's common to hear a professional designer that's been experienced and has a good horticultural knowledge, to say that they're designing to maturity. It's very important, very important, and that's not just for the woodies and for the large-scale evergreens, but that's also for the perennial too, not necessarily in size but how much will this perennial spread? You know, will it take over my whole front yard? Understanding the scale proportion is very important, so you're investing in not just now, but you're investing 5, 10, 15 years, which you'll commonly hear me say throughout this presentation. Making sure that you don't plant an American arborvitae two feet off the house right by the front door and then all of a sudden, seven years later, "You know what, we haven't used that front door in a long time. "I don't even know where it is anymore." So understanding that is very, very important. And quite frankly, we don't expect you to be experts. A good horticulturalist, a good designer, landscape architect, should understand some of those growth habits and place it accordingly. You know, I don't know what it was, but there's a trend, I would say, in the late 90s, maybe in the early 90s for that matter where everyone was planting Heritage river birch like three feet off the corner of their house, and again, I saw a couple of eyes roll over there and some smiles. I don't know if we all realize that, that tree is gonna get over 25 feet tall and multiple stems are gonna be blowing off your eaves in a few years. Another really common one is the Techny arborvitae right next to the corner of the house to soften that architectural line. Guess what folks, those get pretty big too. And I don't know if we just didn't know that, but then there's also that example of the mugo pine. Mugo pines. Beautiful little shrubs, supposed to get about three to five feet, I believe, they originally called for? Who planted a mugo pine and it had to reach over 15? We've been there. Yeah, I've seen hands, right? Now that's not your fault or probably not even the designer's fault. Let's blame Baileys' or something on that one, or the cultivars that came out. Joking aside, but sometimes plants do grow just like human beings. The average height for a human being is 5'10" in today's age. I mean, we have the Shaquille O'Neals out there, and we also have the gymnast too. And sometimes, we need to be prepared for that. So give yourself enough cushion for that scale or the proportion, that maturity size is very important. And again, too big can be overwhelming. Too small, you can go the contrast on that and be too far spaced out, and that just feels kind of naked to be honest with you. Pretty staunch differences there from the left and right picture on your screen, but needless to say, still very important to have consideration. And just a show of hands, just for fun, how many people have way overplanted a design and regretted it like five to six years later? Okay, so about a third of the room. How many folks have had, okay, a little bit more growing, we're getting some confidence back there. What about underplanting? where it's gotten to the point where you're like "Okay, I need to do something here."? Okay, so about a quarter. And the rest, everyone's landscape are just perfect, I'm assuming, right? (audience laughs) That's okay too. Good for you guys. You've figured it out right away. It's taken us about 30 years of business to really figure out the exact mix and that we all have our own philosophies but it is trial and error. And horticulturally, they are live specimens. There's no glass ceiling to how big they may get, and even if Michael Dirr wrote a wonderful book on it, and he's very well-known, if anyone has ever heard of Michael Dirr, even he's been surprised sometimes too. So moving on here. Scale and proportion. This can be not just in the horticultural realm. This can also be in a hard surface or the hardscaping realm too. This is an example of actually a unique scenario. It's a front door, okay? Most of the time we don't have living spaces by the front door. This is a double French door for an entrance of a home, okay? And the walkway, initially, that was there, the existing concrete structure, was far too small. Quite frankly, no more than one person could stand on that front stoop and feel comfortable. It also wasn't very inviting. Yeah, it directs you right to the door, but there's a lot of hard lines there. And what the homeowners really wanted with this was, well, first of all they said, "We don't know what we want per se, "but we want a more inviting surface "and we want kids when they come up for trick-or-treating "to not feel like, you know, they're gonna fall off "of a stoop or they are to, you know, "be in single-file lines to come in the house." So creating that scale and proportion, that warmness, which fits with that particular home is also important in the hardscape design, whether it be concrete, pavers, flagstone, you don't want to throw a 600 square-foot living space in someone's front yard by any means, but if there's no backyard and the front yard is the only opportunity for it, maybe that's appropriate. Again, consulting with your designer, if you're working with a design firm, is very important. And again, guiding them so they're facing the front door, not just at an angle, which is what was there from existing. Moving on here. Scale and proportion. Okay, backyard setting. I chuckle at this. In today's day and age, horticulturally, I would say in the past, commonly, landscapes were dominated by the horticultural or the softscape approach and then complemented with a hardscape feature, whether it be a deck or a patio slab. Today, as you folks know, I mean, you've seen those trends change. A lot of folks are creating outdoor living spaces is what it's being called, outdoor living experiences, where it's an ability to be outside but at the same time be softened by wonderful plantscaping. Now in this case, we don't see the plantscaping in the before-and-after pictures, but regarding scale and proportion, that backsliding door, that house was really poured with a six-foot slab off the back sliding door originally. And quite frankly, the use of that is near zero. By the time you step out and maybe have a grill, well, we all know and I'm sure you've experienced this too, that grill is gonna have to be in the grass or else we're melting siding pretty quick. And the homeowners of this property were great. They're like, "Yeah, when this house was purchased, "we were told it has a patio slab on the back, "great for entertaining." (audience laughs) Right, right. And of course, they moved into the community and they walked back there and they said, "Well, I'm not sure who we're entertaining maybe, "but it just wasn't proportional for "what the space should be." It's a sliding basement access outside. They need to have more space there and they needed to have a functional space for cooking, also for a fire pit. So scale and proportion is not just with plants. It's also with hardscaping too. And all too often, we see this a lot with new build, with spec home building, respectfully, that the patio slab or the backyard patio is far too small. And not to get too in depth on this but one of the best ways to determine how big your patio space needs to be is a lot of folks have some furniture. They maybe have a grill already. Lay that space out, even if it's in the yard. Take a garden hose. I mean, this is anyone, this is a do-it-yourself experience right here. Take a garden hose and wrap it around the space and then have a couple of your family members walk around that space to make sure you're giving yourself enough adequate patio space so you're not having to step onto the grass to use your patio. And so again, scale and proportion is very important, and that coincides with the hardscape outdoor living experience as well. Lighting. One of the biggest mistakes is lack of lighting. Lighting offers, A, a security function. It does help highlight your home. It's a lot easier to say, "We live at 1805 Johnson street, "the house that's lit up." And people can find your residence. Security is a big one. Secondly, you know, we have a short enough season as it is, whether you're a horticultural plant, you know, just enthusiast or you're an outdoor living experience enthusiast, wouldn't it be great to be able to enjoy that investment, both planting and hard surface, not just year-round but maybe for a few extended hours, especially when it's still 55, 60 degrees

but the sun is setting at 5

30? It'd be great to have a little bit of that ambiance and that ability to illuminate that space or that specialty plant or that specimen or that water feature and extend that usability into the evening hours. Lighting itself, I would say the wrong is not doing lighting of some sort. I mean, houses today, they always have lights by the garage for particular reasons, for safety, for security. Usually, there's a front door light. Now you're seeing can lights in the soffit and eaves, very important. But far too often, lighting, you know, landscape lighting, specifically, is underestimated as far as what it can add to the value of your home, you know, being able to highlight that wonderful and very expensive brick or stone veneer that you paid extra for when you designed that house and all of a sudden, now it's washed out for, you know, the other half of the day. The other thing is quite frankly, you know, lighting today has come a long way with LED lighting. There's zoning and dimmable capabilities now, programming and themes where it's not all or nothing. It's not 100% stage light or zero. You can have different dimming capabilities to where it offers some ambience, a little bit more of a warm feeling to it; and for safety reasons. Folks live on a lake property and they have a path down to the river, down to the water, it'd be great to have that lit so people aren't tripping and falling. The other thing too is the nightlife, create your nightlife. It improves your entertainment. It really does. I mean, quite frankly, I don't know if anyone has experienced Olbrich Gardens in the evening. Maybe a show of hands if anyone's actually seen their lighting. A few. Stunning, right? And that was actually, I can't take credit for this, but Jan Moyer, no relation, believe it or not, was one of the main designers on that. Fantastic job. And obviously, they've teamed up with a lot of other folks too. But Olbrich Garden is gorgeous during the day. Olbrich Garden at night is gorgeous times two in my opinion, and I'm not a lighting fanatic but it really does take on a whole 'nother life form, shadow casting, different shades, different colors even, different lens colors. So very important. How many folks here already have landscape lighting or have dabbled with it? Just curious. Okay. Of those, LED lighting, show of hands? Or traditional halogen? Okay, so most folks are getting back into the LED. And again, power consumption, ease, it really, really is fantastic. Good example of a good and honestly, an overlit home. The bottom left is an overlit bad example. So people not doing lighting, number one, is I would say try lighting, but then you can go the far ends of it on either in perspective. The bottom left-hand corner, quite frankly, is a house that has an extreme light bomb right in the middle. It does have balance, and there's some goods there, but it's almost overlit, it's overwhelming. And we don't want to feel like we're pulling up into a Kiss concert, you know, at Alpine Valley or something. It wants to be warm, inviting, subtle, simple elegance even in the evening hours. The house on the right, quite frankly, is a softened architectural lighting, it highlights the house. It draws your interest. Now the light right over the front door is shut off, which it should be on for this picture, but the exterior, the home is highlighted, you know? The board and batten exterior, the plants in the driveway. it's just a nice, soft, subtle glow and almost to the point where you would think, "Oh, well, actually the house isn't lit," you know? "The sun must be setting." Well, I believe that picture was taken at about 9:30 at night. Now it wasn't a super dark evening, but again it does help soften that space. And quite frankly,

there is a lot of factors

rural or in town, lighting does play a big, big role. Quite frankly, even the rural settings, I mean, we live out way off the road, very quite setting, but to have a little bit of lighting up towards the front, it makes it not so spooky when guests pull down the long driveway, to be honest with you. So it creates a welcoming space. Details, or the number nine mistake, lack thereof. And vaguely, we all know attention to the details is the important part. Having the small things are what matters the most, and I can't stress that enough. Planting, paving. And with planting, having the right pop of the yellow flower at the perfect time of year, that's the detail, you know, right along the walkway. Hopefully we don't have anyone allergic, but maybe that bay window with a North Korean lilac, nice fragrant flowers coming into the window at the right time, that's the attention to details. Thinking of the small things, very important. But paving and even wood structures plays a big part of that. Attention to detail is everything. You walk into a house with some crown molding and maybe some wainscoting and that's great. But then you walk in and you see a house that, on the interior, that maybe has that custom-made rail, that custom-made crown molding, and the difference of that makes, and the attention to the detail is fascinating. That can be carried over into the landscaping. And of course, details generally do come with a cost too, whether it's your own time, your own patience, your own trips back and forth to the garden center. But also, if it's hiring, professionally done. But it does make all the difference. And more of a purchasing or a life example, don't settle on the details. If a detail is important to you, find a way to make it happen. If that means holding off on the backyard phase for now, do so, because the attention to detail is everything, especially with the front and the exterior, the outdoor living space is very important. And I can get in a topic and details for three days if we wanted to, but I think we're limited with time today. But it definitely makes a big difference. Again, details, more of the hard version of this as an example. A big trend in the past was, besides that little six by 10-foot concrete slab, which lacked all detail we saw on a previous slide, but then it was paving a 300 square foot area with the same Holland paver, the same color. You know, maybe the same color soldier course. Well, that's nice and it's great, but people discovered really, not necessarily any additional cost per se, just like in a home, we can have picture framing. We can have contrasting colors and textures to provide that different room feel, a difference space. Again, the attention in the details is very, very neat. And maybe trying a new mixed-media. There's no right or wrong answer here. It's really up to you as far as likes that you like to go with. Layering different plant material in your perennial garden to get that detail, that character, is very, very important. The fireplace on the right-hand side. Honestly, 10, 12 years ago, who would've thought that you're creating, using bricks and wall block to create something like that? Who ever came up with that idea, you know, pat on their back because that's really neat. I mean, we've seen the evolution of landscaping and planting come a long way; and again, it's the attention to the detail, even allowing the space for the decorative, the perennial pots or the annual pots on the side. That all plays a big part. And I can't stress enough that there's really good and then there's high detail, and that's really, really, really good. And it really makes for a good conversation starter and quite honestly, something to be proud of. You've never heard someone said, "Well, yeah, I'm really proud of that. "I slapped that together in 15 minutes, doesn't look great." Or, "This took me six months, "I went through two back adjustments, "two cases of Advil, but now look at it." I mean, there's a lot more pride in that detail remark, that's for sure. This is a big one, and I'm gonna stay on this one for a little bit. And this is a professional belief, I guess; my personal belief as well. But the biggest mistake, and this is mostly multifaceted, mind you, is that people setting themselves up for an overwhelming amount of unnecessary maintenance in the landscape world, that can be planting, that can be your grass, that could be your deck, that could be your patio, could be your landscape lighting, and I save this for last because it's all-encompassing of all the previous slides that we just discussed about. Maintenance is a real consideration of time, of expense and generally, it's due to lack of proper planning up front. Seeing that big picture, you know? Understanding what is this going to take for me to keep this looking nice into the future? You know, my personal pocketbook, number one, my stress and frustration. Number two, how many glasses of wine am I gonna need after the end of that weekend pulling that many weeds? Number three, and that can go on and further, but also, proper planting, proper installation, very, very big as far as reducing that need for unnecessary maintenance. Great example of that. And you feel you have all the time in the world is fantastic, but overplanting annuals within your sustainable landscape, within your permanent landscaping... There's a time and place for annuals, decorative pots. Maybe that functional garden space, maybe that pot right up by the front house or by the back door. But try not to overextend yourself with having to be married to that year-round, and I am not taking away anything from our wonderful garden centers out there that have beautiful annuals, because it's fun to do those things. But sometimes, guess what, life happens, our health happens, and now we're stuck with a feature that needed to be planted of those annuals, and now there it sits naked. You don't want that to be the main focal point of your home. You can accomplish flower and texture and fragrance with uses of more hardy perennial, as well as you know, woody ornamentals and even evergreen. And not that there's not a spot for annuals, but that's one of the biggest issues that we see. "Oh, I love annuals, I love annuals." Well then, peel off a couple of layers of the onion. Why do you like annuals so much? "Oh, because there's yellows and blues and lavenders "and pinks and whites. "Oh, the flowers can go on and on." "Okay, and what do you like about those colors?" "Well, it's just great to have all those colors." "What do you not like about that?" "Well, we've got a deadhead. "Yeah, we have to replant them every year." And then you start finding out, like, "Well, maybe we can accomplish some of that "and some good spaces, "but perhaps we can now accomplish those same colors "and fragrances with a specimen that maybe needs "a couple of wild hairs pruned from it from time to time "once a year, maybe once every other year." "Oh really? Those exist?" "Yeah, they do," you know? And so considering the mass annual clusters. And again, there's definitely a time and place for annuals. And quite frankly, this is the best show to be at for that, but try not to overwhelm yourself with it. The other thing is maintenance as far as weed barrier. Do I use it, number one. Number two, what do we use for a weed barrier in our landscape beds, professionally or DIY? We can probably start throwing things at each other with all the different opinions on this but respectfully, you know, weed barriers are important. And for the sense of A, it does protect you from having to be out in your landscape the entire year pulling weeds. Personally, in our firm and some other firms, we use Visqueen, a plastic more commonly than a fabric, okay? And I'll explain the benefits of both. And we also use fabric too, on occasion, given a certain topography, but Visqueen, a weed barrier, quite frankly, it serves the purpose of moisture retention, as well as the ability to keep weeds down and out. Best example of Visqueen is people say, "Well, no water can get to the plant." Well, around each plant there should be the drip line cutaway of the Visqueen if you're following me like on a shrub. If the shrub is 12 inches wide per se, that diameter of that circle cut around that plant should be approximately 12 to 15 inches. Now people say, "Well, that's great. "But when it rains, what happens then?" Well, water, it does find the path of least resistance and when it's a heavy moisture saturation day, water will hit that Visqueen and disperse. Generally, it would disperse towards where the opening is or back into the soil. Now in a reverse end, our soils breath, our soils transpire. Visqueen does create almost its own greenhouse effect, if you will, in comparison to some permeable or breathable fabrics, whereas as, as our soils are breathing, are transpiring, the moisture is making its way to the top surface, it hits that Visqueen and then through adhesion and cohesion, it finds a path of least resistance. Opposite of rain, this time it's going up. It's pulling that moisture towards the concentrated area of where the roots are on the plants, which is where that gap is cut out in the plastic. Fabric, the reason why professionally we've steered away from that with most cases, just for reference, is that it is a wonderful harbor for roots,

and roots of all kinds

turf, weeds, et cetera. And people say, "Well, we like fabric because "it allows for permeation of moisture." And true, I would also challenging you to take some of your landscape fabric right out the box or something that's been in for a few years and run a light garden hose on that. Maybe even use it like a coffee filter. How much is actually dripping through? You'll be surprised on how little actually drips through because of the different products and fabrics, materials that are made of these fibers. It actually wicks the moisture right off. So you don't get as much permeation as you'd like to see with fabric, but as fabric breaks down, it does silt in and essentially does become a solid barrier anyways. It does break down over time and quite frankly, at that point, that's when the weeds can set in. So fabric is better than nothing, but there's a lot of beliefs and studies done at different universities, Cornell being one of them, I know UW did a good study on this a few years ago regarding Visqueen and the negative or positive impact of some plantings. And quite frankly, the negatives haven't outweighed the positives as far as maintenance setting and some different horticultural health aspects. You know, that goes for watering and weeding. Fertilization. Some people say, "I want that yard to look fantastic. "I'm gonna blast it with nitrogen. "I'm just gonna kick this thing up with some iron "and really get going on it." Well, you also are setting yourself up for some possible frustration with too much growth and quite frankly, an inability for the roots to survive off of the macros and micros that are already in the soil. Mulching, stone versus hardwood mulch. Both medias have their purpose, both medias have their aesthetic and functional qualities. You know, we wouldn't recommend that you put a mulch on like a 60-degree slope for the maintenance of of every time it rains, we get that wonderful July Wisconsin rain. It's down in the neighbor's driveway and we're having to scoop it up on a Sunday morning. We don't want to do that. So again, maintenance essentially boils down to proper planning, looking ahead, forecasting ahead, understanding plant sizes, growth habits, knowing how certain plants are gonna grow. Do they need constant pruning, do they not? Proper pruning, for that matter. I know we've all done it. We've seen people have done it, taken that hedge clippers and topped off the whole hedgerow and then wonder why next year, that, that hedge is four times thicker on the upper surface and it actually grew more than what we were hoping for. Again, improper pruning, you know? Stimulating that meristematic growth to where it just explodes. Learning some of these things and honestly, taking a little effort to, whether you're a do-it-yourself or with a professional consult, the Internet is a wonderful resource for these things too. And now we don't believe everything that the Internet tells us, but it is nice to get some different pruning techniques and different landscape techniques for care and maintenance. Call for backup, ask for help. Could be a neighbor, could be a horticulturalist. Could be the urban forester in your local city or street department. Could be your professional up the road. You know, those things are all key, and it's okay to rely on help from time to time. So yeah, thank you. (applause)