Considerations before Rejuvenating

Considerations before Rejuvenating your landscape

We’ve been busy working our magic in the garden, but I haven’t forgotten about this subject that we started.

In the first part of this series, we asked why to rejuvenate your garden. Now we’re going to briefly go over a few consideration you need to think about before proceeding. You may find a few items overlap. That’s okay, it just proves how important each point is.

Ready? Alright then, here we go…

1. Before you can make any changes, it is going to be important to know WHY you’re making them. In other words—what are your landscape goals? Are you trying to refresh your old landscape? Or create an entirely different look? Does your landscape need to serve a more functional purpose?

This re-landscape was created for screening and hiding the view behind

2. What role do you want the plants in your landscape to achieve? Hide a view, provide shade, define your property line?

3. Is your current landscape meeting your landscape goals? Is the hedgerow along the property line still a thick, lush wall of greenery? Has the tree grown enough to provide you with cooling shade, or is it at the point where there is too much shade, and you can’t get anything to grow under it?

4. Has your purpose for the planting changed over the years? For example, the shorter shrubbery you planted may now need to be replaced with taller plants because a new building has gone up next door that you don’t want to see.

5. Has the growth of the plants or the needs of your yard usage changed the access to the area you want to do new plantings? Have the larger trees in the area grown so much that you will be adding new plants into a mass of roots from that tree?

6. Will making any changes to your landscape interfere with the relationship you have with your neighbor? Talking neighborly over the fence can quickly change if you remove a large tree that was the shading sitting area your neighbor enjoyed.

7. What is your landscape budget? Have you even made one? When you do, be sure to include all aspects of the renovations: plants, materials, and labor.

8. Do you plan on doing the work yourself or hiring a professional landscaper? You need to know what your physical limitations are—don’t forget, landscaping is physical labor!

New bed line, color and texture

It is essential, no critical, that you have at the very least, given these items some thought and planning. You may find that you need to do this work in phases. Be sure to ask for help from your local garden center when you’re ready to start any planting.

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Rejuvenate or Re-do?

In the next series of blogs, I am going to address a problem many homeowners eventually face. How do you deal with an older landscape?

26278876 – flowering azaleas

Down here in the south, things grow fast. There is no dormant, or cold period, to moderate the growth. Yes, there are changes to the pace of growth during different seasons, but few plants will actually drop their leaves and go dormant for 3-4 months of the year. Because of this, the average life span of the landscape is accelerated. In south Florida, it is safe to say this life span is 12-15 years for most foundation plantings, hedging, and mass planting. Trees grow larger at a much faster rate, often leaving only trunks to look at from the eaves of the home to the ground. Those graceful palm fronds are now above the roof line. This dramatically changes the look of the landscape from what it was when first planted.

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This also puts the homeowner in the position of needing to relandscape. But do you rip everything out and start from scratch, or do you rejuvenate your existing landscape?

Before you make this decision, there are a few things you need to consider.

1. What are your landscape goals? Are you looking for a new look, or merely to improve on your existing landscape? Do you need to change a viewpoint, traffic pattern or maybe add a piece of hardscape?

2. Do you have a budget for the work to be done? Bear in mind that removal of some larger established plants will eat into that budget.

3. Does your existing landscape serve a purpose other than beautifying your home? Are you screening something from view, defining your property lines or trying to cut down on the noise from nearby traffic?

4. Does your landscape create “good neighbor vibes”?Do you and your neighbor both benefit from the existing plants? Take into consideration if relandscaping will cause a strain on your relationship with your neighbor.

5. How accessible is the area in question? This may be an essential factor if any equipment is necessary to do the job.

6. Is your current landscape achieving goals a new landscape may not be able to do until it is established? For instance; is a large tree providing shade that a new tree would take years to offer.

7. Are you looking to hire a professional landscaper or do the work yourself?

You should be able to answer these questions before you proceed with any further with your landscape plans. In the next post, I will discuss the pros and cons of rejuvenating your landscape ~vs. ~ completely re-landscaping your area.