Its amazing the things people do to, or with plants because they saw someone else do it that way, when 9 out of 10 times, that person didn't have any idea what they were doing. Just because your neighbor ruins his plants is no reason for you to do the same. Even if you think it looks good now, do either of you have any inkling of what it will look like in a year? 5 years?
Businesses are quite often even worse to copy than homes. The person who hires the landscape people usually takes the lowest bid without knowing if that low bidder knows what they are doing. (and they usually don't) How would he know anyway, since he usually doesn't know enough about landscaping to tell bad work from good. Most of the executives who hire the landscapers would never notice if the entire landscape was bulldozed, as long as their office looked the same. Fast food restaraunts are the worst. Especially the national chains, where some exec. who's never seen the place hires people he's never seen to do the work. I have to wonder if theres some kind of rule that says fast food places must have really bad landscaping. Maybe there's a competition going on in the fast food industry for the ugliest landsaping. They're all trying hard to win!
In this world of "instant gratification", At least 70% of the new landscape jobs I've seen going in lately are terribly overplanted, and will require major renovations within 5 years. If you don't leave room for the plants to mature, you'll end up having to remove plants and enlarge the bed areas, if not totally re-landscape.
Many landscape companies plant so that it looks just like you want it to be as soon as they plant it. This pleases many horticulturally unaware clients in the short run. If you think it will stay that way you are living in a fantasy land. The plants are a small fraction of the mature size, and if the planting looks full and lush when planted, its going to look lke an overgrown mess when it matures. In 5 years all the plants will be way overcrowded or butchered, from trying to keep them cut back, if not dead from being so crowded. Overcrowed plants are also more vulnerable to insects & disease.
These companies make money by selling you many more plants than you need, and hope you'll call them back in 5 years to do it again. Amazingly, some people will call them back to make another mess, and dig up the old one. (Job security?) It will cost much more to dig up the mess than it did to install it. It's much more work. Granted, some of these companies know how it should be done, but overplant at the insistance of a horticulturally challenged customer. At times it can come down to pleasing the customer in the short run, & creating a future disaster, or losing the customer. (Some people just won't listen!)
A good landscape improves with age. A knowledgeable person will consider the mature size of the plants. A good landscape may not look as "lush" at first, but will only need to be done once. It will continue to grow more beautiful year after year.
You spend less on plants, and they will last much longer. Doesn't that make sense? There is a fine line between "lush" and "overgrown".
Few people attempt to tell their doctor that they know more than he does about medicine. Why do so many try to tell an experienced landscaper about plants, when they know nothing about them? (If they knew as much as they pretend, they'd be doing it themselves.) Many customers have a preconcieved picture in their heads of what they want their landscape to look like, and expect it to look that way immediately, and to stay that way forever. Do they expect their children to never grow up? They expect their plants not to.
If you dont want plants blocking your windows, don't plant anything that gets taller than you want it under the window! If you want to walk down your sidewalk, don't plant anything less than half its MATURE width from the sidewalk! If you have a sign you want to be visable, don't plant anything that get taller than the bottom of the lettering in front of it! Sounds like common sense, but an amazing number of people don't seem to realize that PLANTS GROW!
Do you get a puppy and expect it to say that size? Do you cut off its legs to make it smaller? You can't turn a St. Bernard into a Toy Poodle! That St. Bernard puppy won't fit under the bed for long! Why do people think plants are so different from other living things? Is it because they can't srceam or run away when you torture them?
If your neighbor does something to their yard that you think you like, wait and see what happens to it before you try to do the same thing. Find out the details. That "dwarf" variety they have, is nothing like the "standard" variety you thought was the same. Just because that chopped off trim job looks Ok (to you) at first, doesn't mean it will look good in a couple of years. If you have to trim a plant to control its size within the first year after planting, you've made a big mistake in your plant selection. By the way, did you even pay attention to what was being planted and where? Or did you simply pay someone to "put in some plants" without finding out about what they were planting? That's exactly what many do, and its a big reason why so many incompetent and/or uncaring landscapers remain in business.
Find out about a plant before it goes on your property, and before you find out the hard way that it is entirely wrong for the location. Be careful who you copy, else, you may both end up with a legless, old, St. Bernard!
Professionally Landscaped (??)
Just what does the term "professionally landscaped" mean? Having recently purchased a home, as well as working in many new subdivisions, I've noticed this term used quite frequently in real estate advertising. As I looked a flyer today, on an expensive new home in the subdivision where I was working, I laughed out loud when I saw the term, and saw the yard full of dead plants. The only thing green were some large weeds. Does the fact that someone recieved money for planting them make them a professional? Later, at another subdivision, I checked out another flyer. This also boasted "professionally landscaped". Almost half of its plants were alive, but it was a very poor design. I assume the term means that it was landsaped by a professional, but was it a professional carpenter, maybe? It certainly doesn't seem to mean a professional landscaper.
Another house in one of these subdivision even has a large sign boasting the name of the landsaper. The small,zero lot line yard has a row of azaleas by the porch. unfortunately, they are completely hidden by 2 pfitzer junipers, (which will eventually consume the entire yard) planted right in front of them. I would never have planted such a disaster, much less put my name on it. I have always been proud be be called a professional landscaper, but now I'm beginning to wonder.
In case you were wondering, this is why I call myself a "horticultural artist" instead of a professional landcaper. This is why I refuse to allow anyone to refer to me as a "gardener".
