How To Landscape On A Budget With A Landscape Contractor

Monday, January 23, 2012


It really doesn't matter if you are extremely wealthy or middle class. When you have a landscape contractor install your landscaping, a budget must be considered. We all have our dream list of things we desire and feel we need in our landscape, but can we afford them? Landscaping can be expensive, especially if you are considering adding any hardscape elements. Hardscapes include retaining walls, flagstone or paver patios, seat walls, water features, brick work, boulders or simply put, anything hard and permanent.

Hardscaping can cost many dollars a square foot. So, the landscape budget is a must.
Much of the time, my clients want the whole dream list, but when they get the estimate, they are quite discouraged. I try to ask for a budget, but usually they hesitate.They don't realize landscaping costs that much and they don't have any idea of what they are getting into.. I've done many estimates for my clients in which landscape designers, have designed the landscape. Many landscape designers neglect the budget process with their clients. The plans were exceptional. Paver patios, walls, and water features, beautiful plantings and the list goes on and on. The budget however wasn't ever considered. The design, the bidding process was a waste of time. The potential client just couldn't afford the package as designed. If only a budget was considered from the beginning, the design could of been scaled down, to a landscape they could afford and attain.

Don't be afraid to talk budget with your designer or landscaper. Once you develop a good relationship with them, please talk about what you can afford as well as what you want. The shock will go out from the estimating process.


The landscape budget process also makes the estimating easier for all. Howver you nust make sure all bids are apples to apples. Make sure quanities and sizes for each landscape proposal are the same. If one landscape contractor is installing a 200′ sq. foot patio and the other a 180 sq. foot patio there may be a difference of $300.00 in costs. Keep it apples to apples. The quanities and sizes should compare all through the landscape estimate. A smaller lawn is less money. Less soil mix is less money. Smaller sizes in plant material means less money. However, as you lmay of noticed each bid item is getting less product. It is up to you the homeowner to make sure you are in fact getting the best price, product and service.

Woody's Custom Landscaping, Inc. has been serving the Pacific Northwest with exceptional landscape services for over twenty years, we are here to help our clients realize your landscape dreams.

Landscape Architect and Garden Designs, Princeton NJ

Source:  http://www.articlesbase.com/landscaping-articles/how-to-landscape-on-a-budget-with-a-landscape-contractor-5415298.html


Rose Garden Design

Thursday, January 5, 2012

What is the best way to design a rose garden?

The variety of roses you select are dependent on the space you have available, if you only have small area then perhaps miniature roses are the best bet. Standard roses require more space and climbing roses also need space so that they can stay healthy, so they need to be planted at least 8 feet apart.

Once you have determined the varieties, you can then decide on the colors. Roses are available in a host of colors, yet the old breeds provide roses that are easier to care for as they are sturdier. You could design our rose garden in patterns too by planting different varieties including different sized roses with miniature roses in between. You could use a variety of colors and alternate them to create a pattern or you could stick to one color and choose different varieties so that the pattern created is not so much in the color but in the different textures. Many people choose roses that will compliment their house color, or they use their home as a backdrop in order to make their rose Garden design stand out.

First Thoughts
When you plant your roses you need to make sure each species is spaced according to its specific needs, that your planting is symmetric, and will eventually offer an aesthetically pleasing picture. Try not to plant haphazardly as a rose garden is best when it is kept simple and in geometric patterns or in an ever decreasing or increasing circle.

Rose Flower Garden
Roses can be difficult to grow yet they are some of the most beautiful flowering plants to have in a garden. Being able to segregate a section of your garden for the intent purpose of planting roses will offer a wonderful focal point to your home.

It may be hard to envision your future rose garden design just by looking at your layout and you may decide to make use of home garden design software which offers not only suggestions on layout, design and plant use but will also offer you finished 3D pictures of what your rose garden will look like. If you aren't quite happy with that design you can play around, move items and make changes until you are satisfied. Most landscape design software will allow you to track your future garden as it matures and will offer you scenes of it in yearly increments so that you will get an idea of what your garden will look like say 10 years from now.

There are a host of rose gardens around the world that are decades old. One in particular can be found in the gardens of the White house. Planted in 1913 in colonial style, this rose garden continues to impress visitors.

Tips for designing a rose garden
Without doubt making use of roses in a garden landscape will lift any garden to another level, it will soften the exterior of a home and make it appear more graceful. A rose garden will accent a home and garden and it will welcome you and invite you to spend time outdoors amongst the unique heady scents that only a rose can produce.

Finding the perfect rose for your rose garden boils down to finding the right rose bush for the terrain and for the climate. Roses come in a variety of classes and each class offers its own characteristics that serve as ornamental or architectural features. Tea roses for instance can be trained to cascade over walls and arches and are famous for their profusion of blooms. Walls find a perfect architectural accompaniment with climbing roses while the Floribunda rose produces a vibrant splash of color with its large sprays of blooms. Or perhaps the iceberg roses with their delicate fairy like petals are what appeals to you.

Roses also offer themselves as hardy and versatile ground covers which brighten with wonderful colors and give off strong scents. These types of roses are ideal for planting between taller roses or even in trees.

The object of a rose Garden is to provide texture, color, shape and scent. There are so many different types of roses that they can be mixed with a variety of other roses and still look like they were meant to be together.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2658610

What The House Movers Don't Tell You

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

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House movers have a lot of knowledge about moving house. But they dont know everything such as how many times you will have to bend and stoop when you pack a box. Nor can they tell you how many steps you will have to take each time you bring boxes into the house so you can make them up and pack them. The house movers will show up on time, pack what they have to pack then load it into the truck or van and get it started in its journey to your new home. Then at your new home they will unload the van or truck and take the items and boxes into your new home.

When you move house and are doing the packing yourself or with family helping you, it helps to be fairly organized because it takes probably more time than you expect and it requires a lot more steps then you ever imagined. It may be a very good way to lose weight and firm up some muscles also.

Because when you begin to pack boxes you will have to lift the items off of the shelves or out of the closets and then pack them or wrap them and pack them then tape up the box and put it aside so you have room to work in. You cant just pack boxes and leave them lay just anywhere because you, your family and the house movers will have to maneuver around them.

What you will need to do is organize your packing time so you have few disruptions. It will take you some time and if you are constantly interrupted by children who are not assisting or by the telephone it is cutting into your packing time and come moving day you will not be competed. If you delay the movers as you continue to pack you will also incur more cost as the hours pass before they can pack you up.

If you are going to pack books then line up some book boxes that are already made up.Make sure you tape the box bottoms and not interlock them because the tape is stronger and helps reinforce the boxes. Once you have the boxes lined up begin to pack them but dont over pack them so that a mover cannot pick them up. They do have to be a reasonable weight and if you cant pick up the box and move it to another pile then chances are the mover wont be able to either.

Go room by room keeping like items together. You dont want to pack fragile items amongst the books but you can slip sturdy wrapped nick knacks in amongst the places where you have openings between the books. When you pack fragile items use towels or bedding to protect the items beside the packing paper that you get to wrap things in. If you coordinate and carve out time to pack correctly then you will be successful during the move.

Fall Yard Cleanup

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Fall cleanup can be a sad time for many gardeners. Why? It marks an end to the growing season and all the spectacular bursts of color they've enjoyed since that first sprig of green peeked into their gardens last spring. Yet for other gardeners though, fall cleanup signals a time of preparation and anticipation. That's right. Garden preparation in anticipation of the growing season to come NEXT year!

Fall is the time to cut back, almost to the ground, most of your perennials. Do remember to leave some of those tall ornamental grass stalks or maybe some of that sedum 'Autum Joy' standing though to give your garden a little winter appeal.

Think back. Remember how some of those flowers and plants seemed out of place or didn't look quite right where you planted them. And what about your garden items that were just plain unproductive this year? Fall is the time to move or remove those particular flowers and plants in preparation for next spring.

As most of your flowers and plants are dying back and will soon become decaying matter themselves, now is the time to supplement your garden with some good organic nourishment in preparation for the growing season next year. Fall is a good time to treat your garden to a nice 1-2" layer of compost all over it. Next spring your flowers and plants will surely thank you for it! Have you been thinking of adding a new bed to your garden area? Fall is the perfect time to set up an easy in-ground bed that will be ready for you to fill with flowers and plants next spring.

Also, remember those garden workhorses ... your tools. Fall garden cleanup includes caring for those handy helpers that assist you with your gardening chores all season long. Give them a little extra attention before putting them to rest until next year. Wipe off any residual soil or dirt, sharpen any items that have become dull with use, and oil or lube any that may need it. Hang them up or put them in a dry place so they'll be easy to find when you need them next year.

Now grab those gardening catalogs from off the shelf where you set them after the planting was all done this year. There are so many gorgeous blooms out there just waiting to be chosen to be planted next season by some gardener. Use this gardening "down time" that's available in the fall and winter to decide which beautiful flowers and plants will be among those you plant in your garden areas next spring.

If you keep these things in mind, rather than being one of those gardeners who is sad that another growing season has ended, you'll be one of the gardeners who make fall garden cleanup a time of anticipation. Use this time to prepare for those spectacular areas of bloom that await you in the coming spring!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/828238

House Movers Information

If you locate by yourself in a placement where you are heading to want to transfer from a single house to one more, then you may well need the support of House Movers Atlanta, particularly if you are not in a position to transfer the things yourself. Even so, in advance of you sign anything at all or concur to something there are a handful of very easy but valuable things you can do to make positive that your transfer goes as smoothly as probable.
The first and foremost point is to uncover out if the house movers you are contacting company the spot you are heading to.

Not all movers service each and every square mile of the nation, so it is essential that you examine this out with the house movers you are taking into consideration.
Secondly, get an estimate ahead of you signal something.

There are two precise estimates, a non binding or a binding estimate. A binding estimate is far better simply because when that agreement is made, there is no way they can add other fees or expenses.

Thirdly, you want to uncover out from the organization how many house movers will be there to do the job.
This will greatly depend on the dimensions of your property, what you have in it and how considerably you are having to pay for the house movers. Even so, obtaining the proper amount of house movers will enable make points go easily.
The very last factor that you want to know is how lengthy will it get to move you out, get your stuff to your new site of residence and move in.

This can be very important due to the fact in several cases, you have to transfer your timetable around the house movers.

So it is nice to know when you can assume them to arrive and when they really should be carried out.
A House mover is an important thing to have if you are unable to do the position your self.
Even so, with a professional mover, there are some points you will need to pay out near awareness to.
Employing house movers can go really effectively or it can flip out incredibly badly, the essential is to don't forget that you are ultimately in cost.
Get some time and stick to these crucial however simple actions and you can

make certain that hiring House Movers will be an individual of the greatest factors you could do when transferring sort 1 house to an additional.


http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/house-movers-information-4540068.html