Landscaping should be a means of creating an environment that enhances a person's lifestyle and enhances the area in which they are actually doing this enhancement, which might encompass many different things. My expertise is residential landscape design and building, so I almost strictly deal with homes and directly with the homeowner. I rarely deal with builders. What we do is try to create an environment specific for somebody's lifestyle, taste, dislikes, family, and entertainment -- all those kinds of things - so that when they get down to the end of the day, or when they come home or whenever they are at their home, they are excited about something that draws them to be there. Something they feel great about. They walk out the door, they sit in their kitchen or living room, and the family can look out the window and feel good about it; depending on what time of year it is and how they are viewing it. It is ever-changing and it is never boring. That is what landscaping is supposed to be.
Unfortunately, the public perception of landscaping is sticking plants in front of your house or around your house. I was in Florida just yesterday looking at some product. One of the things that I noticed in these three quarter million dollar homes that are five feet from each other, was that they just had a bunch of plants stuck in the ground. There was nothing really exciting and that happens everywhere. That's typical. When we do landscaping, we create an environment that has multiple media in it. It could have patios, it could have lighting in it, pools, decking, fancy planting. Landscaping is not just the use of plants, but that's what people's perception is. Landscaping is creating an environment.
And my motto is "Do something that's beyond expectations." Beyond what you thought it would be -- that's what I want my clients to say when we're done.
