If you want an agave landscape design on your property, you’re not alone. Agave plants are highly popular, and for good reason. Planting them is highly beneficial, both environmentally and economically. Agave landscape design is a unique blend of Mexican horticulture and western gardening. It’s healthy, delicious and is very easy to maintain.
Tom Wesselmann, owner of Blue Agave Landscape Design in Austin, TX shares some great tips with fellow landscape enthusiasts. Tom begins his informative series “Agave Landscape Design: An Introduction” by sharing the reasons why he grows agave, what he recommends as plant selections for most any area, and why he emphasizes the importance of flower bed maintenance. He also shares how he works with customer’s requests for specific accents, such as a certain type of flower bed or an extra tall flower. Tom ends his article by discussing the services offered, which includes herbaceous perennials, ground covers, shrubs, ground covers, vineyards, among others. The complete brochure is available as a download or you can visit Tom’s website for a detailed description of the entire garden plan, landscaping ideas and planting instructions.
If you’re interested in the landscaping ideas contained in this article, continue reading. To begin, I’ll discuss some of the landscaping ideas that you may find interesting. Tom notes that one of the most important landscaping tips for his customers is the need to keep landscaping simple. You don’t have to design a complicated landscape with a lot of flowers or trees. Instead, keep things simple and keep the colors simple and consistent throughout your landscape. This is especially important if you are doing a new landscape installation, because it will help you make the entire process easier on yourself and your family and most importantly, it will help you create a beautiful, serene oasis outside your home.
An example of simple landscaping might include plantings such as Azaleas, Sweet Peas, English Cuckoo, Iris, Pansy, Daisy, Sumac, Honeysuckle, Black Eyed Susan, Chinese Umbrella, Ivy, Purple Coneflower, Lavender, Pomegranate, Hollyhock, Blue Jazz, Japanese Maple, Chinese Hawthorn, Bamboo and several others. These are all plants that work well together and compliment one another. Each plant is used in different ways, yet they are all used in complementary ways to accent the beauty of the entire landscape. Because of this, the landscaping design is enhanced. The final result is a beautiful array of colors that can be used together to highlight the beauty and grace of the area.
Next, Tom gives some brief information on picking the best plants for your garden. He begins by explaining that the plants used in the garden should be those that grow best in climate zones three through seven. The best choices for these zones would be: Shasta Daisy for zoned three through seven, English Cuckoo for zoned four through seven, Morning Glory for zoned six through nine and the final choice would be African Violets.
One of the key services included in this book are Lawn Weed Control. With that, he explains how to select the correct lawn weed control products. Lawn weed control is necessary for areas where the plants and flowers will flower. This is also needed for areas that will have hardscapes. To help landscape designers to achieve the perfect garden, lawn weed control services include: pre-treating, removing weeds, planting replacements, weeding and mulching.
Along with these services, this landscaping guidebook provides valuable information on how to plant the right combination of plants and flowers that compliment each other. The two most common flowers planted in a rock garden are the Juniperus Virginiana and the Ascocenda. Other common plants include the Iris Pallida, Ivy, Showy Spice, Pennyroyal, Pansy, Foxglove, Creeping Mazus, Lupine, Tangelo, and the desert shrub Psarrum albicans. Other landscaping tips for rock gardens include: avoiding over-watering and choosing plants that can tolerate dry soil.
The landscape architect will continue reading about building roads, walls, walkways, retaining walls, ponds, pools, water features, arbors, fountains, pavilions, benches, and retaining walls by focusing on landscaping techniques. Building roads allows for easy movement from one place to another. In addition to this, the materials can be recycled, which further helps the environment. With this, the landscape architect will learn about planting trees and designing walkways with plants that will flow together.
When it comes to designing the yard, the landscaping designer will learn about native plants and grasses that can be used to design a nice yard. Using native plants helps make a yard more natural and reduces the maintenance. Native plants provide texture to the yard and adds color. On the other hand, an artificial turf can be used instead of the traditional grass and turf. A landscape designer can continue reading about landscaping after learning about native plants and grasses.
In landscaping, the landscape architect will read about the different focal points and highlights. Highlighted areas on the yard will give a beautiful view and provide safety. Different landscaping techniques are applied for highlighting. Examples are planting trees that exude shade and add more shade during hot periods or planting blazing blades llc to catch sunlight during cooler times of the day.
For building walls, walkways, and retaining walls, landscape architects can search for different types of materials. They can also choose different heights in order to build the wall. When it comes to walkway and retaining walls, walkways with small steps are installed. The smaller steps give a safe environment for small children and elderly people.