It’s the perfect season for being outdoors — but perhaps your yard is less than perfect. Maybe you’re noticing what didn’t survive the winter or areas of the yard that aren’t contributing to the vibe you want. Before you go to the garden center and start picking up random plants and flowers, you’ll want to dig in to what the experts have to say.
We spoke to three landscape architects around Dallas to learn more about recent projects they worked on (each in a different style), what they think your space should do for you, and what plants can help you accomplish your goals. These ideas can work in any space, big or small, with just about any budget — especially if you’re willing to get your hands dirty.
But first things first: Don’t be tempted by those big, blooming baskets. “A great garden takes three to five years to mature,” shares Evo Lineberry, co-owner of Blue Ribbon Lady Landscaping. “Most landscape designers, when you look at their carts, none of the stuff is blooming. The things that are blooming right now are on their way out — they won’t be pretty in a few weeks. This is an opportunity to practice patience.” So, deep breath. These projects take long-term vision.
Style: French formal perennial
Essential elements: Boxwood, crape myrtle, pentas, salvia, daylilies, Texas sage, magnolia, mondo grass, azaleas, Mexican sycamore
Garden pro: Jared Leidner, Harold Leidner Landscape Architects
This French formal perennial garden offers a spa-like retreat. “Our goal was to create a cohesive indoor-outdoor space that allowed the formal French interior to meld seamlessly with the outdoors,” Leidner explains.
If this is the look for you, Leidner recommends taking elements of the indoors, such as the style of furniture or the colors in your interior space, and designing the outdoors around that. “How do your indoor and outdoor experiences communicate with each other? They both need to be speaking the same language.” A style like this can even be accomplished using native Texas plants or other water-wise varieties, Leidner adds. “Instead of using as many perennials, native adaptive evergreen and deciduous plantings would reduce water use. We could also use rain harvesting and runoff techniques — for example, water cisterns.”
Style: Native, pollinator friendly
Essential elements: Cedar sage, fall obedient plant, Carolina jasmine, columbine, Japanese maple, carex everillo, milkweed
Garden pro: Evo Lineberry, Blue Ribbon Lady Landscaping
This yard was inspired by a few things: the stark white-black palette of the house, the homeowner’s trip to Mexico to watch the Monarch butterfly migration, and also a unique collection art (including dinosaur yard art in the front that we can only imagine might raise eyebrows in a strict HOA neighborhood). When it comes to the design, Lineberry says the owner wanted a wild feel with native, pollinator-friendly plants. There’s even a dedicated butterfly garden path with native milkweed on the side of the home.
Lineberry says there’s a style for every preference. “If you love color, just go for it. I run into a large number of people who are put off by the color orange. Don’t use it! Cottage garden, use every color. More modern? Stick to a soft color palette — gray, purple, pink and white.” Lineberry says the style of your home should dictate your garden plan. “Match the style of your house; don’t force a style that doesn’t fit with it. Mid mod? Straight lines. Cottage vibes? Do a cottage garden. Hill Country vibes? Wildflowers.” But the most important part is that you have an idea of what you’re going to do before you buy anything. “Plan, plan, plan. Don’t just buy plants impulsively and then try to do something with them.”
Want to see the landscape (and the dinos!) in person? This property is featured on the White Rock East Garden Tour, set for May 21.
Style: Modern Tuscan
Essential elements: Tejas black stone, tortilla stone, river rock flats, rosemary, yucca, lemon ball sedum, dwarf bunny grasses, Russian sage, salvia
Garden pro: Mike Dickerson, Original Landscape Concepts
Original Landscape Concepts specializes in larger, architectural estate-scale projects, so when they got called to this big project, they knew just what they needed to do. “We like to bring a destination experience in style and function,” says Dickerson. “We look at the people and how they live, their lifestyle and the architecture of the home, and get our hero elements from that.”
When planning your space, Dickerson recommends considering hardscape as a way to bring two different areas together, and to do it with less long-term maintenance and fewer plants than if you rely on landscaping to do all the visual work. “Hardscape really helps you unify existing surfaces while being lower maintenance than vegetation, and it doesn’t take as many plants to make the same impact.” And the plants you do use for this style often require less water than other gardens.
He adds that hardscaping is much more popular than it used to be, thanks to millennials, who put more of an emphasis on functionality and long-term suitability. “You know, when we started in the ’70s, everyone was planting shrubs and cutting them in the shapes of appliances. Then in the ’80s on to the ’90s, there were just massive amounts of plants. We were urban farmers; we were cultivating every square inch with what we liked, no matter how suitable it was for the climate or the area. Nowadays we say ‘Thank God for millennials,’ because they want it functional, they want it hardy, and zero-maintenance.”