When people think of paver deck and patios, courtyards and walkways, one of the first things that comes to mind is the red rectangle brick style or maybe the modular brownish paver. In my opinion certain paver deck and patios, courtyards and walkways are very limited in their uses. One that quickly comes to mind [...]

You can never convince me that fire or water features are not a good idea. For that matter, I am not sure you would be able to convince me that there can ever be too much water or fire in a project. For this blog I will focus on water features. My first thought when designing [...]

Out Door furniture Sets in landscape Design There are many different materials and styles of outdoor furniture sets. You can have rod iron, rattan, plastic, shaped metal, wood, concrete and others not mentioned here. Should I look at furniture that is powder coated? Where do you begin? Where you begin would probably start with determining how [...]

I have written a blog about elevations in landscape design. This blog will be narrower in scope. This blog will be on raised planters. What started me thinking about doing a blog on raised planters is that I have a client that wanted multi tier raised planters so that she would be able to sit [...]

Mixing different decking materials for patio designs adds a great deal of interest. Many home owners are surprised when I bring the suggestion. They are pleasantly surprised when I show them samples and pictures of completed projects with different decking materials for patio designs. The most common plan of using different decking materials for patio [...]

Annual Flowers In The Summer Desert It was 118 degrees today. This is the fourth hottest day on record! It will this way for a couple of months. I started trashing the annual flowers. I have in my hanging pots and scattered throughout the yard. A month ago I had a very colorful backyard of annual [...]

It is going to be 115 degrees this week, so let’s talk about desert shade plants. When I say desert shade plants, I will be referring to plants for full shade, partial or filtered shade and those that thrive in morning sun and afternoon shade. Living in the desert it almost seems weird to think about desert [...]

Using Trellis Plants I feel Trellis plants or vines are underused in the desert. If you like a lush look you gravitate toward grass and if you like Xeriscaping and xerogardening you lean more toward cactus and succulents with a touch of sage and groundcovers. Vines or any trellis plants can soften a blank wall in one season. [...]

It is going to be 115 degrees this week, so let’s talk about desert shade plants. When I say desert shade plants, I will be referring to plants for full shade, partial or filtered shade and those that thrive in morning sun and afternoon shade. Living in the desert it almost seems weird to think about desert [...]

Let me start off by saying not all concrete is created equal. This means that there is more than just gray concrete. Cohills in Phoenix has a really good website showing different options for concrete. I think that most of the time when people think of a concrete walkway or concrete driveway, the first thing that comes [...]