Landscape Phasing

This article is for homeowners who are on a budget. It’s for people who have a big property with several big projects in mind. And it is also for anyone who doesn’t know where to start. We’re talking here about landscape phasing.

Landscape phasing turns your landscape into a process. With this approach, Exterior World helps you plan steps to bring on and complete the different elements of your landscape design. Such a long-term plan provides several benefits, primarily financial: you get to spread your big outlay of money over several months. Or even years. (In the interest of full disclosure, it should be pointed out that the total cost usually ends up being more with a phased-in approach due to tearing things up and then putting them back in place. And then doing it again in the next step. However, the relatively small additional cost that is incurred in each phase is easier on some budgets that one big lump sum.)

With landscape phasing, Exterior Worlds will set up a logical order for the implementation plan. We usually recommend starting with the infrastructure. Items on this list would include drainage systems, retaining walls, driveways and other hardscapes. In subsequent steps, we add on layers. Perhaps it means installing an irrigation system and building a deck. Or maybe you want an outdoor fireplace or a garden gazebo. The last step, or top “layer”, consists of putting finishing touches on the lawn and flower beds.

An example of a three-year landscape phasing plan would look like this:

• Phase 1: Install a drainage system. Design and build a custom swimming pool. Design and install preliminary landscape lighting. Plant trees.
• Phase 2: Develop and install an irrigation system. Design and build an outdoor kitchen.
• Phase 3: Build custom wrought iron fence and gates. Final layout of flower beds. Fill in empty spots with bushes and ground cover. Create pathways. Finalize landscape lighting.

A phased-in plan can be designed just for landscape planting. For example, you might want to start with the plantings around the house. The second phase would involve designing the beds along the back fence. A third step could be specialty planting—maybe an herb garden.

Regarding trees and phased-in landscaping, we often suggest to our clients that they plant trees in the first phase. If you plant, say, an eight-foot tree with a five-foot spread in year one, you could have a 20-foot tree with an 18-foot spread in five years. By planting smaller trees early in the process, you save considerably. (Considerably. Go to a nursery and check out the difference between the price of a 30-gallon tree and a 300-gallon tree, if you don’t believe us.) A side benefit is that by letting trees grow and mature within your landscape, you will get a better feel for what needs to go around them at their more mature size—and what doesn’t.

As with everything we do at Exterior Worlds, the plan would be customized for you. To fit your needs and desires. To fit your budget. To fit your time schedule.