Monday, March 18, 2013

Front Porch Simplicity

When the competition is an old Pecan Orchard I know to go simple, below.


Soon the tea olive, above, will engulf the end of the porch.  And then be pruned into a tunnel, for the pure life necessity of leaving the porch at its tiniest entry.  Silent Partner doesn't think this is needed.  He has his reasons, I have mine.  200 acres and I am particularly interested in this square foot.


My competition, above.  Fields, Pecan Orchard & Home, a perfect trinity.
.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
.
Pics taken this month at jobsite of several recent posts.  Leaving the Pecan Orchard alone includes creating Tara Turf, siting daffodils, boxwood & historic brick path, keeping fence at the road and saying 'no' to foundation plantings.
.
Another fabulous Landscape Design making me unemployable to the largest landscape design/build/maintain companies across USA.  Planned obsolescence of irrigation, keeping fence, no foundation shrubs, no zoysia, no annuals.
.
MATH on what 'those' companies would lose in installation & a single decade of maintenance with my design.  New fence, irrigation system & rows-upon-rows-upon-rows of green meatball shrubs. Lawn: 2 acres sod, mowing, irrigation, pre-emergents, fertilizer, edging.  Shrubs: several prunings yearly, mulch in the beds, pre-emergents, fertilizing, replanting annuals 2/year.
.
Minimum annuals charge is $500/season by the best firm (of course I use the best, Simply Flowers, & of course they are needed in many commercial, and residential situations.)  Monthly maintenance $500.  Fence $4000, irrigation $4000, mulch 350/year, chemicals/fertilizer 200/year, &  foundation shrubs $5000, 2 acres zoysia sod $52,800.
.
$141,300.00 for a decade of traditional USA Landscape Design.  My Landscape Design, above, $50/month maintenance fee, no foundation plantings, no irrigation, no chemicals, no mulch, little pruning, no sod, little mowing, keep fence, no fertilizer, no annuals, $6,000 for a decade.  (A kind woman, I give away the concrete foundation expense of the brick path, mine are in dirt.  Otherwise add another $5000)
.
$135,300.00 difference. 
.
Has the math sunk in?  
.
My work/style is not meant to save money, yet it does.  It's historic Italian.  Enfilade from the interior of the home, pollinator habitat, a thanks to Providence, a joy to look at and live within.  When away on vacation my gardens are carried in the heart with a yearning to know everything while gone & return soon.  If you can leave at all.
.
Chill Pill Urban Ag!  There are other ways in this industry to make money.  Ask Silent Partner !  Thank you for letting me be on your Outreach team.

6 comments:

  1. Placement of the tea olive..perfect!!! I have one in the identical spot in proximity to my front porch. Oh the heavenly scents when you approach my home and front door.
    Love your sane and beautiful landscaping style.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Perfect, relaxing for another hectic week. I am getting this "trinities" theme, and it's time to explore ours out here!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been looking at Library of Congress photos from early/mid 20th century of real American farmhouses and yards -- you have it just right. I hope to post some soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have been looking at Library of Congress photos from early/mid 20th century of real American farmhouses and yards -- you have it just right. I hope to post some soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This design makes my heart sing!! How perfectly simple and appropriate. LOVE the pecan orchard and the haint blue ceiling on the veranda.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tara, just had to drop you a note of encouragement. Up here in Illinois you have a following. Our garden club hosted John Mariani, a local landscaper who believes in combining native plants in an urban setting for the good of nature nd the owners. One example was a grove of apple trees leading up to a HUGE home but under the trees a no-mow grass just tall enough to host daffodils and then hide the fallen fruit in the fall. He had a hardtime convincing the homeowners that long grass was a blessing in the right spot. Love your new project. Such serenity!

    ReplyDelete