Create landscape design first
March 27, 2008 - 9:00 pm
: We are in the process of buying a retirement home in Las Vegas. It has a grass front yard that we would like to convert to desert landscape. Our problem is that we will not be living in the house for one to two more years. We’d like to be able to design a landscape from where we are living in Florida, but have no knowledge of Nevada plants and their needs. Is there a way to accomplish this from so far away?
A: Plants are the last thing to consider when designing your home landscape, but let’s cover some basics. It would be most critical to get your larger plants established first; you can buy them smaller and let them grow while you are gone.
Remember that grass surrounding a home adds a large amount of cooling and removing it will cause summer energy consumption to increase about 20 percent. However, if you are careful in your landscape design, you can reduce this amount considerably.
The key is to shade the south- and west-facing walls of the home and outside living areas. This doesn’t always have to be trees. This can be overhangs, gazebos, patio covers, trellising, espalier and the like. The key will be finding a balance between water use and energy consumption.
There are three areas in the design where water conservation occurs: restricting the amount of grass used, eliminating unnecessarily tall trees and keeping the number of plants used to a minimum.
Most Western landscapes have an element of functionality to them. This is done by creating outside rooms with landscape design. Like their counterparts inside of the home, these outside rooms have flooring, walls, ceilings, doorways or entrances and exits that are made of plants or landscape materials.
In many cases in the desert Southwest, flooring is some sort of mulch rather than grass. This helps conserve water. Grass is reserved for those areas that require grass, such as areas for play, dogs and relaxing, and it is minimized in these areas.
If a home is single story, then trees should be restricted at mature height to less than 25 feet. If it is a two-story home, the maximum should be 40 feet. In the context of outside living and energy conservation, trees and large shrubs are used to provide seasonal shade to living areas and to shade the south- and west-facing sides of homes. Deciduous trees will allow the sun to warm these walls in the winter.
Try to keep the total number of plants as small as possible while still accomplishing your design. Reducing the total number of plants, or biomass as the scientists call it, reduces the landscape’s overall water.
This can be very difficult to do and probably the hardest to accomplish with our current mind-set. Our tendency is to fill voids in the landscape with plants. Instead we have to train our mind to accept voids, or negative space in the landscape, as important elements of the design itself.
The voids give the landscape a pleasing look. When the voids are filled, it frequently destroys the design. If you want to learn more about this concept, pick up any references to design (it can be floral, interior or landscape) and negative space.
So, how can you do this from Florida?
First, get the dimensions of your lot and your home on the lot and put them accurately on an 11-by-17-inch piece of graph paper. Place the locations of the windows, doors, patio, driveway and sidewalks accurately.
Determine the orientation, or compass bearings, of your home. This is needed to determine what to shade. Then, sit down and figure out what your family would like to do outside. What are your family’s needs and wants in a landscape? Determine the area needed to do these things and sketch them on a piece of tracing paper atop of the graph paper.
If you are having trouble with this, take all of your information and find a landscape architect or reputable landscape designer and buy some consulting time to help you with it.
Once the overall design is established, it will dictate the type and size of plant that will be needed. The selection process could include several plants that will do nicely in the same spot and accomplish the same thing.
After you determine the plants needed for your landscape, visit a nursery in Southern Nevada and get someone to help you with your plant selection. Get several plant suggestions for each. Take these suggestions to our master gardener help desk (257-5555) and they will help you work through the best selections.
For those of you here in Southern Nevada, look for our next landscape design class coming up. Contact me at morrisr@unce.unr.edu for more information.
Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Direct gardening questions to the master gardener hot line at 257-5555 or contact Morris by e-mail at extremehort@aol.com.