First and foremost, we try to LISTEN TO YOU, our clients and design around…

1. What you have told us in the data gathering appointment is important to you. We listen for requests and note dislikes.
2. We pay attention to who will be participating in the landscape, looking at it from the curb as well as from the windows inside looking out.
3. We attempt to draw out information that will help us to design creatively for your needs and desires.
****Note your particular project description summary of how we tried to accomplish this result.

Then we try to use good landscape design principles…

1. An assortment of flowering trees and shrubs are included to provide continuous color from spring through winter in leaf color, blossom color, and winter fruit display. These usually deciduous (losing their leaves in the winter) plants are intermingled with evergreens of both the leaf and needle varieties to keep the landscaping full of life from fall frosts until springs budding time.
2. The particular building and its site are considered so that we can design plantings that will enhance the structure and fit with the site.
3. Entryway annual planting areas are bordered with evergreen groundcovers adding color to the groundcover areas in the summer and giving evergreen edges to empty annual planting beds in the off season.
4. Careful choices of mature size of plants in reference to window and porch railing heights is made, especially important where windows are low to the ground. Taller lawn plantings are arranged so as not to block window views and yet provide some visual screen from street views or neighboring properties.

We also try to design for permanence and easier maintenance. New Vistas wants to be pleased with how your landscaping looks in the future as well as the day it is completed.

1. Plants are chosen very carefully for the different amounts of sun exposure, or root moisture concerns in low areas. This is especially important on northern exposures where there are corners and areas of extremely low light as some plants will only keep their colored leaves or bloom in full sun while others will scald or burn from sun and wind. Only a few plant varieties will grow well near drainage swales or areas at the bottoms of slopes where water will tend to settle around their roots.
2. Planting symbols on our plans are showing the mature growth size with only occasional pruning, allowing plants to grow more naturally.
3. Disease resistant varieties of plants are selected, e.g. disease resistant flowering crabs and dogwood trees.
4. Especially on commercial or public properties where there is no individual property owner checking out particular plants on a regular basis, plants are chosen for the landscape that do not experience frequent insect or disease problems or are in need of special winter protection.
5. If we are designing a second project for a particular site, we will pay special attention to not using any plant material that has not performed well on the site previously, e.g. dwarf Alberta spruces or blue star junipers that have had spider mite problems will not be recommended for the new plantings.
6. Varying the types of trees in the lawn areas of a site is important to prevent wide scale loss if a particular disease problem arises in the future.