LandscapeAdvisor

Gold Coast Juniper Before Pruning

This Gold Coast Juniper is planted a bit close to the walkway, but for a reason.  The walkway traverses along the precipice of a steep slope.  There isn’t much room near the path to plant and we wanted a dense planting to discourage people from going near the slope’s drop-off.

Gold Coast Juniper is a compact, spreading plant, and unlike many of the other junipers it has softer foliage.   With a mature height of around 18 to 24″, it should serve well as buffer/barrier to the slope.

Some Planting Design Needs Gentle Persuasion

You know I always talk about selecting plants to suit the situation.  Always consider their characteristics (i.e. size potential, growth habit, exposure, etc.) and the design intent.  Sometimes the “fit” is not perfect and you must gently persuade the plant to work in that space.

The use of Gold Coast Juniper along this walkway is an example of this.  The juniper lends itself to fairly aggressive pruning and therefore, can be persuaded each season to stay within the space. Continue reading…

General Pool Fence Regulations

As I always say and practice, check with the municipal building office for exact pool fence regulations.  There can be aspects of the code that are tweaked or interpreted a certain way and you need to know that.  I find it helpful to bring in a sketch (pictures too) and explain what you intend to do.  Do this early on and you can plan for the fence location and design right from the beginning of your project.

Pictured here is an area of pool fencing recently installed on a project of mine.  There is a change in levels created by a stone wall.  At this height change point the fence installer used a long post to make the transition.

The decorative aluminum fence ended on the top level and the vinyl coated chainlink fence picked-up at the lower level.  Everything should meet pool fence regulations…so we thought. Continue reading…