My wife and I have decided to go with a professional landscape architect at the house in Wheaton. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I can find the camera memory card reader, but for now…just trust me that it needs a whole yard makeover. From what I heard from the neighbors the previous owners didn’t have much time for gardening or the house. They were busy busy busy with other more important things like family (and rightfully so).
We meet with a local landscape architect (Kevin Wobrock) a couple days after moving in and we were very much impressed. He was willing to listen to my grand ideas and modify them to be more appropriate. For example…I had thought about putting in a pond near the front door. In fact, had I not talked to Kevin I would have. But he immediately pointed out that my chosen location was in a low area of the yard and water runoff into that corner near the house had him concerned. I hadn’t even noticed the problem. I guess that’s why he is a professional. You can see some of his work at his company website Wobrock Landscaping. He has agreed to allow me to discuss his work, and my opinion of it, on the podcast (it’s always nice to ask first). So stay tuned to find out what it’s like to work with a professional. Oh yeah…the price was very reasonable. He quoted under $1000 for an entire yard design (front, back, both sides) including hard scape items such as decks and patios. And the design comes with detailed planting information about every plant on the design. I know that sounds like a lot of money, but when you compare it to $10,000 for a new roof, $30,000+ for a new kitchen and any of a number of other "repairs" to a house…it’s VERY reasonable.