Design and Construction - Making Your Place a Refuge of Beauty

Our next blog is about the construction side of Ground Effects Landscaping. Our design team has great talent, so we'll be talking about some of the design elements of a good landscape. We'll also provide some different looks for you to consider what might be right for you. These are just examples of what is available for your choice from the archives of my photography.

We need and desire beautiful surroundings; they add value to our homes. A properly design and installed landscape can also provide emotional and physical well-being. GEL implements a full range of the elements of the landscape design to provide this emotional and physical well being.

Linear, Small Spaced Oasis
As demonstrated by the pictures to the left, small, linear spaces, when properly designed, can add color, intimacy and softened lines that provide a aromatic yard with hummingbirds, butterflies and if desired, herbs that can be used for teas or cooking. Depending upon the budget, your haven can be the refuge that best suits you.

As you can see by clicking on the images, this can be a very useful for outside entertaining, to relax while looking at butterflies and hummingbirds, or the aromatherapy of your garden. The barbecue grill built into the retaining wall just adds value to the backyard oasis.

Turf accent is water-wise, yet provides a luxuriousness that provides a sense a mini-oasis provides. Using a rye grass over-seeding in the winter provides year-round greenery. The roses are an excellent example of a type of plant that can be used for creating wonderful scents for your backyard.

Native, Spacious Yards
Water features are also a wonderful addition to your backyard, patio or common area. The examples to the right are examples of xeriscape and water features. The beauty of a low water use area combined with cacti and succulent vegetation is another example of a soothing backyard. Seat walls around a fireplace, a water pond with coy and water lillies ... this mix of natural areas with a water feature provides for an effective, beautiful perspective of Southwestern entertaining.


The aesthetic concepts and practical designs for improved outdoor living that blends into the Sonoran Desert is one the GEL specializes in. Water harvesting can be incorporated, native stone to blend in with the surrounding vegetation or topography, and the color that can be accented throughout the yard leads to numerous opportunities. A spacious back yard provides a very natural setting opportunity that provides different plant groupings.


Both examples need to have their irrigation systems designed specifically to their needs; both have radically different water needs that can be fine-tuned to maximize water usage. Doing soil samples will also allow the best choices to be determined.


We can also add low-voltage lighting to this wonderful design mix, and you have the foundations of a beautiful yard. Landscape lighting enhances the beauty and serenity of either choice; it transforms the beauty of your landscape into wonderful evening entertainment.


For more information, please feel free to contact us at 520-751-0232. We'd be happy to consult with you, or build you a design.