Need your help/advice about landscaping

[greeny]

My landscaper is charging me a lot and I'm not sure if what he is planting is cheap or expensive. I'm not really familiar with landscaping. Here's a list of what he wants to plant...

1. Service Berry - does this actually grow berries and will it attract birds? I need a tree that I can plant close to my house and not have to worry about roots cracking the foundation. Any suggestions?

2. Obsidian coral bells

3. Karl foster or Karely Rose fountain grass

4. Dwarf bunny fountain grass

5. Bobo Hydrangeas - will these grow in a spot with no sunlight? Do these require a lot of maintenance?

6. Concorde Barberry

Are these shrubs/plants considered desirable? Are they considered expensive? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

[bluerose]

I have no idea (good luck) but except this popped in my head and I had to suggest it. "Money tree"

[greeny]

Haha yes many many money trees !

[mandolinatou]

Personally I don't like bobo hydrangeas nor the dwarf bunny fountain grass (the latter looks like a weed in my opinion.) but barberries are lovely....flowering the early spring. I believe he is giving you a purple one which is good for contrast. Whats he charging and how big is your yard?

[greeny]

Personally I don't like bobo hydrangeas nor the dwarf bunny fountain grass (the latter looks like a weed in my opinion.) but barberries are lovely....flowering the early spring. I believe he is giving you a purple one which is good for contrast. Whats he charging and how big is your yard?

The bobo's and dwarf bunny were the two things I was concerned about as well. He said I could substitute. Any suggestions? He is quoting $3800 (total includes tax)...this includes the black trim and granite rocks I'm using as mulch. It's a corner lot, he is doing the side of the house and area in front of window. I don't have the measurements, but it is a fairly large area. He is including a boulder rock somewhere in the landscaping as well.

[tobiwobi]

well the quote is not just for the shrubs that you'll get, it's for the whole job so you can't just add up the cost of the shrubbery and compare to quote. that boulder is probably the biggest ticket item, and then after that it would be the cost of delivery of all that stuff. the physical work is also included. I'd say it's a reasonable quote.

of course you can save a lot by doing it all yourself, but you don't sound like the gardening type

[greeny]

well the quote is not just for the shrubs that you'll get, it's for the whole job so you can't just add up the cost of the shrubbery and compare to quote. that boulder is probably the biggest ticket item, and then after that it would be the cost of delivery of all that stuff. the physical work is also included. I'd say it's a reasonable quote.

of course you can save a lot by doing it all yourself, but you don't sound like the gardening type

Yup I know labour is very expensive. When I hired the guy I said for the price he wanted, he better put some good quality shrubbery. I just wanted opinions from some of you SC experts. I have done some landscaping before but this time I'd have no one to help as everyone is busy or doesn't want to help lol. I can't do it all by myself so forced to hire someone. Plus everyone in my neighbourhood had theirs professionally done, I don't want to ruin the look of the neighbourhood and get snarky looks...so I guess I'm forced to hire a landscaper. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off.

[lindseyc]

I work for a large nursery and can give you wholesale prices on your items if that would help you. As others have said the quote would be for all the work and supplies and is fairly reasonable. Couple of points, did you say you are using small rocks as mulch? Did I read that right? That sorta defeats one of the reasons why you use mulch. Serviceberry's do have small berries and are very attractive to birds, you can also collect and eat them yourself. (They make a great jam) Birds love them though so they will be fighting you for them. Serviceberry's have soft roots that won't cause damage. Bobo hydrangeas are not the best hydrangeas in my opinion, and they do require some sunlight. Barberry are a little bit more expensive as they are slow growing.

[greeny]

I work for a large nursery and can give you wholesale prices on your items if that would help you. As others have said the quote would be for all the work and supplies and is fairly reasonable. Couple of points, did you say you are using small rocks as mulch? Did I read that right? That sorta defeats one of the reasons why you use mulch. Serviceberry's do have small berries and are very attractive to birds, you can also collect and eat them yourself. (They make a great jam) Birds love them though so they will be fighting you for them. Serviceberry's have soft roots that won't cause damage. Bobo hydrangeas are not the best hydrangeas in my opinion, and they do require some sunlight. Barberry are a little bit more expensive as they are slow growing.

Thanks for your help. I am using crushed granite instead of mulch. Mulch would be cheaper but it needs to be replaced every year. Yes, I heard serviceberry trees make some good tasting fruit. He actually told me it's a "serviceberry clump tree"...how is that different from a regular serviceberry tree? I tried to do some research but didn't get any clear idea of the difference. I think I'm going to have him replace the bobo hydrangea's with something else. I'd rather have shrubs/plants/bushes and no flowers. Any suggestions? Thanks again !

[Ciel]

I noticed one corner property in a nearby survey off my street has a landscaped border/bed with a huge boulder within 2m of the sidewalk as there is a stop sign on the road too. I suspect besides the visual interest, the rock placement will discourage any drivers from wrong way driving onto the lawn.

[Kyimir]

I think the charge is fair enough. The materials he used is not that cheap. It might take a while to see the beauty but you could really say that its all worth it.

[kasha100]

Barberries are nice but prickly so are hard to weed around, they are not much fun to prune either but they come in nice colours and have nice re berries over the winter

[dirtdog]

We built our own home in the country starting with a vacant lot, which happened to have 6 mature surgar maple trees at the front - a key reason why we bought the lot. Our contractor had a landscaper come to give us a quote for landscaping. He started by saying that we needed to cut down the big trees and replace them with smaller ones! Moral of the story - landscapers, like all business men want to maximize profit. We notice that they tend to over plant (same reason). So in four or five years you end up having to rip plants out or cut them back significantly. We did our own landscaping and folks who come to visit can't believe it was not done professionally. We have yet to have to pull our a bush or tree because of over growth and this has been our sixth summer since we moved in.

[momof5boys]

We built our own home in the country starting with a vacant lot, which happened to have 6 mature surgar maple trees at the front - a key reason why we bought the lot. Our contractor had a landscaper come to give us a quote for landscaping. He started by saying that we needed to cut down the big trees and replace them with smaller ones! Moral of the story - landscapers, like all business men want to maximize profit. We notice that they tend to over plant (same reason). So in four or five years you end up having to rip plants out or cut them back significantly. We did our own landscaping and folks who come to visit can't believe it was not done professionally. We have yet to have to pull our a bush or tree because of over growth and this has been our sixth summer since we moved in.

My parents hired a professional landscaper a number of years back. They ended up pulling over half the plants about five years later - they were planted waaaay to close. We moved to a new home a year ago - landscaping was all done, and also planted too close in my opinion. We have been throwing out that ugly ornamental grass and not have to place it with anything because the other shrubs/plants take over that space nicely.

Make sure your landscaper leave LOTS of room between the plants.

[simyjames]

It is great you are challenging yourself. But you can visit a local nursery. You will be able to see the approximate size and texture of plants to get an idea of what you like and what will fill in the spaces over time. There are different hardiness zones so find out what is hardy in your space. Ask nursery what they recommend.