Top 3 things you can do to help your landscape beat the heat!

1.  Mulch is vital to plants for keeping cool.  There are many benefits to adding mulch to your landscape

•  Keeps root zones cooler, moist and prevents evaporation.
• Prevents weeds which steal water and nutrients from your plants
• Properly mulched planting beds hold water longer. 

2.  Drip, Drip, Drip

Drip Irrigation is the best way to water your planting beds as it is much more efficient than traditional irrigation.  As much as 60% of the water used by traditional spray and rotor irrigation is lost to evaporation and never makes it to your thirsty plants.  Drip irrigation, however, is a much more effective delivery system that puts water directly onto the root zones of the plants.  When the drip tubing is properly covered with mulch, almost none of the water is lost to evaporation.

3.  Program your irrigation system

In order to optimize your ability to water your landscape

and follow the watering restrictions, it is important to review your programming for your irrigation system.  Resetting your controller so you are using your drip irrigation on all the allowable days and watering your turf on the correct day of the week will keep your landscape in good shape and keep you in compliance and avoid citations with the watering authorities.
  

New LED Retrofits are now available!

Preferred Landscape and Lighting has been a huge fan of the Kichler line of LED outdoor light fixtures and have been using them in our new installations for years.  Now Kichler has taken their LED expertise and created LED lamps designed to be retrofitted into your existing system.

Outdoor lighting systems that are not LED can be costly to operate not only from the increased amount of electricity they require but also in the additional cost of maintenance and bulb replacement.  Kichler estimates that an older system with 25 fixtures could cost over $10,500 to operate over a 6 year period.  Compare that to their estimate of running the existing system but using LED lamps, it would cost just over $500 over a 6 year time period which would provide a $10,000 savings!

The new lamps have been designed to be used in outdoor and wet locations and can be used in either open or enclosed fixtures.  They have a manufacturer's warranty for 30,000 hours or 6 years!  Can you imagine not having to change a lamp for over 6 years?!?

The new line comes in a variety of types of lamps to fit many different systems including MR16 lamps, Bipin lamps, Par 36, Par 30, Par 20, 88 Wedge.  They offer all of the lamps with 3 different color choices and 5 different spread options.  They also offer both 12V and 120V options.

If you are interested in learning more about these new LED lamps, please give us a call at 210-657-7737 and we can discuss how these lamps may work for you.

Design to Completion

Preferred Landscape and Lighting completed an interesting project this spring that we wanted to share.  A cemeterey had requested that we design a fountain for under a statue for a sitting area.

Here is the concept design that we did:

 And here is the finishing result:

 It is hard to tell from the picture but this is a working fountain that has water coming up over the earth and sliding down the sides.  It is really beautiful and peaceful.

Is tonight the night?

It is game 6 of the NBA finals tonight and the Spurs could clench the Championship tonight with a 4th win over Miami.  GO SPURS GO!

1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 Spurs Championship Trophies
Lets add another tonight!

Happy Fathers Day

To all the Fathers out there, have a wonderful weekend!

The Finishing Details

Do you already have a great outdoor kitchen?  Let us help you make it even better.  The following are the three key details that are often overlooked when designing an outdoor space:

  

1.  Lighting - A party can come to a quick end if you don't have your outdoor space illuminated.   There has been a revolution in outdoor lighting over the last few years.  There has been an expanded offering with more flexibility with the LED lighting.  There are more options in color, style and pricing.  There are also retrofit systems available to allow savings on an older traditional lighting system.

 

2.  Pots and Beds - You can take an outdoor living space from boring to fabulous with a few large, beautiful pots or the right plants in an adjoining landscape bed.  Perhaps you want to have flowers that smell great like lavender or perhaps you want to use flowering plants that attract butterfiles like Lantana.

  

3.  Sitting Areas - You may want to consider having multiple sitting areas to allow for all your guests to be comfortable.  You are likely to want a dining area that has enough room at the table for everyone.  You also want a comfortable area where friends gather to chat or watch the big game.  You also want to make sure there is room to move around each other and to mingle.  This requires not only the right design to your area but picking the right furniture to fit your needs as well.

  

Cooking in the great outdoors!

Cooking is more fun when you are outside.  It just doesn't seem like it is as much work when you are enjoying the great evening while cooking.  Plus, the food is so much better when you are eating outdoors!

 

Preferred can help you design and build you a kitchen of your dreams.  We can take the project from beginning of designing your outdoor space to the end of finishing out the space with high end appliances.

 

 

We sell the premium BeefEater BBQ kitchen appliances because of its superior performance and durable porclein enamal that is backed by a 10 year warranty.

 

Outdoor Living - Create a space you LOVE!

Do you enjoy your backyard?  Do you even use your backyard?  I am willing to guess most of you answered "No" to one or both of those questions. 

With summer upon us, it is time to take the plunge and do the backyard renovation you have been dreaming of.  Let us design an outdoor living area that fits with your lifestyle.  We can create outdoor kitchens, relaxing pergolas, cozy fireplace and firepits just to name a few.

Go Spurs Go!

The San Antonio Spurs battle the Miami Heat tonight in the NBA finals. 

Go Spurs Go!!!!

Testimonial Tuesday

 

 

"I have a new home that we did landscaping in the front of the house. Preferred designed a wonderful plan and provided me with different options. Preferred built beautiful stacking stone beds, did the irrigation, sod, and all of the plantings.

  

I was very pleased with the process. I called a designer (Robert Watson) and he came out, on time, and we talked a lot about my options. He then worked up a plan for the entire yard. It was quite a lot of money to do the entire yard, so I asked if we could break it down into "phases" and the Robert was very understanding and helpful and provided me with a plan to do just that. Our initial phase was the $30k and I am very pleased. They planted plants that have done well with our weather and I only have one plant that might need to be replaced. I have a contemporary home and the designer did a great job of designing beds to match and really enhance the home.All of the work was done as scheduled and in a professional manner. The workers are true craftsmen and quite pleasant to work with. Robert has been very attentive and has checked on the plants and on the grass as time has passed. I look forward to doing more work with Preferred as I can afford it. I highly recommend Robert Watson and  Preferred Landscaping!"

~Michelle D.

SuperStar Plants

Texas A&M AgriLife Research centers have created a program that identifies plants that will perform best in Texas.  It is designed to help Texas gardeners identify plants that are adapted specifically for the environment.  The researchers have tested a selection of plants that provide productive landscapes that are easy to care for.

Some of our favorite plants on the list include the annuals Coleus and Vinca, the perennials Lantana, Salvia, Plumbago, Turks Cap, Knockout Roses and Esparanza just to name a few.   For a complete list of plants included in this program, click to their website at http://texassuperstar.com/plants/index.html