Beyond Lawn and Garden

June 28, 2024

Landscape architects and landscape designers step up with solutions for large-scale, complex properties.

Words by Cynthia Billhartz Gregorian

icture this: you’ve decided to dramatically redesign your backyard. Now, the question is, who do you call? An online search for landscaping companies may overwhelm you—and many of them may be more experts at lawncare than at designing high-end outdoor living spaces.

A good place to start answering that question is to consider the size and complexity of your desired project. While many lawn and garden specialists provide an excellent service for projects around the house, some projects require full-scale work—such as shifting massive volumes of soil—thus requiring a professional who can manage the underpinnings and other technical aspects.

Landscape architects and landscape designers study a variety of disciplines, including botany, design, construction techniques, natural and social sciences, art and history. Hence, they are better suited to tackle the larger, more complicated projects.

For instance, landscape architect Jeffrey Preuss of Jeffrey Preuss Landscapes in Stuttgart, Kansas, has been called onto 20-acre residential construction sites to consult on the proper placement of a new home for optimal solar orientation, drainage and grading. The job scope also involves working with the location of other buildings, adjacent land use, ponds and other existing or planned structures on the property.

“A landscape architect tends to take a big-picture approach and then consolidate it down and scale [it] into the details,” he says.

When the owners of a century-old mansion in St. Joseph decided to do something about their large, steeply sloped backyard, they knew they’d need an experienced pro. The terrain, which dropped precipitously from the back of their house, would require terracing mounds of earth and installing retaining walls. So they called Lorax Design Group, a landscape architecture and planning firm in Overland Park to tackle the job.

By the time the Lorax team had finished, the yard had been converted into a swimming oasis on par with those at five-star luxury resorts. It comprises a multi-level pool flanked by a pavilion on one end and a pool house—reconfigured from a pre-existing garage—on the other. This incredible transformation resulted from two years of intensive sketching, planning, engineering and construction.

Katie Martinovic, the principal landscape architect at NSPJ Architects, says that professionals in her industry pay attention to overall landscape views that factor in exterior and interior perspectives of not just the clients’ properties but adjacent ones as well.

“We help with the flow of the site to make it reflect and highlight the architecture of the home,” Katie explains. “If [a home] is existing or built enough that we can figure that out, or we have the plans and elevations, we make sure that we’re accounting for that.”

She had a recent project at Meadowbrook, a neighborhood in Prairie Village, where the clients had bought an adjoining lot. They wanted her to design a space that felt intimate and secluded. She also installed outdoor lighting and decorative pavers to help make the space feel more luxurious.

“We incorporated a little fire pit sitting area with landscaping around it and columns to mark the entry so that they could put a little sign that said it was private,” she describes.

Katie notes that landscapers have their place in planning beautiful outdoor spaces—NSPJ’s landscape architects often work hand-in-hand with them to select the proper plants for their architectural plans. She adds that there are also some jobs where hiring an architect would be overkill.

“We don’t really get rid of rabbits [and] can’t help you get rid of weeds,” she says.