PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Design Dilemma

An important part of a landscape designer’s job is having the creativity needed to make a landscape more than just an arrangement of shrubs and trees. To truly please a client, designers often go the extra mile, incorporating individual styles and preferences to make a landscape an expression of who the client really is. And, whether they like it or not, most designers also have to incorporate irrigation systems – and their often unsightly components. Depending on the type of system and its location, this can make or break a designer’s vision.
 
For most designers, particularly in the South and West, irrigation systems are inevitable additions to landscapes, and play crucial roles in keeping them green and healthy. So rather than letting the systems stifle their creativity, designers use them to their advantage. “In South Florida, it’s basically a given that we’ll have to work with an irrigation system in some way because we have two seasons: wet and dry,” says William Reeve IV, president of Botanical Visions, Boca Raton, Fla. “We usually don’t allow a system to dictate our plant or landscape design choices because we know the water has to be applied.”

MINOR MODIFICATIONS. Reeve estimates that 70 percent of his company’s jobs require working around existing systems vs. installing new ones, and he knows some degree of modification will be necessary to sustain the new landscape. Usually the changes are minor, like switching from rotors to emitters, changing head locations or adding heads to a zone, and can cost at little as $500. Compared to the price of some elaborate landscapes, the cost is miniscule and clients rarely object. “When working on a project with an existing system, the updates and modifications are usually 10 percent or less of the job’s final cost,” he says. “The changes are a must to ensure proper irrigation of the new plant material.”     
 
But sometimes modifications create more problems than they solve. For example, many commercial properties go two or three years without properly updating their irrigation system, Reeve says. Once a system is updated and irrigating the landscape, the new water pressure can crack brittle pipes or break old glue bonds. “I’m not a big fan of placing too many band-aids on old systems,” Reeve says. “The older the system, the more things need fixed.”
 
In these situations, Reeve says it’s important for designers to consider if it is more economical to repair an old system or install a new one by factoring in how old the system is, how much the repairs will cost and how well the current system works. “If the system is only working at 60 or 70 percent, you’ll end up loosing 30 percent of the landscape,” he says. If the repairs equal the cost of a new system, Reeve says it makes more sense to recommend a new install, adding today’s thicker pipes and new technology make systems better than ever.
 
To prevent major problems, Reeve’s company takes a proactive vs. reactive approach when maintaining its properties’ irrigation systems. The company’s designated irrigation technician inspects its largest jobs about every two weeks. Conducting what Reeve calls “wet tests,” the technician turns on all of a system’s zones and walks the property checking for leaks and other potential problems.
 
“This helps find little leaks before they’re gushing breaks,” Reeve says. Because the technician can address minor repairs as they’re needed, the inspections save Reeve the effort and expense of subbing out major repair jobs to an irrigation company.
 
To overcome the potential limitations of designing around irrigation systems, Reeve  utilizes the flexibility of drip irrigation, most often in beds. South Florida is now under tight irrigation restrictions when it comes to traditional irrigation. The South Florida Water Management District limits landscape irrigation to a maximum of four hours per day, one day per week in some areas. But since drip irrigation is considered low-volume and can be 30 percent more efficient than traditional irrigation, it is exempt from any imposed restrictions. However, the SFWMD does request that contractors avoid watering between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to limit evaporation and moisture loss during these hours.

CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. There are a few situations when an irrigation system should dictate a landscape’s design, Reeve says. The most notable is when there is no irrigation system. While rare in South Florida, Reeve has had clients who were sticklers for hand-watering. “We have had clients who refuse to install an irrigation system, and their choice severely regulated what we could and couldn’t do,” he says.
 
In these situations, Reeve uses container-grown plant material rather than field production material. “I try to use plants that will slowly but surely establish themselves, rather than expect a plant recently transplanted from the wild to survive in a new environment,” he says. He also installs landscapes with monochromatic, native material, he says. 
 
On properties prone to flooding, Reeve says excess water creates pathogen and disease problems for plant material. Designers need to think about how water is collected on a site, and determine what type of irrigation, if any, would be best for plant survival, Reeve says.

STARTING ANEW. For a landscape designer, installing a new system allows the designer to call the shots and ensure all the areas of a landscape receive the appropriate amount of water. For example, Reeve likes to water turfgrass and plant beds on separate zones. But because this is a recent trend, most systems installed in the 1970s and 1980s are not designed this way. “When an irrigation system is gutted, that’s the best case scenario,” he says. “You can design or install a system that meets the needs of the design created.”
 
Working with a new system also gives designers the opportunity to utilize the technology older systems lack. Features like automatic shutoff, check valves, pressure regulators and smart controllers not only save water, but also save clients money. It can be a challenge to convince clients to embrace new technology, Reeve says, but once they do, most are amazed at the savings. “Most of the new technology is not marketed to the consumer – it’s marketed to the contractor who then has to market it to his clients,” Reeve says. “It can be frustrating to have clients reject technology that can actually save them significant amounts of money.”
 
Whether an irrigation system is old or new, landscape designers should look at it as a necessity rather than a hindrance. “Designers should never let irrigation prevent them from doing something creative with a landscape,” Reeve says. “It’s necessary to keep all of their chosen plants alive.”