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Landscaping You Can Live With

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By MONICA BRANDIES | The Brandon News

Published: February 27, 2007

There is always something new going on at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens.

The gardens recently hosted a landscape design workshop that featured three different speakers. It was held on a cold, frosty Saturday morning, and yet the conservatory, covered with plastic and full of blooming orchids, held a capacity crowd.

With homemade brownies and hot coffee, everyone took the cold in stride.

The first speaker was Dave Ropp, who is a professional landscaper and horticulturist in Traverse City, Mich., for 25 years before he moved here a year ago.

Because landscape design is much the same everywhere, he is now doing landscaping in the Tampa/Zephyrhills area and is also working at the gardens.

"The landscape should be a setting for a house, not a screen," he said. "The house should be the focal point of the yard and the yard the focal point looking out from the house."

I knew I was in trouble right then.

"Rules can be broken," he said. "Guidelines should be followed."

And he suggested that wide pathways – about 4-feet in width, wide enough for two people to walk side by side or one to push a wheelbarrow will prevent chaos.

On most properties, the front yard is the public area, the back yard more private, and the sides are often used as service areas. The landscaping should be geared to the needs of the family to create a pleasant, attractive and user-friendly outdoor environment while it protects the natural character of the site.

Ropp advocates nursery-grown native plants and natural (organic) products.

"The first step is to map all the permanent features in the landscape on paper as much to scale as possible," he said.

For details on how to do this, check out a book on landscaping or have a professional do it.

He advocated one large tree on each side of a house and one in the back for framing. A lawn should be a simple geometric shape to simplify maintenance. A square with rounded corners works well.

We should avoid the shotgun effect of plants here and there in the lawn. A better way to break it up if you must is planting one near the center.

Several plants of the same kind and color have a much better visual impact than do one of every kind, and odd numbers of plants look better than even numbers.

"Fences don't need to be continuous," he said. "They can be in sections between groups of shrubs, but avoid making those groups all exactly the same."

This has been called the piece of bread and piece of cheese effect and lacks the harmony and naturalness that make a landscape striking rather than boring.

As he spoke, Ropp often referred to a most amazing model he had of a back yard with fresh flowers and tree branches giving the picture.

When asked about prices, he said he sometimes does one hour consultations for as little as $35 to $40 to discuss basic ideas.

But most people really need more time, a talk about their needs and wants and a map prepared. This could cost $200 to $300 depending on the job, but could save thousands in the long run.

Ropp grew up on a farm in Michigan, was in 4-H and FFA during high school and began working with landscaping and horticulture when he was about 12.

After spending two years in the military, he went on to earn his bachelor's degree in landscaping horticulture.

Ropp has good sense and his methods are planet friendly. He advocates growing more than one kind of plant, crop rotation on a farm.

He told about a farmer he knew who leased some of his land to a potato company that came in and grew more potatoes per acre than the farmer had ever seen done. When the eight-year lease was up, the farmer asked if the company wanted the land for another eight years.

"Heavens, no," company officials said. "That land is all used up."

The farmer found he couldn't even sink a plow blade into the soil. It took him years to get it back into useful shape.

Ropp can be contacted at 451-9868. For information check out Web site www.ropplandscaping.com.

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