Desert Crest Press

If you’re looking for a plant that does well with less water in Arizona xeriscaping landscaping that also pumps out colorful blooms, and is simple to care for, you just might enjoy the Cape Mallow. Here’s an evergreen shrub that presents you with a variety of looks many people like for their Glendale landscaping. It looks great year around, but is even more lovely from spring through fall, not to mention the fact that it is easily maintained at a smaller size than larger shrubs allow in order to retain a handsome presence in your landscape design.

Cape Mallow comes from South Africa where the climate is very similar to ours here in the Glendale, Arizona area. It’s formal name is Anisodontea x hypomandurum and it is a distinctive evergreen with larger ornately cut leaves. The dense foliage of this plant when installed in well draining soil and on a regular fertilization and watering schedule is excellent for shearing into a formal shape. The natural, softer look is also highly desirable in xeriscaping landscaping where a relaxed feeling is wanted. It will mature to about 6-feet tall and 4-feet wide, and is a great candidate for training into a tree form that is just gorgeous during the blooming months.

A moderately drought tolerant specimen, the Cape Mallow is best watered at least three to four times a month in spring and fall, and a bit more often in the high temperatures of summer. Drip irrigation is best as it allows all water used to be immediately available to the roots. All blooms appear on new growth, so periodic pinching back or clipping is advisable for heavier blooming and denser shape. If you’ve added a tree form to your yard, you will definitely want to keep up on maintaining that lovely globe shaped head. Just don’t shear it too often. Remember that the flowers appear on new growth, so allowing it to grow is highly recommended.

For best enjoyment, choose a place in full sun to plant your Anisodontea. If the soil is clay in that spot, it must be well amended to give your new specimen the right situation to thrive and be free of disease. Poorly draining soil can cause root rot during the rainy season, quickly killing the plant. Something you won’t have to worry about with proper planting preparation.

Image courtesy of john.kwasnik, by CC 2.0

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One of the great things about custom designed Phoenix BBQ grills is you can have the one on your backyard patio created to accommodate both your cooking or entertaining wishes and the available space. A totally different situation than the standard portable gas grill where mobility is more important than grilling prep space. A concept that was perfectly adequate when most people did nothing more than cooking hamburgers and steaks over the open flame.

As our use of outdoor barbeques has evolved, so has our need for better designed outdoor cooking spaces. If you entertain large groups often, full blown outdoor kitchen may be the best design direction to take. For most homeowners, the smaller BBQ island design is perfectly suited to their outdoor cooking needs.

Slip-in Phoenix BBQ grills give you a lot of room to play with the island design, and the placement of the grill in it’s length too. Picking the shape of the cabinet means you can get away from rectangles and consider the benefits of curved and even S-shape designs. Both these options soften the hard edges we normally have in permanent Phoenix landscaping elements. Additionally, they can add a lot more style to that patio than going with the expected long straight shape.

Before getting started on the project of a unique you built in gas grill’s cabinet design, you need to think about usefulness of your outdoor cooking space and whether you will want enough room for serving too. This particular stucco BBQ grill design with the curve puts objects and recipe ingredients closer to the grill as the counter wraps around the chef. Think about how fast one must react to adding the next sauce or flipping the fish while you’re preparing a meal on the barbeque. Situating the gas grill in a way that puts everything important to the task in quick and easy reach will allow you to become more adept at whipping up culinary masterpieces than if not ‘kitchen planning’ goes into the design at all. Remember there is a big difference between cooking on your stove and grilling over open flames. Excelling is accomplished more readily and consistently if you are properly equipped and prepared for each step of the cooking process, rather than scurrying around and hopefully saving the food in the nick of time.

This client of ours has different levels in the patio design’s appeal too, notice the paver steps leading up to the raised built in gas grill’s location. Not only is the BBQ grill’s cabinet and counter curved, but so is the space it occupies in their Phoenix landscape design as well.  The round raised outdoor bar connected to the grilling area of the cabinet doubles as both seating and serving space, depending on the occasion.

Consider all your needs and how to make your Phoenix BBQ grill’s usefulness the perfect addition to your backyard living space and your landscape design. Its the secret to having the perfect built in gas grill’s assets at your fingertips, rather than being disappointed once you have started using the new feature.

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Upgrading Phoenix or Scottsdale patio designs to include the asset of built in gas grills is far more than a luxury. While a great outdoor cooking space is a bonus for any Arizona homeowner and a boon to enjoying outdoor living spaces that much more, its also a tremendous property value booster.

Because food and entertainment go hand in had, lifestyle is a big player in Scottsdale landscape design where backyard living is concerned. For anyone who already has a solid, attractive patio in place, the most popular feature to add to that beyond the back door room is most likely a built in barbeque. There just comes a time in life that rolling that designed to be replaced BBQ grill becomes a hassle. One that takes on bigger issue proportions when the darn thing runs out of propane half way through cooking up a culinary masterpiece.

One thing that many homeowners might not even consider when the decision to add built in gas grills to that patio comes along, you can do away with the gas bottle altogether if your home is already using natural gas for appliances. Naturally, you’ll need to work with a contractor, like Desert Crest, that is licensed and experienced in running gas lines. This aspect of custom built in barbeque installations might not always be possible when adding the grill to an existing patio. Determining that will depend on several factors, including where you want the grill placed in correlation to your home and also the type of material your patio is made of.

While stucco built in gas grills are popular here in Arizona and easily blend with our residential architecture, not everyone wants their BBQ islands built from this material. This particular custom grill island and bar features natural stone facing on the cabinet portion. For the cooking prep counter and the bar top though, the homeowner chose polished marble, where many homeowners will go with a stone tile or ceramic tile.

The two natural materials are an excellent large feature accent on this Scottsdale patio design’s concrete surface. The color of the home’s walls and the patio flooring are a perfect match, making the rich color of the stone masonry and that gorgeous marble top that much more outstanding. With a built in refrigerator to keep drinks, condiments and ready to cook foods cold, the chef on this patio is prepared for both cooking and entertaining handy to the grill top. The addition of the bar sink makes prep and clean up that much easier, not to mention offering on the spot cold drinking water for guests grillside.

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The good life, like a truly great movie, is all about the experience that unfolds around us. Exceptional patio designs today are referred to as outdoor living spaces, far more than a paved area to keep your outdoor furniture off of the dirt. When considering what to write about today, this photo of one of our projects reminded me of surround sound, and how just a blend of channels can take watching a movie to an entirely different plane of experience. One that tends to make the experience more like you’re in the movie, rather than in front of a screen, because the action enfolds you.

Paradise Valley landscaping is really no different in preferred plot than the focus intended to be used in all professional landscape design. The goal of all landscape design is supposed to be creating a place that blends with and makes the most of the surrounding scenery. In essence, this means more of accenting and beautifying the tableau, that it does outdoing the Jones or Smiths next door and down the street. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all for the well-appointed approach to the design and enjoyment of outdoor living spaces. The thing is, you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak.

Patio designs in residential developments can’t always take advantage of a natural panorama beyond them though, and this may very well be the reason so many landscape designers around Phoenix and Scottsdale forget that the goal is to be at one with the natural setting. This particular property though is situated in a spot to perfectly put the true rule of landscape architecture to work and pull it off beautifully. This surround-a-scene outcome, like a movie watched at the theater, give you a sense of the greater beyond being part of the outdoor living space’s experience and attraction.

As is found with most outdoor living patio designs, the fireplace here is the tallest feature. Even though it’s stucco finish has dramatic accents, as a whole, the outdoor fireplace’s presence acts as a buffer between the patio pavers and the natural world beyond.

While we have created many outdoor fireplaces and great looking patio designs over the years, this image that I’ve looked at many times before struck me as exuding peace this time. I think surrounding oneself with nature may just be the key to ultimately relaxing outdoor living spaces. Not just in Paradise Valley landscaping, but in all of Arizona and locations across the country.

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