Many homeowners are getting poised for landscaping projects in less than two months. Stores and offices are considering long-range plans to spruce up, too. Usually this amounts to more than simply planting a few flowers. When it comes to landscape designs and redesigns, smart, cost-conscious owners turn to experts for help ? just as they would turn to a doctor for meaningful medical help or a CPA for accurate accounting.

A good design is what makes the difference between a hodgepodge of plants and an attractive, usable outdoor environment. Another big consideration, of course, is cost. It's common to spend at least 10 percent of a home's value on a thorough landscape design, installation and materials. (Remember: you get what you pay for.) So, with that kind of money at stake, nobody wants to do it twice.

Right now, when your landscape is probably barren and undemanding, is the ideal time to plan your landscape design.

So, who do you turn to for expert help, when it?s more than planting a few flowers? It helps to be clear about who does what kind of work, and just how qualified they really are. Here are most of the types you'll encounter:

• Landscape architects design gardens and provide professional services in site planning, in addition to land-use design of large-scale commercial and municipal projects. Landscape architects have earned a college degree in the profession, and are licensed in all but five states, much the same as lawyers, architects, and engineers. Because of their unique combination of design skills, technical knowledge and plant knowledge, a landscape architect is the best choice, and often the least costly in the long run, for an outdoor design project. Often, a landscape architect works in conjunction with an architect or an engineer.
• Landscape designers can be likely choices for exterior designs that do not require much construction, grading or other specific technical knowledge such as drainage, lighting or governmental regulations. Anyone can call himself a "landscape designer." Some professional architects and civil engineers do limited landscape design work on the side. No formal education or license is required; some landscape designers have pertinent education, and will gladly let you know if they have it. Some are quite good! Designers are not legally liable, however, for the outcome of their designs, as landscape architects are.
• Horticulturists are trained in botany, the science of growing and reproducing plants, but typically lack design skills and technical knowledge about exterior construction, drainage and land-use laws, or other challenges likely to be encountered in many design projects.
• Landscape contractors install the elements (plants, decks, patios etc.) of a design conceived by a landscape architect or designer. Sometimes, landscape contractors will entice clients with a "free plan" in order to get the ensuing construction work. Many plant nurseries (whose income is derived mainly from plant sales) also do some contracting work on the side. A few of them are good!

Owen Yost is an area Landscape Architect specializing in designing low-maintenance landscapes incorporating native plants with hardscape such as decking, fences, terraces, walkways, walls etc. He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Keep Denton Beautiful and the Native Plant Society of Texas. His Denton office is at 4516 Coyote Point; call 940.382-2099 or 383-9655. E-mail, Yost87@charter.net