Landscaping in Alabama is drainage, soil, and trees before it is a prettier yard. Red clay washes out of a cut bank and lands against the house. Pine straw piled on siding keeps the wall wet. A sweetgum or water oak over the ridge is a roof problem waiting in the next storm. Start with what the rain does.
Sloped lots in the hill country send driveway water straight at a garage or a downhill basement wall. A swale that was graded backward ponds under a deck. French drains that do not daylight become buried buckets. On flat Black Belt and coastal lots the problem is the opposite: water stands because the soil is tight or the water table is close, and turf dies in a sour patch.
Gutters that discharge at the foundation undermine piers and wet the crawl. Erosion exposes roots and then the roots heave the walk. Fire ant mounds make the yard hostile and invade the air-conditioner pad. Shade from mature pines kills fescue and leaves a mud slope that stains the brick. A retaining wall that weeps or leans is structure, not a planting detail.
Plant choices follow the heat and the humidity. Centipede and zoysia behave differently from tall fescue in a Birmingham winter, and a coastal yard is another pattern again. Mulch against wood siding is an open invitation to rot and insects. Bed lines that trap water on the uphill side of a walk become mosquito ponds by June. Say what you want the water to do, not only what you want to look at.
When you call, describe the slope in plain words. Water runs to the street, water runs to the house, or water does not run at all. Name the trees that overhang the roof and the walls that stay green with algae. Mention a failing wall, a washed drive, or a crawl that stays muddy. That is the landscaping job. Flowers can wait until the house is no longer in the path of the rain. Call the number on this page.