Landscaping in New Orleans means live oaks, a water table near the grass, and rain that the street may not take. A French drain that ends in a full ditch is a bucket. Water that ponds under a raised house rots the sill. Water that stands against a Gentilly slab wets the edge and the weep line. Start with the last hard rain and where it was still sitting the next day.
Uptown and Carrollton oaks shade the lawn to mud, heave the walk, and send roots into laterals. Gutters under them overflow into the pier void. Gallery beds piled against siding hold moisture on wood that termites are already hunting. Mid-City and Broadmoor yards can be lower than the crown of the street, so the yard is the basin. East bank slabs and Lakeview yards need grade that falls to the street, which a boxed bed will cheerfully prevent.
You cannot drain the city with a trench in one yard. You can stop trapping water at the sill, the pier, and the slab edge. Containers, sagging gutters, and a low corner breed mosquitoes in a week. Fire ants take the sunnier open lots. Algae on a wall means the bed is too wet and too close.
Grass that wants full sun will not live under a mature oak, and forcing it with constant water only keeps the crawl wet. Bare mulch against cypress or siding is an invitation. A walk heaved by roots becomes a trip and a sign the sewer may be next. Say whether the goal is dry piers, a slab edge that stops wicking, or a path through the shade. Those are landscaping jobs. A flower list is not the first sentence.
When you call, name the neighborhood and the house form. Raised or slab. Say whether water stands under the house, against the brick, or only in the oak shade. Mention roots in the walk, a gutter that misses the yard, and any sewer that slows. The work is to give rain a way past the house without pretending the street can always take it. Keep the wood and the slab edge out of the pond. That is the call. Call the number on this page.