Landscaping in Jackson is Yazoo clay, oak shade, and water that stands because the soil will not take it. A bed kept wet against the slab can swell the ground until doors stick. A dry month pulls the soil back and stair-steps the brick. The yard is pushing the house. Start there, not with flowers.
Belhaven and Fondren canopies kill grass and leave mud that stays sour under the oaks. Roots heave walks and find old sewer lines. Northeast yards are more open, so the temptation is to water the foundation plantings hard through a dry spell. That watering is how a quiet slab becomes a stuck-door slab. Gutters that dump into those same beds keep one corner wet all season while the opposite corner shrinks.
Grade piled above the brick weep line holds moisture on the wall and invites insects. Algae on a shaded gable means the bed is too close and too damp. Centipede thins under the canopy and in soil that never dries. Fire ants take the sunny open lawn. Mosquitoes take the low corner the clay will not drain. A walk that heaves and a porch that pulls away from the house are soil movement you can see without digging a test hole.
A swale only helps if it falls away from the slab. Many decorative beds do the opposite and trap water on the uphill side of a walk. Downspout extensions that stop a foot from the wall are almost useless on this clay. Dry shade under oaks is not a place to force a lawn that wants sun. Say whether you want the water off the foundation or you want the cracks in the brick to stop growing. Those goals meet in the grade.
When you call, describe the clay behavior you have watched. Doors in wet weather, cracks in dry weather, a corner that stays boggy, or roots in the walk. Name the neighborhood and the trees on the roof. Mention beds against brick and gutters that end in the flower bed. The job is to stop the yard from shoving the house and to give rain somewhere to go. Planting is the second conversation. Call the number on this page.