Success in home landscape design is certainly attainable for do-it-yourselfers, but there are some pitfalls that should be avoided if maximum satisfaction is to be achieved. Many homeowners make the mistake of assuming that having a grassy area in the yard designated as “the lawn” is somehow an obligatory part of home landscape design. But historically speaking, the lawn as we know it is a relatively recent introduction to landscaping. Do you have a steep slope in your yard? Is it tough to retain your topsoil there during a heavy rain? Have you tried growing your favorite plants there to no avail? The problem is that you failed to fix your erosion problem prior to planting. Build a retaining wall first, and then do your planting afterwards. Americans spend tremendous amounts of money “landscaping” their businesses, homes, streets, parks, schools, etc. Much of this money is wasted, however, because of little or no planning. People cannot understand how to landscape until they know why they landscape. There are several reasons why people “landscape”: some think it improves the appearance of their place; others like to grow plants; still others just want their place to look pretty. Too often these landscapes dominate rather than serve. Masses of plants or other materials in the landscape may take up a large portion of the space and leave little room for people. These lavender purple crape myrtles produced a bounty of seeds this year. This time of year the flowers are mostly faded and few things have retained enough foliage to be markedly interesting. Maybe I’ll be gifted with a few free crape myrtles next year!