“After building a home to sell on Smith Lake a few years ago, I fell in love with designing and contracting,” said Georgia Myrex, owner of Smith Lake Greenscapes and Exterior Design. “I channeled my passion for outdoors and gardening and took a chance on this landscape/hardscape company. Some days, I am amazed that I make a living doing this; not a single day feels like ‘work.’”
Myrex says landscaping gives a home character.
“I’ve always looked at landscaping around your home like wearing makeup and styling your hair. You can have a beautiful home on a gorgeous lot, but without some sort of landscaping, it just looks incomplete. A simple landscape with some foliage gives your home or business so much more vibrance and personality. It allows you to display character and style before even entering the door.”
Plants and trees in the South
“We are fortunate to live in an area compatible with hundreds of variations of plants. The biggest request we receive before designing a garden is ‘low maintenance but pretty.’ In some zones, that’s difficult to achieve, but here, the options are endless,” said Myrex. “Due to our Southern, generally ‘warm’ climate, we are fortunate to have a wide variety of trees to choose from. One of my favorites is the Magnolia, a Southern staple as well as an evergreen providing year-round color. I tend to lean toward evergreens, so my other go-to would be Arborvitae trees. Arborvitaes are great to use as privacy hedges or simply to incorporate color in a garden that has no evergreens and would otherwise look ‘dead’ in winter.”
Above all, said Myrex, homeowners should consider how much time they want to spend on maintenance.
“If you enjoy pruning, watering and fertilizing, select more flowering plants and possibly some annuals. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time on maintenance but admire flowering plants from afar, consider something hardier such as azaleas, hydrangeas, roses or other perennials.”
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Myrex's top 3 plants/flowers
- Azaleas (Hardy, bloom more, color options)
- Japanese cedar (Evergreen, flowy, year-round color)
- Limelight hydrangeas (Hardy, bright green foliage, white flowers, various sizes)
"I’ve always looked at landscaping around your home like wearing makeup and styling your hair. You can have a beautiful home on a gorgeous lot, but without some sort of landscaping, it just looks incomplete."
