Landscape Design in Tucson, AZ

Of the 225 landscape companies listed in Tucson, 57 offer landscape design, and as a group they lean more toward planting, water and upkeep than toward patios. 33 of the 57 install irrigation and 33 offer ongoing maintenance, while 32 build hardscape. Across Arizona, hardscape is the most common add-on for design companies, so Tucson's balance is worth knowing when you shortlist firms.

Nurseries play a real part in local design. Harlow Gardens is a Tucson plant nursery that also designs, installs, maintains and repairs irrigation. Rozet Landscape Design & Rozet Nursery runs a retail nursery beside a design-build business and works with Sonoran Desert plant palettes, low-voltage lighting and rainwater harvesting; it states that it does not offer maintenance, which matters if you want one company to look after the yard later. Buying from a designer with its own nursery can make it easier to see plants before they go in, so ask whether the plant list specifies container sizes and whether substitutions need your approval.

Water shapes many Tucson plans. EcoSense Sustainable Landscapes designs and installs native and desert-adapted landscapes and lists rainwater and greywater harvesting, erosion and flood mitigation and organic maintenance. Rain Link Irrigation, a family-owned irrigation company, designs and installs drip and sprinkler systems and adds low-voltage lighting and misting. Tucson is hot and dry, so a design that shows planting without a matching irrigation layout leaves a big part of the job undecided. Ask for zones to be drawn by plant water needs.