Baton Rouge is plantation country, and like all of Louisiana is home to bon temps and a spirit of entertaining unmatched by any other state. With spicy Creole cooking and a ready supply of fish and game from the bayous, a landscape featuring a complete outdoor kitchen may be more than just an amenity, it's a necessity. And in this region, a screened in dining area with weatherproof cover can make outdoor living delightfully pest free and immune to summer cloudbursts.

With so much surviving plantation architecture, there will be many older homes both downtown and in Perkins Highlands that would benefit from lovely front yard landscaping that reflects the plants and elegant beauty of the Old South. Carry that look into each element of a new backyard landscape for a wholly unified site.

Native plants that thrive in soggy ground are problem solvers in this region of high water. Experts and ideas can be found at the Baton Rouge Botanic Garden at Independence Park where groves of crape myrtles and azaleas help you zero in on the exact colored varieties that work best with your grounds and interior palette.

Further out from the urban areas, folks in Denham Springs, Hammond and Covington are enjoying expansive rural homesites and estates in the piney woods and bayous spreading eastward from Baton Rouge. Here landscaping makes good sense as a frame for elegant architecture and charming cottages. Thwart the heat and humidity with a beautiful swimming pool amidst lawns and hedges. But unless you provide places for people to dine and entertain outdoors in comfort with screened in structures, the project simply isn't finished.

Don't underestimate how important these outdoor spaces can be when it comes time to sell a home. Beautiful front yards with great curb appeal and vivid planting compositions will catch the eye of every passer by. So blend the picture perfect formality of old French influences with a state of the art grill, pizza oven and beer cooler to create the perfect environment for mint juleps and southern barbecue.