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house & home ~ Duxbury Gardens D uxbury G ardeners by Suzette Martinez Standring Landscaping is much more than trees and plants. Gardens can be transformed into outdoor extensions of one's home. With forty years of experience, Duxbury Gardeners excels in landscaping as well as creating entertainment patios, outdoor kitchens, swimming pools, fire pits and fireplaces. Popular trends include gas-fueled fire pits, circular stonewalls and "Fire bowls" for outdoor lighting. Smartphone technology allows remote operation of recreational features. Jay Desmarais founded his company in 1974, when he mowed lawns for eight customers. Today he and his son, Matthew, oversee everything from full maintenance upkeep to major renovations. Duxbury Gardeners is a one-stop resource for design, building and maintenance. Customers come in with an idea about their dream landscaping. Then the concerns arise, "What is the cost? When you can start?" The professionals at Duxbury Gardeners can help guide you through these first important steps. First, be clear about the property's future. Will this be a permanent home, or will it be sold in the future? A long-term goal will guide the amount of commitment and cost involved. For example, one client decided he no longer wanted to travel on vacations. So he created a luxury entertainment area with an outdoor kitchen, swimming pool, and a cabana with full bath, dressing areas and wide screen TV to transform his home into a vacation destination for his family, grandchildren, and friends. 22 After establishing a long-term goal, then dream big and envision your wish list in its entirety. A well thought out master plan can save money in two ways. Renovations can be done in phases over one to ten years, making a project affordable. In contrast, when doing things piecemeal without an overall vision, homeowners often suffer the very expensive (and common!) mistake of putting in landscaping only to tear it out to make way for a replacement project, such as a swimming pool. Duxbury Gardeners has saved customers thousands of dollars by developing a design installed in phases, eliminating expensive re-do's. "The key is to find out a client's goals. People need to put their wishes on a master plan and then sit down to develop that project, depending on their budget and within a time frame— one or ten years—but there should be a game plan." Planning ahead in winter is a good time to get designs drawn and scheduling set in time for your project to be completed for summer enjoyment. The 45,000 square foot design showroom and facilities of Duxbury Gardeners are located on twelve acres at 6 Main Street in Kingston. At one site, clients can be inspired by the possibilities of landscape architectural design, stone masonry, swimming pools, and an outdoor furniture company selling furniture and outdoor accessories. Duxbury Gardeners serves southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. Modern options are astounding. Smartphones and home cameras allow remote monitoring and operation of outdoor areas. During a long commute home, one client uses his iPhone to turn on garden lights, heat the Jacuzzi, and preheat the grill before his arrival.