Sometimes, I am asked why someone would need a garden designer when they already have a landscaper.
I tend to see landscapers and garden designers as two different jobs. Not every person who mows lawns, prunes, etc., will know the best tree to give you something for every season or have an eye for the best placement. A designer will personalize and help you see all the potential of the space, while a landscaper typically is the person who will build it and bring it all to reality. Yes, sometimes they are the same person doing both, but it all starts with the design.
Garden design thinks through more than just a place to plunk plants and scrape out a pathway. As a designer, I walk the lay of the land. I look at all the nuances around the landscape and see if they will be valuable to the garden's appeal. I want to know how the garden will be used. I ask clients to imagine themselves having a meal outside, entertaining friends, or feeding birds. I like to stir up thoughts of what the garden truly is to their lives.
Is it the view from the kitchen window or a sitting area? Sometimes, it is as simple as curb appeal and nothing more. Curb appeal isn’t a fussy boxwood hedge or overdone expanse of lawn- it should make you feel welcome as you drive up. The landscape must connect from home to curb and complement all the surroundings, so yes, even curb appeal deserves a designer's eye.
I also look for sustainability, how a garden can have longevity and improve as it ages. How we nurture the earth and the spaces we create is essential in every place I visit. I look for what tells the story of place and build on it. In new construction designs, I want to take back what was stripped away and create a narrative to bring a garden back around the new home.
Gardens should be interactive; the owners, the visitors, and the inhabitants are a part of the garden. Care and keeping are one part of it all. I prefer the term "low input" instead of low maintenance and a successful design considers that from the beginning choosing elements that need not be overly maintained to keep the landscape looking good. I look at everything right down to the soil- you will see me grabbing a handful of soil or digging my way through the top layers of mulch or whatever is there to see the health of where we are growing. It is a holistic process as we discuss how we will design your space.
I have a passion for plants (yes, I'm okay with being called a "plant nerd") and see them as essential to creating the space. They breathe life and give so much back to all involved in the garden. The biodiversity of well-designed spaces creates clean air, wildlife habitats, and food spaces and even affects air temperature by cooling down the earth in a season's heat.
So, yes design is more than just landscaping, it is developing a sense of place whatever that looks like and creating the road map to get you there.
Design matters if you want longevity, beauty in all seasons, and a garden that captures your lifestyle, even in the smallest spaces.