Garden Design Process
Designing a garden is a step-by-step process which considers your wish list, personal preferences, property site characteristics, and budget.
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This process typically involves several iterations and ongoing communication to ensure that every aspect of the design aligns with your expectations and requirements.
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My goal is to create a garden that meets your specific needs and reflects your individual style, a garden that will continue to bring you joy as you watch it grow and develop over the years.
Design Process at a glance
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Initial consultation and site visit
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Preliminary concept sketches
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Final design documents
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Contractor selection and installation
Initial communication
The process starts with a phone call or email exchange to learn more about your goals and make sure my experience and skills are a good fit for your project. Following that, we’ll schedule a date and time for a 60-90 minute consultation and site visit at your property. Depending on the size of your project, I may also email a list of questions/topics for you to think about before we meet to help focus our discussion.
Consultation and site visit
At the consultation we'll review the features of your existing landscape, discuss your design wish list items, identify problem areas, note existing plants and features, and talk about your preferences for color, style, and plants. I will suggest some initial ideas and design possibilities, and if you are interested in focusing on just a single area or planting bed I can provide some planting sketches and plant recommendations on site. This may be enough for you to move ahead on your own if you are a DIY gardener, or you may choose to go ahead with a full design package as outlined below. The charge for a 60-90 minute on-site initial consultation is $125.
Proposal
If you decide to proceed with a landscape design package after the initial consultation, I will provide you with a proposal outlining the scope of work, project timeline, design documents that will be created, and estimated costs.
Design packages range from $500 to $2000, depending upon the size of the project.
Site Analysis and measurement
Once you approve the proposal, I will start gathering information to draft design ideas. I will visit your site to take measurements and photographs, map existing plants and landscape features, assess soil and shade patterns, and generally connect with your property. We will meet again to review your design goals at this time. The photos and measurements collected at this stage will be used to create a base map for your design.
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Concept sketches and plans
Draft sketches, elevation views, and plant and material suggestions will be sent for review and discussion. Mood boards are good tools for narrowing down different styles, plants and materials for your gardens. Perspective and elevation views sketched over photos are helpful for visualizing different design concepts.
Mood Board
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Elevation and Perspective Drawings
Design Documents
Your final design will include a plan view that is drawn to scale and labeled with the information required for installation. The design will be accompanied by an online plant palette with images and detailed information about the plants that will be used in your design.
Planting Plan
Digital Plant Palette
Plant sourcing and installation
At the end of this process you'll have everything you need to hire a contractor for installation, or install it yourself. I can provide assistance with sourcing plants and materials, finding a contractor, managing installation of your project, and providing guidance for garden maintenance. These are not included in the original scope of work but are additional services that I can provide to ensure that your garden design is installed and maintained properly going forward. These additional services will be billed on an hourly basis.
Plant Schedule with Sources
