Landscape Design

Imagine that you are about to build a house. You’ve been dreaming of the ideal place for months, maybe years. You know the look you’re trying to accomplish, and you set about to build it. The next step is to visit the Big Orange home center store and find a teenager with an orange apron. “You’re gonna need at least three of them carts, bud, ‘cause I’m building a whole house!”, you say. You cinch up your jeans with your thumbs and head down the aisles at a determined tilt, apron-clad teenager in tow. “Let me have some of those 2X4’s, some plywood, sheetrock, and shingles,” you say. “Oh yeah! And a door! How am I gonna get in the dang thing?!” you crack.

Ridiculous? I can’t tell you how many people I’ve helped over the years that approached their home landscaping in precisely this manner. During my years in the garden center business I would see people show up early on a Saturday morning in a borrowed pick up truck with a few ideas in their head, ready to tackle landscaping their entire property. They would drag me around the nursery, asking for every excruciating detail about anything that catches their eye, or is on sale that week. Eventually, after a couple of hours (yes, really) I would get their truck loaded up, paid up, and out the gate. I can only imagine what happened next.

Just as it would be impractical to build a house without a blueprint, it is just as foolish to build a landscape without a plan.

A landscape plan causes you to seriously evaluate many things, including how long you may be in your home, how you intend to use the property, how much money you want to put into it, and so on. It takes all of those ideas you may have in your head, or combines the ideas from you and your spouse, then filters them through the expertise of the designer. A landscape design also is a road map to helping you achieve the landscape of your dreams. It prepares you to deal with contractors and suppliers for every thing you will need. A landscape plan allows you to pace the progress of your landscape as money and time allow.

A full landscape design for an ‘average’ Atlanta subdivision home cost about the same as a pick up truck full of the wrong plants.

This process starts with a site visit, a ‘listening session’ if you will. I will ask you some open questions about the ‘look’ or theme you desire. I will ask if there is a favorite vacation spot or old home place of which you want to be reminded. Are there certain plants that remind you of someone, like a particular rose or flowering tree? You see, a great landscape is as much about how it makes you feel as it is about how it looks.  I will ask about your willingness to do the gardening or if you will hire someone. I will take lots of pictures of your site and collect the design fee. In about two weeks I will return with your design and will go over it with you in detail. I want to make sure you understand everything. Unless there are revisions or changes you are on your own to ‘execute’ the plan. I can help you with the next phase too. If you need help locating plants, contractors, or just need me to come by for half a day on a Saturday to show you how to lay out an area, I can do that too. Call 678 568-2073 to make an appointment, or email at russ@southerngardencoach.com