garden designs

If you are thinking about hiring a garden designer, try this guy, he did a great job on a friend of mine's place. He's done some fantastic garden designs, check out 'The Landscape Architect - Bespoke Garden Design, London, UK. Tel:07875 203901'

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garden designs

Reply to
arlon
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FOAD

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

These on-line acronyms are enchanting!! So much said in so small a space.

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Is "fall over and die" too strong?

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Aw wow! How amazing! those pictures look wonderful, so picturesque. I wanna be there! :(

Reply to
hollierose

Just a comment, I was a landscape gardener down here in Cornwall for 30 yrs, we as a service to our customers, did all the designing of the jobs ourselves and unless they wanted plans drawn, for which we charged a very nominal sum, we never ever charged for the design. We saw this part of the job as the reason people employed us, for our expertise!! Its always amazed me how much people will pay just for the design alone?? often ,nearly as much as having the actual work done itself.

We have a college locally churning out all these so called 'garden designers', who think all they have to do to is swan around in a straw hat, gesticulate and wax lyrical to earn a fortune.

Reply to
lannerman

Well, I guess that's one way of looking at it :-) OTOH, a great many landscapers/gardeners know nothing about design........which involves a great deal more than just plant selection and placement. Why not pay for trained expertise? Kind of the entire purpose behind a landscape architecture/design degree and the apprenticing and licensing requirements that follow. Would you do the same for your home? Hire Joe the Builder and assume he knows what he's doing when he designs your house or hire someone - an architect - who has the proper education and training and the certification to support it?

As to "waxing lyrical to earn a fortune".....if only it were quite that easy! As a degreed landscape designer myself (in private practice for 15+ years), let me tell you that there is no "fortune" to be earned in this business. LOL!! In fact, the design portion of a planned landscape is by far the least expensive part. Folks pay for a design because they have no idea how to proceed on their own and they want a landscape that is site-appropriate, serviceable, addresses their outdoor living needs and fulfills their aesthetic considerations. And adds to resale value. Whether they choose to implement the design on their own and save considerable labor expense or hire out a portion or the entire project to a professional landscape contractor is their choice. But don't underestimate the value a properly trained, experienced and skilled designer will bring to the table. It's huge.

FWIW, here in the states, the cost of a design (drafted plan, construction specs, plant list) alone will vary according to the location, the size of the site, any attendant difficulties (slopes, drainage, etc.), the complexity of the project and to a small extent, the reknown of the designer. But for the average residential property, the cost seldom exceeds a couple of grand........if that. Hard to see how that would come anywhere close to the expense involved in site prep (clearing, grading, installation of drainage), the cost of materials (soils, plants, hardscape) and the biggie --- labor --- if hiring a professional landscape contractor. It just doesn't compute.

As with hiring any home improvement professional, you want to check out credentials, licensing/bonding and check references and view previously completed work before you choose. And because it is a very closely interactive exchange between designer and client, you want to make sure you have good rapport and clear communication.

Reply to
gardengal

Many large nurserys/growers employ and/or are owned by degreed designers/horticulturists who will when you purchase their plantings and/or have them do the planting services offer the designing gratis. This is an excellent arrangement that has served me well, and turns out to be the least costly approach, in the immediacy and in the long haul. But if all someone wants is to get ideas but is not yet ready to actually proceed with the project there are many software programs out there that one can experiment with, and only spend a few bucks... even public libraries will loan design software and/or permit free use on their computers. It's really quite silly to hire a self proclaimed landscape designer who is free lance, has no place of business other than out of their home, and pay them big bucks for advice you may or may not use or be of any value whatsoever... I wouldn't spend $5 for a watch to someone selling out of a suitcase on a street corner, I'm certainly not going to pay thouSand$ for landscape design to anyone who operates out of the back seat of their automobile.

Actually the property owner is their own best landscape designer... one needs to actually live on a property on a daily basis for a minimum of two full years before attempting any major landscaping... no one who spends an hour in your yard can offer you much more than the kind of BS you can't even compost.

Unless you have more dollars than brain cells do your own landscape design, take your time, do only a small project at a time and be sure you're happy with it before moving on to the next one. This way it will take a few years but you will have something that really works for you, not the landscaper's bank account. And landscaping is a forever ongoing project, it never ends, it never takes a vacation. Nowadays everyone who goes about mowing lawns and spreading manure calls themself landscaper.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

And that is an excellent dissertation from someone who apparently has no idea what is involved with "design". Landscape 'design' - as opposed to digging out planting beds and plopping in some plants - is both an art and a science. Most homeowner are not landscapers.....many are barely even gardeners. And even less have the knowledge supporting basic design skills: composition, a sense of balance and scale, spatial analysis, site planning, how to combine textures, shapes and colors, how to create a sense of unity and repetition. Let alone the ability to analyze soils and drainage. And then there is basic plant knowledge - required cultural conditions, mature size, behavior and habit - not to mention the dozens of assorted technical skills involved in actually implementing a design, should they be ambitious enough to create one of their own.

Sure, a lot of that can be learned but not everyone has the luxury of the time involved OR the desire to begin with. Or is interested in going through the trial and error (and associated expense) involved when you learn as you go. FWIW, landscape software is only a tool, just as a drafting table or CAD system is to the landscape architect or designer. It DOES NOT replace design knowledge - garbage in, garbage out. To hire a professional to provide a service you are unable or unwilling to do yourself is considered by most to be an investment......why should landscape design be any different? And the relevence of where this professional has their "office" is totally unimportant. Unless employed by a large company or the owner of one, most of the trade professionals operate from a home base and freelance.

Not very many nurseries or garden centers provide 'free' design services. It is expensive to have a qualified designer on the payroll (nursery owners are waaayyy too busy to be hands-on in this type of activity) and the time involved in developing a landscape design is not insignificant. It is simply not cost effective. And those that do offer this free service tend to use rookie or newly hatched designers (read 'cheap') who have not yet developed a skill set or the customer base to be out on their own. And why be restricted to only the plants that nursery happens to have available or have in overstock that they are trying to clear out, which is typically the case in "free" designs? Why settle for cookie cutter when something of distinction and class can be had relatively inexpensively? Remember, you get what you pay for -- if you don't pay anything for the design, chances are you are not getting a design worth paying anything for. IOW, you are settling for the lowest common denominator.

There are a lot of fly-by-night outfits and individuals out there and that includes a lot of larger companies as well. As I stated in the last paragraph of my previous post, do your homework before hiring any professional. But to consider hiring any professional "silly" indicates an enormous lack of knowledge of the activity involved. It might be something you can do yourself with varying degrees of success but personally, I'm not inclined to re-do my own plumbing or rewire my house - I'd rather hire someone who KNOWS what the heck they are about and can do it properly the first time.

But I guess that's just me being "silly".

Reply to
gardengal

e earned in this business. LOL!! In fact, the design portion of a planned landscape is by far the least expensive part. Folks pay for a design because they have no idea how to proceed on their own and they want a landscape that is site-appropriate, serviceable, addresses their outdoor living needs and fulfills their aesthetic considerations. And adds to resale value. Whether they choose to implement the design on their own and save considerable labor expense or hire out a portion or the entire project to a professional landscape contractor is their choice. But don't underestimate the value a properly trained, experienced and skilled designer will bring to the table. It's huge.

FWIW, here in the states, the cost of a design (drafted plan, construction specs, plant list) alone will vary according to

Reply to
cocolove

Hmm, you didn't finish, so I will: HOW MANY $$$$ CAN BE EXTRACTED FROM AN UNWARY HOMEOWNER.

Large commercial properties need professional landscapers because time is of the essence (typically includes a maintenance contract) but the average residence is best DIY as an ongoing project. If someone doesn't know enough to design a landscape themself they will not know how to maintain it, it'll be doomed.

Friday at Lowe's end of season bulbs were on sale at 75% off, I bought

150 deer resistant types, planted all yesterday... an auger with a 1/2" drill motor made it easy. Planting my creek is an ongoing project... don't need any stinkin' rip-off landscape designer.
Reply to
Brooklyn1

Haha, I had to look up FOAD on Google...

'define:FOAD - Google Search'

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bit strong!

Reply to
Mathink

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