Why Use a Garden Designer...

A designer will look at how you would like to use your garden, what garden styles you like and what features you would like to include in your garden and unite these elements together cohesively in a clear vision for your garden. Design elements are in scale and proportionate to each other and will relate back to the house and the overall design should relate to the surrounding backdrop.

A presentation plan allows you to mark out the features of the garden design on the ground plane and live with the design for a time allowing you to move around the space to check the practicality of the design before having it built.

The garden, even if small, may be divided up creating ‘rooms’ giving the perception of space or perhaps the visitor is taken on a ‘journey’ through the garden.

If required, a design can be flexible enough to futureproof the garden so that it can be adapted to changing requirements, such as children, pets or senior living.

A designer will tailor the plant choice to your likes, soil conditions and aspect and your level of maintenance. With an excellent horticultural knowledge a garden designer can select suitable plants from a far wider range than the limited choice found in garden centres. This could save you hours searching through plant books trying to second guess which plants might work for you and can lead to costly mistakes when they fail.

A designer will also work with you after the garden is created in order to ensure everything is fulfilling the brief, that the garden is receiving the right maintenance care and can work with you to evolve the garden for the future.

What’s the difference between a garden designer, a landscaper and a landscape architect?
There will always be some people with a cross-over of skills, but the main differences are:

Garden Designers:
Usually work on private gardens
Will focus on the creative side of making your new garden
Will have a thorough knowledge of plants and horticulture, with some knowledge of construction
May be involved in hands-on planting
Will rely on landscapers or builders for the hard landscaping elements, but will oversee to ensure the overall style and design is maintained

Landscapers:
Will focus on the construction side of making your new garden
Will have a thorough knowledge of hard landscaping, with a basic knowledge of plants
May rely on a garden designer to create the design they install
Designs may contain a lot of hard landscaping with a limited range of easy care plants
No aftercare services offered

Landscape architect:
Similar to a garden designer, but tends to work on commercial sites rather than residential, although may work on large scale gardens
Training and accreditation differ from a garden designer, but usually with a broader knowledge of construction rather than horticulture