Landscape Design Services

Anyone who has watched a new patio fill with water after the first big storm knows how this goes. A garden may seem easy at first, but once it rains, you know what part of your home will turn into mud, where your downspout actually dumps its contents, and why the path is sloped towards the back door. Landscape design services resolve those questions on paper first. Grading, drainage, sun, and soil all get figured out first before even thinking about purchasing plants, and that sequence distinguishes an efficient garden from one doomed to fail within three years.

Walk the Property Before Drawing a Line

The first thing one should do is to take a walk on the property during different periods of the day. How does the sun shine in the afternoon, and which corner is always shadowed? Where does the water collect after it rains? Which plants look good and could be kept while others would have their roots breaking the new walkway? Measuring tape, a level and a soil probe provide much more data for a designer than the catalogue of the plants.

The soil is no less important than the sunshine. Clay soils keep the water in it and prevent most shrubs from getting enough oxygen. On the other hand, the sandy soil is so quick to drain that any well-irrigated lawn becomes brown already by July. The soil test is not so costly, but it will completely change the list of plants.

A Yard Built Around the Family

Residential landscape design begins with how people actually use the space. Does someone grill every weekend? Is there a dog that needs a fenced run, or kids who need open grass? Does the owner enjoy spending Saturday morning pruning, or does the yard need to look good with almost no work? Those answers shape the layout more than any style preference.

Paths come next. A walkway should follow the way people already walk, from the driveway to the front door and from the kitchen to the grill. If it forces a detour, someone will cut across the lawn within a month. Lighting gets planned early for a similar reason. Trenching a wire after the paving is down means breaking something.

Privacy is a common request, and the quick fix often backfires. A single row of one evergreen species looks solid for ten years, and then one disease can take out the whole line. A mix of evergreen and deciduous trees with a few layers of shrubs hides the neighbor’s window and survives a bad year.

Sites With Traffic, Codes, and a Maintenance Budget

Commercial landscape design runs into rules that houses rarely face. Shade trees and plant islands of proper size for the code are needed in parking lots. For stormwater, rain gardens, bioswales, or permeable paving are needed. Shrubs near driveways have to be short enough that drivers will see pedestrians, and the accessibility standards determine the grade and width of every walkway to the entrance.

Maintenance cost determines the selection of plants much more than most of the owners think. A small office campus with a meager landscape budget cannot afford intensive perennial gardens or an irrigated lawn. Grass, short shrubs, and mulch gardens work well with a minimum of visits by the crew. When owners see how the five-year maintenance cost looks compared with the installation cost, their minds often change.

Trees in a parking lot face many difficulties too. Road salt, compacted soils, and heat reflection from the asphalt limit the choice of trees considerably. Large planting holes or structural soil allow tree roots some hope.

Modern Design Outdoors

Modern landscape design services favor clean lines, a short plant list, and strong geometry. Just a few repeats of certain plants in drifts seem more serene than a variety of singular items. The hardscape contributes greatly to the design: a path of stones, a raised plant bed with angular forms, a fire pit installed into a deck. As there is not much for cover, details become noticeable. An unevenly laid joint in the pavers or a retaining wall with a wavy edge ruins everything.

The plant choice is mostly based on the shape and texture rather than flower color. Ornamental grasses, boxwood, and sedum provide interest through all seasons, which is especially important during winter when the naked landscape of the contemporary garden requires something to be seen.

Outdoor Rooms

Outdoor space design services treat a yard as a set of rooms. A patio close to the kitchen, a fire pit further away, a bench beneath a tree, and a grassy play area will all have their separate sizes and surfaces. Size counts. A deck that has space for one table and four chairs will be tight for six people, and there should be at least three feet of room behind each chair.

The climate will dictate how long a season there is for using those spaces. Pergolas, shading systems, and wind screens will extend the season, and a fire pit will help you use it right through the fall. All you need to do is measure the sun and wind exposure on a typical day during the busiest season. A deck that faces the afternoon sun in July may get too warm to use comfortably.

What a Professional Plan Includes

Professional landscape planning services produce more than a pretty sketch. The complete design must include the grading and drainage plans, hardscape design with dimensions and material types, plant schedule including types and quantities of plants to be used, the irrigation design and lighting design.

Contractors base their quotations on those pages and having a detailed plant schedule which indicates exact sizes and numbers of plants does not leave much margin for change.

Phasing is another advantage. Since the owner can rarely afford to implement the whole design at one time, it becomes essential that the design provides a phasing of the project whereby drainage and grading come first followed by the hardscape design then the trees followed by other plantings.

Final Thoughts

Request that your selected designer provide an example of an installation they have done at least five years ago, not just the new photographs. Plants always look best on the day of installation. The five-year-old planting will give you information on the selection of plants, the functioning of the drainage system, and the stabilization of the hardscape. Otherwise, ask them what they would like to improve in their oldest project.