After vision (Step 1) and budget (Step 2), the fun begins with garden design. There are three ways to approach design.

Quick Approach

Take pictures of your landscape. Measure the lengths of the outside walls. Find landscapes you like. Copy them.

This can be a small area or your entire landscape.

There is no wrong answer, design is subjective, just like visual arts. Some people will love your design, others will hate it. To please the most people, especially if you’re planning to resell your home one day, landscape the foundation with evergreen shrubs.

If you’re designing your first home’s landscape, start small, find plants that you like, and use them in many places. I like two-three varieties around the home’s foundation. Next I like blooming shrubs and small deciduous trees in front or nearby the shrubs. Finally, in front of your shrubs (around the foundation), plant annuals and perennials. Evergreen green provides a great backdrop to see flower colors.

Check out this blog post on timeless landscape design.

Pro Approach – Avoid the 3 Common, Expensive Design Mistakes 

1. Do not install large growing trees and shrubs near the home foundation. Don’t do it. Plant large growing trees at least 15 ft from the foundation. Tree roots can crack the home’s foundation along with the danger of tree branches falling and damaging the roof.

Small stature trees like serviceberry, crapemyrtle, and dogwood are acceptable for foundation planting with some pruning required.

2. A controversial design decision I disagree with; (I see this approach all the time) planting one of everything. New gardeners and novice landscapers rotate one variety then another, and another. Choose one evergreen shrub variety per foundation wall to create uniformity. Uniformity is a design principle and is pleasing to the eye.

Choose a few varieties of trees/shrubs and replicate them throughout the design. Does this sound boring to you? Great design is simple. Seeing the same plants through out a landscape is pleasing to the eye.

3. When I look at a landscape I can tell if it was professionally designed or not. How? Plants in the wrong places. Simple common mistake. What do I mean in the wrong places? All plants thrive in different locations. Using a landscape designer, you get an unfair advantage because you don’t have trial and error. Designers know what does best.

Too many plants planted together? Probably done by a landscaper where they get paid for more plants. More plants sold and installed. More they make. This is an ethical conflict of interest. The best landscapers will coach you on spacing plants correctly, limiting the number of plants needed.

BONUS MISTAKE to AVOID: Only rookies use too many colors! Need help choosing colors? Click here

Pay a Professional Approach

I know, shameless plug. I offer landscape and garden design services. Basically I help you achieve the look you’re after. I help you pick the right plants for the right places. Contact me if you have a design question. Always happy to help!

 

Have you created a basic design? Now it’s time to purchase some plants in Step 4.

Remember how we talked about brainstorming in Step 1? Now get real with your landscaping budget. Your budget is unique but always based on the cost of time.

The older the plant, the more expensive it will be. 

Japanese maples (Acer japonica) and American boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens) are more expensive because they grow slowly. To save money and time, substitute crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) for jap. maple. Sub korean boxwood hybrids, Japanese holly, or ‘Conoy’ Viburnum for American Boxwood.

To dramatically cut cost, start with smaller plants. That usually means a three gallon tree or shrub. The three gallon size is the industry standard at retail.

It’s difficult to find, but a source for one gallon trees or shrubs is your most cost effective size. You will most likely find one gallon sizes from wholesalers or local garden centers.

Be wary, the older a plant is, the more time it takes for establishment. This means you may have to baby-sit larger plants because their small root system must develop into the ground before they become self-sufficient. Smaller trees and shrubs will establish more quickly. Larger plants have been in an artificial environment longer and need longer nursing care by you before becoming self-sufficient.

Provide the necessary free labor and dig your own holes to save on install.

This may seem obvious if you’re doing it yourself. Paying someone else to do the dirty work costs money. I wouldn’t be in business if this weren’t so! If you need large plants installed or you’re feeling overwhelmed, consult an expert. I provide a FREE site audit, just contact me, it can be done virtually!

Typically landscapers include the delivery and install in the price of a plant. If you know what you’re looking for, call around and get several estimates. You may learn that a landscaper buys wholesale and can install for the same price you would pay at retail. It never hurts to ask!

But is it really hard to install? Heck no, check out this hole digging article. You don’t have to finish in one day. At my home, I like to dig one hole a day until the project is completed.

What are you willing to spend this year on this project?

You don’t have to finish the entire landscape in one season. I believe in adding plants every season! If your budget is small, start with small plants and create new beds or foundation plantings each year. That way everything will be taken care of and nothing will die from neglect.

Once you have a budget in mind, go to Step 3, Garden Design Ideas and Common Expensive Mistake and How to Avoid.

Did you find what you’re looking for? If not, send me an email and I can help you figure out which plants to buy.

So you’ve installed your plants like a pro in Step 5? Now you’re ready to keep them alive!

Wanna know the secret of healthy plants? Give them love and attention. Oh, and Right Plant in the Right Place.

It’s critical that you physically look at your plants weekly. Sometimes daily during the hot, summer growing season when conditions can change quickly.

Most garden failure occurs when people go out of town. Or just take a long weekend. You come home and your plants are cooked. They’re brown and crispy, dead, toast. Firewood.

Before you leave town and your plants home alone, make sure to do these three things.

1. Keep the soil weed free and grass free underneath the drip line of your freshly planted trees and shrubs.

2. Use organic mulch like pine straw, pine bark, or hardwood mulch to keep the root balls moist. Moist equals life.

3. Soak the plants with a garden hose. Water is crucial. How to Water Right. Have you bought a hose yet? How to Select a Hose.

 

Have you mulched and watered correctly? Congratualations! Check out Step 7.