GARDEN DESIGN

Why use a Garden Designer?

A Garden Designer will listen carefully to your thoughts about how you wish your new garden to look and function. They will consider important factors, such as:

- who will use the garden. For example, does there need to be an area for childrens' ball games, a shady seating area, a terrace big enough to accommodate evening get-togethers, a place to grow fruit, vegtables and cut flowers, and area for sunbathing? A designer will consider where these are best sited.

- your tastes. A designer will spend time thinking about the finished 'look' of the garden and whether it will 'fit in' with the style of the house and your own tastes. This will affect decisions about paving choices, structures such as fencing, pergolas, garden buildings, furniture and planting.

- your garden's good & bad points. They will spend time examining the overall site and consider what existing features need to be exploited or hidden. It may be that the garden is particularly small or shallow or an unusual shape. There are many clever designs which can be used to deal with such problems.

- maintenance. They will also take into consideration how much time you wish to spend maintaining your garden. There are many ways of reducing maintenance tasks in the garden and your designer will be able to offer suggestions for these.

- the style of the new garden. A designer will be able to discuss different styles of garden with you and will often have helpful pictures of other gardens which will help you to think about your own plot. They will have an experienced eye for what types of materials and plants work well together in the garden.

- what about getting the garden built?. The designer will produce a plan of the new garden outlining all of itsmain features. This gives you a hard copy of exactly how you wish your new completed garden to look. If you have a budget your designer will try to take this into consideration when thinking about the new garden and how much you wish to spend. It usually helps if the designer is advised of the budget during the early planning stages. A designer will consider the logistical issues of building your garden such as whether machinery can be brought onto site, the disposal or addition of topsoil and waste. All these factors will have an influence on the final cost of building the garden and, more importantly, may save you money later on.