So you want to do something about your garden. Should you call a landscaper? Or should you call a designer? What can the designer do that the landscaper can’t?
First of all, the designer is going to take time to understand what it is that you want and need – the practicalities, your budget, your aesthetic preferences, your lifestyle, etc. They will also take time to understand your garden – its location, shape, how it relates to the house and wider surroundings, where sun and shade falls, what the soil is like, where the best views are, what to draw attention to and what needs to be hidden.
The skill that the designer brings to the table is being able to consider all those, often conflicting factors, and create a scheme that is as beautiful as it is practical and that ties together your house with its outside space in a usable and appealing way.
They will bring fresh ideas that you may not even have considered, seeing opportunities where you may not think they lie and making the most of your space, whether big or small. They will translate those ideas into drawings and visuals so that you can see your garden in great detail before the spade goes in the ground. They will also guide you on costs for realising those ideas, potentially saving you money you may not be willing to spend!
Garden planning and imagining the new space is the very exciting bit, but there is more to garden design than that – the designer will also take care of the boring and mundane technical bits.
They will bring their knowledge of planning rules and laws surrounding the garden build, and knowledge of construction and materials to prepare the plans and specifications from which the garden can be accurately costed and then built, giving you peace of mind. They will be an intermediary you can trust to monitor the work of your chosen landscaping contractor and who will work with them to achieve the design vision.
Last but not least, their horticultural knowledge will ensure that any planting is beautiful, right for the conditions, and suitably easy to maintain. At the end of the process you will be able to look at the garden that is beautiful and unique to you.
So is it worth employing a garden designer? If you are going to spend significant amount of money on your garden, hiring a garden designer is a no brainer – as the end result will be likely much better than what you could achieve without one.