The Design Process

RAW Garden Inspiration

What is your ideal garden? Whether it is contemporary or traditional, naturalistic or highly formal, low maintenance or intensely planted, each project is individual and has its own way, and every design is centred on the client’s needs and aspirations. Whatever is on your ideal garden ‘wish-list’, applying the essential design principles of Unity, Harmony, Balance, Scale and Proportion will ensure a strong cohesive look is achieved.

Finding out what lies beyond the gate of your ideal garden will be a wonderful journey of discovery.

If you’re unsure about what your ideal garden should look like, then here are a few questions and pointers to help you get that thought process started…

1. What is your garden like right now and how do you feel about it? Are there any features you particularly like or dislike? This is the starting point for any garden project.
2. Do you have any favourite gardens? Can you describe the features you like? What are the colours and the forms you see? What are the sounds you can hear? How do these gardens make you feel?
3. What shapes do you prefer? Do circles and curves make you feel good, or do straight lines, and angles suit you better?
4. Do you want a look that is modern, chic and contemporary? Or do prefer more naturalistic gardens with movement and flow? Or is it a more traditional look or a cottage garden you’re after?
5. Do you prefer a neat garden, with clipped hedges and striped lawns, or do you like gardens that ramble and overflow with plants that intermingle with one another?
6. Are there any particular plants or trees, or even a special colour scheme that you’d like to include?
7. How do you want to use your garden? Is it mainly for relaxing, recreation, dining, entertaining, growing your own fruit and vegetables? Is it all of these things?
8. Do you enjoy tending to your garden, or do you struggle to find time for gardening? Either way, your garden can be designed to reflect the amount of time you want to spend gardening each week.

Request the RAW Garden Inspiration questionnaire

The Brief

The answers to such questions form ‘The Brief’ and act as a guide to the style of garden that will suit you and meet your needs. Don’t worry if you can’t answer these questions straight away. Sometimes it’s easier to talk it through with a professional garden designer. I’m here to help, so please drop me a line and I can share the complete questionnaire with you. Once we discover your ‘wish-list’ for your garden, this can be framed initially in a concept outline and then followed up with suggestions and image boards that capture the vision.

The survey

Alongside the brief, I will also need to assess the lie of the land. This will involve:

• Topographical survey of your plot and measurements to take,
• Site analysis, including aspect, surrounding areas, land drainage, etc.
• Inventory of the main features, trees, shrubs, etc.
• Soil testing
• Photography to catalogue all existing features

This forms a true baseline for the following activities and is the basis on which a detailed and accurate design can be created on the drawing board.

Design

The garden design process is an exciting journey from initial ideas through to the final detailed design. A well-designed garden is unique and individually tailored to suit your personal requirements.

The first step is to produce a scale drawing to represent the proposed new layout of the garden, taking into account ‘The Brief’ alongside the principal site features and surroundings. Any amendments can be discussed at this stage before further detailed design drawings are produced. The final element of the design is to produce a planting plan including Latin name, size and form specification, number and layout of plants.

Build

Whatever the size of the garden and the amount of work involved, the aim is always the same – to deliver the project in a way that suits both your pocket and your timeframe. This will involve coordination of the project through to completion, working with a team of talented and experienced landscapers, as well as dealing with any specialist nurseries.

Plants and Maintenance

Garden transformation isn’t always about designing and building a brand-new garden.

Sometimes a garden simply needs to be lifted and refreshed with new planting. Plants must be carefully selected, so they will thrive in their intended place and with the underlying soil and environment. Planting design is a completely fascinating activity. Putting together plant combinations to bring a new level of delight to your garden is incredibly rewarding. Perhaps you want plants that will extend the season of interest and even offer cheer and colour during the cold winter months. Or, maybe you simply want plants that will look fantastic but require as little work as possible.

Gardens can sometimes get away from us and can look unruly or neglected. On these occasions you might just need a helping hand to get on top of things in your garden; to clear an overgrown area; to weed a patio; to maintain your borders and boundaries; or simply to make the lawn look ‘fit for purpose’ again. With my RHS training and several years’ experience of garden maintenance, you can be sure of giving your garden just the right attention it requires.

Call me to book an appointment…