Garden Design - The Process
How do we ‘make’ a garden? And why do we want to?
Making a garden is an act of creativity, love, disciplined process, humble respect, responsibility and delight
We make gardens because it is our very personal way of making our contribution to our community and Earth. We know that gardens are manipulations of the natural and wild environments and elements of Mother Earth into places, large and small, in which we humans feel safe, find beauty and inspiration, find healing and well being. Whether we are aware of this or not, the living energy rising through every plant and element of a garden rises also through us, energising and nurturing our physical, mental and spiritual selves. Even the smallest garden is healing. Gardens are places in which we play, rest, find joy - and have fun! We make gardens because we love to bring all this to you.
We make gardens because it is also our chosen way to express our own creativity. Our materials, palette and inspiration are of the Earth. Yet, as with most creative endeavours, mastery is generally founded on discipline, training, process - and practice. Added to this a deep sense of responsibility to the Earth and our clients, we employ a rigorous process to our design work that ensures the places that we make are not just creative, but give our clients what it is they want and are perfectly suited to each particular place.
In a garden, we can connect directly to the raw energy of life.
We have described our design process for you which enables us to design places that are perfectly functional, address all requirements, but most of all are transformative, delightful, inspiring, beautiful and healing.
Proposal
To start things off, we visit you to meet both you and your property. Once we have as much information as possible, we write a proposal which outlines the scope of work we understand needs to be done. In this proposal, we outline the stages of work we will need to undertake and an estimate of the cost of this work.
Stages of work
1. Concept Design
A topographical survey is necessary for every project to provide the base for all design work. You either provide us with one or we can commission one for you or, for smaller gardens, we can undertake the survey ourselves.
We get to know your land and everything that affects it:
its environment – built and natural, historic and social
its patterns – people, weather, traffic
its spirit, or genus loci
the constraints on it imposed by councils, regulations, planning, budgets
the opportunities and possibilities
We work into this our understanding of your vision and what you hope to achieve, and the concept designs emerge.
We discuss the initial concept design with you and amend it as you wish. We might use sketches and elevations to help explain the ideas.
2. Master Plan
Once the concept designs are agreed upon, we draft the final Master Plan in fully scaled CAD drawings. The Master Plan includes lighting plans, material suggestions, perspective drawings and, if necessary, elevations.
3. Planting Plan
Our plant plans are detailed and include full schedules and notation. We provide a plant portfolio which tells you about each plant we are recommending. Each plant is chosen for its suitability to meet the many criteria in your garden; soil type, climate, light conditions, flowering, plant typography.
4. Scope of work, documentation, quotes and approvals
Once the Master Plan and planting plans are agreed and signed off, we can provide a Scope of Work and technical construction details on which contractors provide quotes and which guide the build. We can recommend and brief contractors for you.
5. Project co-ordination and implementation
Each contractor brought to the job will have a direct contractual relationship with you. We coordinate, liaise and work to make sure that the project runs smoothly and that the garden or landscape is built to the highest standards. Being on site is critical to assist with problem-solving, providing design consultation and ensuring that every detail is built and installed as planned.
POST PROJECT
Maintenance
When the project is finished, we discuss and can arrange aftercare and maintenance. We work with landscape building and maintenance contractors whose quality of work is known and trusted, and with whom we have developed strong and close relationships.