Why Hire a Garden Designer

Unless you have a good knowledge of plants (mature size, soil and sun requirements, form, texture, and color), your climate, traffic flow through a property (foot and cars/equipment), and basic design principles, it’s almost always CHEAPER TO HIRE A GARDEN DESIGNER THAN TO WING IT. I start with this because most people consider cost above most everything else when it comes to property improvement.

Why is it cheaper? Most reasons hinge on maintenance and plant replacement costs. I’ve been asked for free advice on what to plant many times, and I really don’t mind. But it’s bothersome when that advice is ignored because someone found cheap plants that seemed to serve the intended purpose. The most obvious example is the planting of large-maturing plants near homes. The real cost is not in the initial planting but in the long-term maintenance (often involving eventual removal)…..plants get too large and cover widows, encroach on the structure, holding moisture against it, and generally look overgrown. So the solution is to prune. This usually isn’t too bad for the first few prunings. But as the plants age, they become harder to control. Often the long-term solution is removal (costly) and replanting…..with several years of unsightly, manipulated, unnatural-looking plants in the meanwhile.

While pruning is a necessity, controlling large-maturing plants that have been sited incorrectly is extremely labor-intensive (costly). Again, size reduction usually results in an unsightly

plant, which defeats the overall purpose of a planted landscape. As a side note, the general rule is that cheap plants are quick-growing plants. While it’s initially more expensive to purchase sizable, slow-maturing plants, in the long run you will save money in maintenance.

Another reason it’s cheaper to hire a professional designer is that often incorrectly-sited plants do not survive. Does the plant like sun or shade? Sandy soil or clay? What are the water requirements for establishment and long-term health? This is information that is needed for survival and aesthetics of the plant. I usually leave my clients with watering instructions for establishment and long-term health.

Other considerations in siting plants that are best left to knowledgeable professionals are bloom time and length of bloom period, incompatible color combinations, foliage color, needed shade, focal points, blocking of unsightly views, optimizing good views, and so many others. Planting the right plant is the correct location is not only the most cost effective but the added benefit is that you will have a beautiful landscape!

Note: “Garden Designer” or “Landscape Designer” are both terms that have no legal or licensing requirements. Anyone can call herself either of these with no education, experience, or license. Reputation, experience, and education should be considered when deciding if you have the right person.

A “Landscape Contractor” maintains a license with the state of NC and requirements include testing, experience, and bonding. Continuing education is required.

A “Landscape Architect” maintains a license with the state of NC which requires testing, experience and continuing education. Landscape Architects have extensive knowledge of design principles, plants and hardscaping.

For those out picking the last of the tomatoes and peppers and disposing of the vines, you might also want to cut back your hardy tropicals like ginger lily (hedychium) and canna before the freeze as well. It’s much easier to cut the fleshy stalks than wait for them to turn black and soggy. The fibers tend to get stringier and it’s just a messier job all around.

Americans are obsessed with mulch (and pinestraw). Don’t get me wrong, organic mulch is great for keeping the soil moist and keeping weeds at bay. In fact, I don’t consider a plant fully planted unless it has been mulched. And new beds may often have large areas of exposed mulch until plants have filled in. But huge mulch areas for the sake of mulch is uniquely American. Areas of organic mulch exceeding the area in which plants will eventually grow makes so sense aesthetically.

For instance, how appealing is this bed?

The shape of the bed is nice. But there needs to be more plant area or less bed area.

The bare mulch to plant ratio is better in the second photo, but still needs filling in.

Yep, plants in eastern NC are looking bad right now. I had a low of -2 degrees at my house and wind along with it. See my post from March 2016 for description of the different types of winter injury. Right now, we are seeing results of desiccation on evergreen plants but as spring approaches, I am sure we will see bark splitting as well.
So what should we do? First of all realize that, in most cases, plants will recover. There will be some death in marginally hardy plants but there is really no way to know that yet. Until new growth appears in spring we will just have to look at a lot of brown. In many cases, this is just foliar damage but in some cases, there may be stem/branch dieback. To check how far back on the plant this goes, scrape the bark with a knife for green under the bark. It’s still winter so I would not prune until March as pruning stems back now could expose the plant to further injury from any cold spells ahead.

Please be patient as we are getting aquanted with our new Houzz account and will be adding projects in the coming weeks.