How to choose the right landscape gardener to implement your design

14 May 2019

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Our job as landscape designers and landscape architects is to design a garden that meets your needs, enhances your lifestyle and the architecture of your home. We also need to choose plants that will flourish in the environment we have created. Choosing the right landscape gardener to bring this to life can make or break your creative garden project.

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WHAT MAKES A GREAT LANDSCAPE GARDENER?

The final design creation only works if the plants are successfully chosen and well planted. The key to this is a great landscape gardener who understands from the outset, how to:

Choose the plants
Create perfect soil beds, with drainage as necessary
How to plant, fertilise, stake and mulch each plant

They must be able to read a plan and lay the plants out with an artist’s eye.

WORKING AS A TEAM

A landscape planting plan is only a starting point. The actual artistry happens on the ground at the layout stage. A good landscape gardener will be a trained professional, not just a labourer. Accordingly, you must be prepared to pay the same rates as you pay other professionals such as expert builders or electricians.

A landscape gardener will have to work closely with other professionals such as the drainage contractors, earth movers, the lighting and irrigation people, so they must be a team player. All these elements work together at the very last stage of a project and none of them work in isolation.

A landscape gardener also will need to communicate closely with us as the designers, and you as a client, and keep you updated about plant availability, timing and any on-site changes. They must understand that we have chosen individual plants for a reason and substitutions must go through the landscape design professionals for approval, or the design theme may be affected.

The highest success rate is when the designer can be on-site at layout stage to help the landscape gardener make the tiny adjustments that make all the difference.

A professional landscape gardening company will guarantee their planting and workmanship for a period of time, usually 3 months. After that, if you can retain them for maintenance, your garden’s success will be assured.

THE FINAL WORD

In summary the primary qualities to look for in your landscape gardener would be :

Good communication and teamwork skills
Thorough understanding of building processes, drainage, electrical and irrigation
A good plant knowledge and the ability to choose healthy plants
Good horticultural practices, fertilising, staking etc
Ability to read a plan and execute spatial layouts
Follow up skills and a team for maintenance

We would welcome the opportunity to assist you with any planting plans and design, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch and book in a consultation.