HOW I WORK
The best time to plan your garden design was yesterday.
The second best is today.
How I work
I act as a garden consultant to help bring your garden spaces to life and to provide you with a design and sustainable planting scheme that should serve your needs for years to come. I take great pride in delivering a design that I feel meets your needs and offers you something that delivers for the long term.
Planning of planting schemes is certainly a focus of my work with you – I am primarily a plantsman – and I provide ideas for style, architectural elements, shapes and form. I have an extensive library of resources so I’m normally able to provide examples of designs in other gardens (not just my own designs) to help you visualise any suggested design elements.
Garden design, like any design work, is not just about giving you ‘top ten tips for a super garden’ – there is so much to consider in garden design, particularly around soil, climate, sun/shade, allergies, preferences and most of all, how you want to use and ‘live’ with your newly designed garden. This is where much of my time is spent after we’ve met.
Please note I’m not an architect, so for any structural work that you feel you’d like to embark on, you’d need to appoint an architect/geometra and a competent builder to delvier on those elements, but I can work with them to ensure the build meets the final design agreed and serves the right purpose.
Typically, this is what you should expect:
I start by meeting you in your garden space and discussing what you ideally want / what your priorities are. I’d need some good time to wander around your space so I can take notes, do some preliminary sketches for my own thoughts, and I’ll take lots of photographs not only of your garden, but your house exterior and neigbouring structures, so that I’m able to consider the entirety of your space when it comes to the design
I can normally talk about my initial thoughts with you when we meet based on my first impressions of your space, to ensure I’m on the right track for your needs, and also to gain from you more guidance about what you really want to see and what you don’t want at all!
I can share recent examples of gardens I’ve worked on which may share characteristics of your garden so you can get a feel for how things could work
After we’ve met and I’ve seen your space, I do take considerable time to think through creative solutions to problems / challenges and conduct additional research to help solidify what I think would be the best solution for your needs
I will then prepare some initial outline ideas and then discuss with you your thoughts (by email/Zoom/Whatsapp is fine) and agree which is your preferred option, and then I’ll work on that option and develop the full design
I’ll keep in touch with you during this stage of final design, and I may need to revisit your garden during this stage – if possible/convenient to you
Finally, once all is completed, I’ll come and present the final design
What I’ll need from you (ideally)
Architectural/cadastral plans (overhead to allow measurements/shapes etc – ideally with scale markings)
Tell me what you like/dislike – colours, flowers, materials
A guide on how much work you’re prepared to do to maintain your garden. Consider if you have access to/want to use additional regular help or planning to manage it yourself
What I can’t help with…
I don’t just provide ‘plant lists’ – such a list doesn’t consider your own garden, your soil, your aspect etc or how you want your garden to change during the seasons.
I don’t carry out any of the physical work to renovate your garden, including buying/delivering plants and other materials or any manual work. I’m not being difficult – it’s just a legal/tax requirement that I must comply with. I can however recommend sources for plant buying and local builders you can meet with.
Once you’ve settled on a design and planting scheme, I cannot help if the availability of the required plants, materials or builders are not available immediately for you. Many plants particularly are seasonal and not sold all year round.
I cannot make planning applications on your behalf. A design which has some structural work as part of it may need comune/UNESCO sign-off and you’re advised to seek the advice and services of a qualified geometra.
Finally…please consider the following!
Be patient! A newly planted garden design will take at least two seasons of growth to start taking a fuller shape, typically reaching its first stage of maturity in its third season. Don’t be despondent if your new garden design doesn’t immediately look like how you imagined
Some plants will die. Even the best plant, planting schemes and garden design cannot fight against nature. As gardening guru Monty Don frequently says – expect half of your plants to die and you’ll do well. Hopefully this is not the case, but the success/failure of the planting is down to many factors
Be prepared to water your new garden constantly. I’ll advise which plants will need more attention than others, but Piedmont summers can be relentless and newly planted schemes will need considerable watering in the early months after planting
Consider when to start. My advice is to plan your garden in the autumn/winter, so that you can finalise plans (and obtain any permissions needed) before the spring. Order your plants in January/February for delivery in March/April and then be ready to plan once the last threat of frosts has passed. Don’t buy €000s of plants in June and expect them to survive the summer if newly planted
Typical Consultancy Fee
A typical design consultancy for a private garden of approximately 500sqm will be around €4,000, though costs and duration of project can vary hugely depending on the complexity of the scheme. Larger gardens or commercial spaces (restaurants/hotels) would be quoted on a case-by-case basis.
I invoice 50% of my costs in advance, with the balance due when I hand over the final plans
My daily rate is €600 for additional consultation, and I’m flexible on this for larger commissions