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Great looking gardens don't just happen. They're planned.
No, I'm not just talking about formal gardens. I’m talking about any garden that looks great and healthy and well tended.
Even the natural look of random, loosely structured gardens requires a plan. And so does the English country garden look. That riot of color and variety has a method to its madness that is not as easy to achieve as it looks.
The most important thing about a garden plan is that you have one. That you know what you want to plant and where to plant it for the best effect.
If you have trouble coming up with a garden plan yourself, this is the best time of year to ask for professional help. The landscape designers at your local nursery aren't into their busiest season yet. Chances are you will be able to get an appointment without waiting too long. That gives you the advantage of having a plan to work with well before the planting season arrives.
But one thing’s for sure. Whether you develop a landscape plan yourself, or ask a professional designer to help you, you have to do your homework. There are some questions you have to ask yourself and answer before you determine what kind of plan will best fit both your tastes and your needs.
That's the key to finding and creating the landscape plan that's best for you. Your garden should be functional, give pleasure to your eye and be a place in which you love to spend your leisure time.
To be functional, your garden shouldn’t take more time than you have available to maintain it. If you have a busy life with little time to spend on gardening, choose low maintenance, slow growing plants. If you love to garden and intend to spend your leisure hours tending your landscape, you have a wider variety in terms of design and landscape plants from which to choose.
Landscape designers usually deal with the fundamental shape of your garden, which includes primarily the artistic placement of trees and shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous. Their recommendations in terms of color scheme are generally limited to the foliage color and contrast of permanent plants and flowering shrubs.
They generally leave the planning for annual color and choice of annual plants up to you. So that's something else you’ll have to decide – how much space you want left available for annual flowers and/or a vegetable ga