8 Vital Decisions Required in Creating Your Ideal Garden

Are you about to embark on the journey of landscaping a new garden for your home? Are you feeling a little apprehensive about some of the choices and decisions you know you will have to make along the way? Would you like to have more certainty in those decisions so that you know you are making the right choices and not just hoping it all works out OK?

With over 30 years of experience creating beautiful gardens for hundreds of clients all over Melbourne & the Mornington Peninsula, we know exactly how you feel at this moment. Many of our clients were in the same place as you are right now before they chose to proceed with us. And we're happy to say that the overwhelming majority of them were very glad about the extra effort we make, to help ensure our clients can make informed decisions about their landscape design and construction.

Whether or not you do choose us for your landscaping project is not the purpose for this article. We want you to read it simply so that you can become more informed and have certainty in your decisions, whatever they might be. 

It contains valuable, hard-won insights from decades of experience in landscaping. We think it might be the most valuable thing you could read before choosing the path you wish to take.

What is an informed decision vs rolling the dice?

The Dictionary defines DECISION as:

1. to make a final choice or judgment about something
2. to select a course of action

Therefore an informed decision would be making a choice or judgement on something or selecting a course of action with the benefit of knowing a lot of information with which to back your decision. 

An ill-informed decision would be one where you decide something, without really having all the necessary information at hand. In other words, just rolling the dice and hoping for the best.

The benefit of an informed decision is that it should bring you closer to achieving your goals. 

Of course most people don't consciously set out to make uninformed decisions, especially when it comes to large projects like landscaping a garden. But that can be what happens if you are fed misleading or incorrect information along the way. Or if you simply don't know where to go to find the information you need.

We can all sometimes be swayed in our decisions by personal factors. We can choose someone based on the charm or confidence of the person selling us the service, rather than independently checking the evidence to see if they can do a job well.

We can also sometimes proceed on the basis of a referral, without necessarily checking into whether or not there is a conflict of interest in that referral. And we sometimes operate on the basis of assuming someone is an expert on something, whether or not that is actually their area of expertise or not... "Oh he's a tradie and he said it's OK to....."

Here is a classic example from our own experience.

We had a client who engaged us to design a new garden for them, that included a swimming pool. They had already chosen a pool company before hiring us and were adamant they wanted to proceed with them, so we obliged despite our misgivings.

However, the pool company falsely advised the client that installing the pool first, without waiting for us to meet with them on site or liaising with us in any way, would NOT affect the landscaping. (We had previously advised the client against doing this at the start of the project but the pool company were aggressive on insisting it would not be a problem, so the client proceeded without informing us.)

Sadly for this client, making this ill-informed decision caused us to have to redesign the garden, seriously delaying the project and costing the client thousands and thousands of dollars of additional costs.

Now had the client checked the Google reviews for this pool company, they would have discovered there are none. They also weren't a member of the relevant Pool Association. Two immediate red flags. (There were others too.)

Which brings us to the reason for writing this article, which is; the only decisions you should make are informed ones! 

What major decisions will you have to make in a landscaping project?

Not all decisions are equal. Within any given landscaping project there could be hundreds of decisions you will have to make - the colour of the grout for the paving tiles, the specific variety of flowers to go next to the path, and where you want the steps from the deck to lead to.

Some may not really have any significant consequences for you. But some rather big and critical decisions you will have to make, often right at the start of your journey, can have a dramatic effect on the outcome of the whole project.

We have summarised what we think are the top 8 informed decisions you are most likely to need to make before proceeding with your landscaping project. 

Rather than write an answer to each of these important questions in this article we have linked each key decision to an already existing article from our Insights Library.

How to have clarity on exactly the type of garden you wish to create

Wondering how to end up with the right garden for you? Read this article: How to avoid creating a cookie-cutter garden

How to ensure you do choose the right landscape designer

Unsure how to find the right landscape designer for your project? This article will help: How to engage the right landscape designer in Melbourne

Should you engage someone who only designs gardens or someone who designs and constructs them?

This is a question many people don't even know they need to ask. Find out why here: What should I ask a landscape designer before I engage them

How to know when is the right time to engage a landscape designer

The answer to this question can be particularly important when building a new home. You'll find it here: When is the right time to engage a landscape designer

Whose advice should you follow - the pool installer or the landscape designer?

As explained above, this is one that can often go wrong. You'll find the following article has invaluable advice: Integrating Your Pool into Your Landscape: A Comprehensive Guide

How to make sure your landscaping budget is right for your project

Matching your budget and your expectations can be a challenge in landscaping. This article shows how to stay in control of your budget: How to calculate an accurate budget for landscaping

What is a Registered Landscaping Practitioner and why should you engage one?

Probably 90% of people don't even know what a Registered Landscaping Practitioner is, but this article explains why you should almost never engage a landscaper who isn't one: What type of landscaper will I need for my new garden project

Last but not least is a question you might well be asking yourself right now:

Is Whyte Gardens the right choice for you?

No, we are not the right choice for everyone. But this article explains who we are best suited to: Is Whyte Gardens the right choice to landscape your garden

The passion that inspired us to create our Insights Library

At Whyte Gardens we have a passion for creating gorgeous gardens for all our clients. But we are equally as passionate about ensuring all our clients can easily gather together all the information and knowledge they need to understand the what, why, how, when and where of every step of their landscaping project.

We have found over the years it makes the whole journey from designing your garden to seeing it finally complete, so much more relaxing, less stressful and more enjoyable for you.

There is no joy for you, or us, in having you say halfway through landscaping your garden, "But I thought you meant it would be like this...." Or, "Oh, I thought that was included as part of the cost?" Or, "I didn't know you would be doing it THAT way."

By sharing our knowledge, experience and wisdom gained through decades of experience creating beautiful gardens all over Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, we strive to avoid that happening for you.

Here's to a fully informed you, making the right choices, that will lead you to your ideal garden.

If, after reading this article, you still have particular questions you would like answered, I am more than happy to personally answer them for you. Feel free to reach out via phone or email at our contact page here:

Alternatively, if you feel you are at the point where you'd like to have a chat with one of our highly experienced landscape designers about your ideas for your garden, then please feel free to book a consultation call with us. The call is free and carries no obligation to continue with us. It can be the perfect time to just bounce some ideas off a designer that may help you decide whether you are on the right path or not towards the garden you've been dreaming of. What have you got to lose?