Are you thinking about giving your garden a makeover? Do you want a completely new garden? Are you building a new home in Melbourne or on the Mornington Peninsula and will need to create a new garden from scratch?
Whatever your situation, you might be wondering, do I really need to get a design done for the garden before I start building it? Why can’t a landscaper just start working on the garden under my direction?
We have over 30 years of experience designing and creating beautiful gardens for our clients. Not once in the more than 500 gardens we’ve created, have we ever simply arrived at a person’s home and started landscaping a garden, even if our client had a very good idea of what they wanted beforehand.
Asking if you can create a new garden without designing it first, is like asking if you can build a house without an architect designing it first. Or if you can build a bridge without an engineer planning it beforehand?
Your landscape design is both the aesthetic vision of how your garden will look and a practical guide to how it will be created.
Think about it - have you ever seen two gardens that look exactly the same?
The simple truth is that every garden is different. This is because there is simply no ‘template’ for garden design that you can follow, no matter how similar they might be.
Almost every garden has a different shape due to the layout of the block as well as the location and orientation of the house on the block. Then there's the varying layout and different aspects of the house itself. Plus almost every block's size and shape is different.
Even an identical house on a different block requires a different garden, due to all these variations.
If you think about it too, your needs will be different from your neighbour's or even another family member's. Because your family is different, your lifestyle is different and your priorities are different.
So each garden really does need to be designed from scratch before any work begins.
It’s not just a desirable way to start, it’s the only way the whole process of creating your beautiful new garden can begin properly.
A lot of the confusion around the idea of ‘designing’ a garden stems from confusion around what the word ‘design’ means.
Now you might already have some pretty strong and clear ideas in your head about your garden. “I want the pool to go here, the deck to go there and the outdoor kitchen to go right here.” You might have even drawn up a fairly good sketch of it all.
In reality, this is a brief for a garden design, not a design itself.
All these elements still need designing because there may be factors affecting the location of each of these that aren’t immediately apparent to you (but would be to a professional landscape designer or landscape architect.) This could mean you may need to move or change any or all of them.
Additionally, before any realistic estimate of the cost of constructing a garden can be worked out, a design needs to be created first. From this, a more detailed Master Plan, working drawings and engineering estimates etc can all be created so that a more accurate estimate of the cost of the garden can be created.
Unfortunately, no one in the world can accurately estimate the cost of a new garden based on a plan that says simply “a pool goes here, a deck goes there and an outdoor kitchen goes right here”.
Some people may have a pretty clear idea of what they want in their new garden. They can picture it already inside their head. Maybe this is you.
But however real the vision in your mind for your new garden might be, there is no way a designer can evaluate it, without getting it down on paper or onto a computer screen.
When we visualise things in our mind we tend to romanticise them or idealise them. And sometimes we can’t see the practical realities of them until they are down on paper.
When we do, we can take a ‘helicopter’ view of them. This can sometimes reveal flaws or challenges that need solving.
How will everyone get from the house into the pool, if you put the deck there? How will you get to your garden shed if the path goes here?
Sometimes it might be “Yes the pool would look lovely there but the council regulations would never allow you to build it there.” Or “heritage overlays mean you could never build a deck on that side of your house.”
Having a proper design done before starting work on your garden allows you to foresee the problems and solve them in advance.
But equally, it can open up new ideas that you never thought of. Because you can benefit from the designer’s experience and come up with new ways or new ideas to give you exactly what you want.
In this way, the designer can help you to make the seemingly impossible become possible.
If you come to us with some sketches for the overall layout of your garden, you might think you've already designed it.
No offence, but a sketch is not a design. In reality, it’s a brief.
Now a sketch or sketches can form the basis of a very good brief. There are many times a new client has come to us with some sketches and said “This is how I see my new garden”.
Your sketches can be a very good way for us to “see” the vision you might have for your garden inside your head.
But design is a much more evolved and cohesive plan than just a simple sketch.
It takes into account so many factors. Aesthetics. Practicality. Functionality. Building regulations.
Ultimately it’s the culmination of our response to the many desires you have for your garden and the specific needs of the landscape itself.
Remember what goes into each and every design is the experience your designer has gained over many years designing many different gardens for many different clients. Your designer uses this valuable experience to avoid costly mistakes, to maximise your enjoyment of your new garden and improve its aesthetics.
A design is much more than just a sketch of a garden. It’s a holistic, complete concept for a garden that has been designed in such a way that makes it possible for it to be created exactly as intended.
Not everyone who wants a new garden has a clear idea of what they want.
In fact, most people come to us with more of a wishlist than a vision of their ideal garden.
It’s usually made up of phrases like “I’d really like a ....” “I’ve always wanted more....” “I’ve seen this garden idea for a....”
In these cases, a design for a garden is even more important because it provides a framework for what may be just a collection of loose, but good ideas.
The process of working with the designer helps to take all these ideas and draw them all together into a cohesive, working garden concept.
The discipline of the design process can often take what might be only a vague idea and make it more concrete and real. The designer might take one simple notion you have and transform it into a whole garden theme or concept.
If there is no plan (design) then what is the landscaper working from?
Naturally, there is a cost for the design. What you are paying for is the designer’s time and experience in being able to take your brief and turn it into a plan for your ideal garden.
And having a well-thought-out garden design that can be executed, results in a great deal of stress reduction for you. (If you want to experience real stress, try building a garden without any design or plan for it!)
This is because the design for your garden also acts as a blueprint for the whole project. It provides a vision that enables you and the designer to foresee possible challenges and problems that may lie ahead. It gives us and you the foresight that enables us to work out solutions to problems before they arise.
If you simply start landscaping the garden without a design you are likely to discover halfway through creating the garden that what you thought was agreed upon is not what the landscaper thinks it is. This is where you hear people say, "But I thought you said you would include..." Or, "But you agreed to pave the side area too in the costing?" Or, "You said the plants would be a mature size, these are tiny" And so on.
We have seen our clients who actually did invest in a design, take the design we created with them, to another landscaper and get a 'much cheaper quote'. Then a few months later we drive by and see the 200mm wide concrete block wall that is rendered, is actually a single brick with mortar sponged over it, not rendered. Or the beautiful limestone pavers that we agreed upon are now cheaper bluestone pavers. Or the veranda we were to build has now been built with no engineering and no building permit. Yes, the work has been done cheaply but at what real cost to quality and working to code. This happens due to the same mentality of trying to cut corners.
Problems like these tend to be very expensive to discover halfway through a project. If you know about them in advance, a designer can consider them when designing your garden and the problem is then solved in advance, before it happens.
Ultimately trying to build any substantial new garden without a design, will likely cost you more money than what you saved on not getting it designed.
We know that one of the best moments our clients have is when they first see the design concept for their new garden.
Suddenly all those ideas and thoughts you’ve had floating around in your head for a while, have now taken shape into a cohesive concept for your garden.
What was once only a vision has now begun its journey to becoming a reality.
You wouldn’t want to rob yourself of that chance, would you? The moment you first see your ideal garden?
So there’s not just a practical side to the process of designing your garden. It’s also a joyful process when you first get to see that garden that you and those you love, will spend so many future happy days in.
If your project is a major landscaping activity, be wary of any “landscaper” who says they can create your garden without doing a design first. This type of landscaper is probably used to working on small jobs that may not require a design. You can literally end up being led up the garden path by choosing this option and encounter many problems along the way with your garden.
You may even end up with aspects of your garden having to be changed, at your cost, if they haven't gone through the proper channels at the local council to get permits etc. Which is another reason why you need to get your garden professionally designed first - your designer should take care of all those permit issues for you.
We hope you've found this article insightful and that it has helped to clarify why you really do need a design before you get started on any major landscaping project in your garden.
You might also find the following articles helpful in clarifying additional benefits of working with a professional Landscape Designer.
When do you need to engage a landscape designer?
What is the true value of a landscape designer?
How to engage the right landscape designer in Melbourne
How many stages does it take to design & landscape a new garden?
What are the steps to go from garden design to starting landscaping?
If you’d like to understand more about the design process that we use for all our clients at Whyte Gardens, please feel free to book a ‘no-obligation’ consultation with one of our designers. It's a wonderful opportunity to chat about your ideas and thoughts about a possible new garden and get a better understanding of what challenges you may face.