Start with the site
A site visit is an essential basis for our design. We sometimes
design from photos but even great photographs and to-scale mortgage
surveys can be misleading. An on-site assessment of growing
conditions and your views gives us what we need to create a
successful design.
Prepare a drawing or other record
Once we have seen your garden or property, we can prepare a
sketch on-site or compile information to complete a more detailed
design in our office. On-site sketches are suitable for planting,
buying plants, etc. but we sometimes recommend a more detailed
drawing based on your intended use of the design. Scroll down or
click for some sample sketches.
Cost
On-site design is billed at $100 per hour, with a two-hour
minimum. Cost of sketches and designs ranges from $300 to
$2,000 depending on both the size of the area and the level of
complexity. It's not possible to predict cost until we see the site
and have discussed objectives with you. If you provide us with a
copy of the mortgage survey for a property, we can often use that
as a basis for our measurements, which can save time in any drawing
and measuring we do for you.
We do travel out of State to work...
...and have clients across a wide area. We enjoy gardening in
other regions, are confident of our work in most of the Northern
U.S. and Canada, and have learned a great deal from work so far in
the South and Southwest.
For properties beyond our locality (southeast Michigan) time and
mileage expense applies. We are sometimes able to split travel
fees, such as between a design client and a group hosting us
for a workshop or talk. If your schedule is flexible, ask us
about when we might be in your area for other reasons and can offer
you a fee sharing arrangement.
Contact us
You can call (248-681-7850) or email to arrange a design appointment. We do
not subcontract out work so we have limited openings for designing
with you. We are best able to work for those who do not have a
pressing deadline for their project.
We can take away information and return with a plan (left) or
draw on-site (right):
Either way, we provide the detail you need to create a
fine garden:
Sometimes that means we develop detailed planting diagrams,
other times more basic concept plans:
We can help you visualize changes in the scene:
And help you explore options for screening a view and
increasing privacy:
Small or large, immediate or long term, we work all ways:
In this situation, the gardener wanted to plant one garden per
year but be able to buy plants as they might be available and hold
them for future projects. With this plan the planter was always
aware what came next and how it would all come together as an
integrated landscape over time.
