Think about it. Why are they cheap?

Right away it means they are not spending a lot of time on your project.

They are not coming to your site to measure it, experience it, and become aware of what exactly is going on in and around it.

They are not familiar with your area other than by looking up the hardiness zone and annual rainfall.

They do not know the cultural or environmental context of your site, city, or project.

They are not going to physically inventory the site, measure locations of existing features, or measure and/or analyze the topograhy.

They can only guess at your soil type based on what a book tells them is common in your area, or by your input.

They are not meeting with YOU and getting a chance to understand YOU. Half of a landscape design is the site, the other half is the people who are using the site.

Anyone can sell you a package that includes plans, renderings, photo mockups, and all the trimmings. But, no matter who produces these things, it is all based on input.

A good local person is going to gather that input first hand and is going to interact with you and your site directly. He/she will already have a deep first hand knowledge of local regulations, local context, local environmental conditions, and direct experience with remarkably similar projects. Furthermore, they will be able to show you photos (perhaps actual sites) of actual built work for you to understand the actual results.

PLEASE NOTICE WHETHER OR NOT THE ONLINE FOLKS ARE SHOWING YOU BUILT WORK! Typically, they show a before picture that is an actual shot of the site "before" it was done. Then they show an "after" photo which is not truly an after, but a concept image. This should tell you two things. One is that the results must not look good enough to post a true after picture of. The second is that they view the concept photo as being the actual conclusion of the project which makes it the "after".

Price is determined by value. Much of the perceived value is the convenience of not having to find the right person to do your job.

If your values are consistant with what you are going to get from the online designer, it is the right move for you.

If your values are weighted more heavily toward the things that they will not provide for you, it is not the right move for you.

It might take a while for you to find the right person in terms of price, personality, talent, and knowledge to work for you, but there are plenty out there. You may have to wait until your budget comes up to matching what you want out of your designer.

The question is do you lower your values to match your budget, or raise your budget to match your values? (budget is not all money, it is time and effort in finding the right person as well, in this case)

Laag makes very good points. I operated a design/ build landscape company for several years. i continued to raise my fees for the fact that many of my customers were taking my plans and having other people or themselves do it with plants from big box stores etc. I didn't have a problem with them doing the work or hiring other people except when it reflected back later as my work and wasn't up to what I had planned (substituted plants, materials etc., inferior work). I charged a larger fee upfront and rebated it back according to what work our firm did on the job. some of the things we did just are not possible online,such as touring the area with the client,seeing what they like and don't like, visiting previous work,walking the property,etc.

I concur with the above because many consumers figure anyone that works getting there hands dirty can't be that competent. FYI, most BLA students spend five years in college taking courses they assume has no effect on their design talents. Of course lawyers spend seven years and people don't worry about paying their fees. What about paying accountants at tax time, people go to them because they assume it's rocket science and it isn't. I had 2 CPA's and one former revenue agent and in total their combined I.Q.'s didn't reach 50. If you don't have the assets then do it yourself. Start by driving through neighborhoods to see what others have done then visit garden centers and learn about the plant material and their habits, then go home and decide what you want to accomplish with your landscaping. Anything becomes easy it just takes time. It's one reason why I don't do design/build anymore. I didn't lose anything, because consumers figured my time wasn't equal to theirs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

Great suggestions. I'm just adding to list - why not look up a garden coach in your area? Yes, you have pay a fee - most of these folks are going to require at least a 2 hour minimum for their time but you can at least walk away with some expert advice - plant list, perhaps a sketch. A good coach will have photos of their work, certification of some sort etc.

Also, I tell my clients to start with one or two areas per growing season - landscaping is expensive and time consuming to maintain. Don't bite off more then you can chew. Allocate what funds you do have into developing one area into a quality job. You'll then get a sense of what maintenance is involved and you won't break the bank either.

Liveinseattle, if you care to email me directly, I'd be happy to provide you with some local resources you could investigate to see which type of professional assistance might be the most appropriate to your needs and budget, including a whole range of design professionals, consultants, mentor/coaches or even some DIY landscape design instruction. I'd agree with all the other responses that an in-person, local professional approach in some form will be far more successful than any remote, online design assistance. There's a whole lot of ways to skin a landscape design cat and not all of them require huge financial outlays to achieve :-))