Quite seriously, a garden designer is anyone who designs a garden regardless of education, experience, or anything else. That does not mean that a particular garden designer is not a great designer. It simply means that there is no criteria other than that the person designs gardens.

A landscape architect is a licensed professional much like an architect, a doctor, a mortician, and other state licensed professional people in every state except for Vermont (where you can be a landcsape architect if you want to call yourself one). They typically need to have at least a four year degree in landscape architecture, two years of internship with a licensed landscape architect, and then need to pass three days worth of exams.

That being said, not every landscape architect is a garden designer, but most are.

...and in that FIVE year degree, they typically learn (apparently) next to nothing about plants but can put in some really spiffy sidewalks!

Sorry, but I have to review plans produced by LA's all the time and I'd hire a good garden designer over most LA's any day. Look at the programs on HGTV. Few of the designers are actual LA's but they can produce some very effective plans.

FIND SOMEONE YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH. That will likely produce the best results for you.

I should add that garden design is part of landscape architecture, but a great deal of the training has to do with other land planning issues such as siting buildings, roads, parking, grading, drainage, environmental issues, planning and zoning issues, pedestrian circulation, campus planning, and many other issues that go beyond garden design. Anyone of these and other subjects could be the main focus of any particular landscape architect while some of them may not be areas that one chooses to practice in. That is what I meant by not all landscape architects are garden designers.

Hiring a landscape architect neither guaranties that you will have a good garden designer nor does it preclude that you won't.

No matter who you hire, make sure that they have a personality that you feel comfortable with, they have a portfolio of built work similar to what you want, that they are somewhat local, and that their price is somewhat equal to how much you value what they are going to do for you. Credentials only go so far.

By the way, I am a licensed landscape architect. I would like to believe that I was a darn good garden designer before I became a landscape architect. I am certainly a better site planner now.

Is a Landscape Designer the same as a Landscape Architect? Or does a Landscape Designer = Garden Designer? Or could it mean either thing, depending on the person? Sorry if these are total noob questions.

I stumbled across mention of the APLD in another thread, and went to their website. There were a couple of people that looked decent here in Orange County (much less intimidating than the Landscape Architects that I was looking at before), so that's a start!

Nice stereotype Brad.

The fact is that it is a diverse field with many options both in the education and practice.

Unfortunately, many of the plans put out to bid to small contractors are not the best representation of good garden design. They will see two types of work from a landscape architect. One is small commercial work where a staff member of a land planning firm has done a planting plan to meet the minimum criteria for the developer in order to get the permitting. It is then reviewed and stamped by one of the firms landscape architects - it is hardly garden design. The second is the landscape architect who immediately starts his own practice after getting licensed and winds up doing residential landscape plans with very little experience.

Smaller contractors will almost always say the same thing simply because that is all they are exposed to. It makes sense that they believe that is the norm because it is the norm to them. Larger high end contractors (no, I have never met a landscaper who did not claim to be high end) will generally give you a different opinion.

Again, a landscape designer is anyone who designs a landscape except that Oregon has some licensed designation.

APLD on the otherhand is an independent organization that has a set of standards that must be met in order to have membership. You know that a member has some credentials.

In the end, Brad's right. You have to find someone you are comfortable working with.

rivkadr, it could mean either (confusing, I know)!! I know a good many practitioners with LA degrees and licensing that prefer to call themselves "landscape designers" for whatever reason. And the terms landscape designer and garden designer are often used interchangeably. Generally the term is associated with one, regardless of credentials, who focuses on planning and designing primarily residential landscapes.

And as laag so often points out, you can find extremely qualified people under any of these titles. You can also find those under any of these titles that are not so skilled.

And just a point of clarification - APLD membership is open to anyone who has an interest in joining and is willing to pay the annual fees to belong. APLD certification is restricted to designers who have been in practice for a specified time and have passed a rather strenous review process by their peers.

Thanks, gardengal, for the info. Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any APLD certified designers in my area.