The difference is the level of control that you have over it. Most of the posts above point out various elements that you have to accept. Interior or architectural design almost always has the option of changing the condition to suit your needs. Landscape design is much more about adapting to the conditions presented to you. The Architect or Interior Designer's hardest to deal with variable is the client. The client is just another one of those many variables to an LD. Would anyone agree with me that a typical trait of an architect is to have a very controlling personality? Those of you who have done landscape design on a project where the homeowner had an architect may have found that the architect expects you to do what (s)he wants despite what you or even the homeowner has in mind? If you think about it, it makes sense. The furniture does not fit in the plan - make the room bigger. Not enough light - add a window. Three person hot tub - bump out the wall three feet (and see a psychologist). In other words, (s)he can make anything work by manipulating the condition in which it has to fit. Contrast that to dealing with climate, soil, the building that the architect left you with (kidding, sort of), site specific micro climates or weather related conditions (ie, ocean winds), neighbor's play area at the property line 12'from the spa deck (if you are into three person hot tubs this is probably not a problem), a 60' shade tree just over the property line near your proposed pool, view of a coal plant, being surrounded by properties that all pitch into yours, ... I could go on forever. All of these conditions can be mitigated, but none of them can actually be changed. It takes a lot more understanding of variables in order to identify them and then to adapt to them. I'm not saying it is harder or takes more talent. I'm only saying that it is a very different way of thinking. Its not just an art media.

I would suggest that non garden designers can train their eye to what they like and and what appears beautiful if they spend some time really looking at gardens and individual plants, and even more importantly, the natural surroundings to get ideas for their own garden. It might be as simple as clipping photos of appealing gardens from magazines, taking digital or 35 mm photos of appealing natural areas within your region, or driving the neighborhood to find examples of gardens that appeal to you. The next step might involve trying to analyze the characteristics that you find appealing, and don't just concentrate on the particular plants, colors, etc., but instead think it through in terms of the feelings it gives you; i.e., is wide open and spacious, enclosed and contemplative, restful, dynamic, exotic, familiar, etc. It also helps to really be honest with yourself about what you want your garden to be. Is it just for you and/or your family? Are you trying to compete with the neighbors, or is the potential status of a new garden an important consideration? Also it is really important to consider the longer term costs of maintenance and time required to keep the garden going. As well, try to think longer term in what you want the garden to be and do, which really affects how closely to plant things, what initial sizes will best suit your requirements, etc. I always try to elicit responses to these less obvious concerns before I start a design. I also prefer to work with clients who are referrals from previous clients, as they are more familiar with my work and are already self-selecting. I also really like to take potential clients to see my gardens and ask questions as to what appeals or not in each. I also find that opening my client's gardens on garden tours is a good way to get exposure to potential clients, and recommend garden tours to the public as a way to get more exposure to all the variety of designs and designer approaches. Visiting historic gardens/houses and botanic gardens is another approach to see and define your preferences from the enormous pallette of plants that can potentially be used in your own garden design. It may be heretical to say this, but a garden is an artifical construct, and does not have any specific rules as to what makes it work for any one person. If you are philosphically drawn to using natives and trying to create a garden that is not so dependent on constant work and resources to keep it going, you will not be happy with a formal garden of boxwood and roses. If a garden that appears similar to the untouched surroundings is not your idea of a garden, you won't want to hire a designer that specializes in the minimalist, naturalist approach. My favorite clients are the ones that feel a garden is both a refuge from the daily grind, and should be beautiful in its own right. I also enjoy the opportunity to incorporate art or influences from foreign travel into the garden design, and especially enjoy it when an initial non-gardener gets involved with gardening as a result of their newly created garden. Just coming off a garden tour this past weekend where over 1000 people came through a small 2000 square foot garden in one day, after viewing 13 distinctively different gardens and styles, it was interesting to question visitors about what they did/didn't like about the various gardens. I'll confess that I find it a little disappointing when the average visitor only sees the plants currently most showy in bloom, to the exclusion of all else. But there were certainly enough visitors who also "got" the larger picture, and were intrigued by the constrasts of the architecture brought out into the garden and contrasted with the abundance of riotous plantings to soften it. To have others notice the attention to details of matching flower and foliage colors to the house colors, and asking questions about the mix of hot and cool colors, dry and tropical plants, were the visitors I spent the most time conversing with. It was also interesting that out of over 150 different species of plants in the garden, there were only about 5 or 6 that elicited the most questions. As the garden and house will also be featured in a future issue of a national garden magazine, it will be interesting to see what the garden editor and photographer will see. After having the garden photographed by several other nationally known photographers, it is also interesting to see that each photographer captures different things. The end result, is that I do enjoy sharing my art with a wider public, and also learn that I can't please everyone, and shouldn't even try. It is enough to hear the client tell me that they enjoy their own garden more all the time, and to get their suggestions for how they would like to see the garden evolve, or give me thoughts on what they'd like to do diffently on the next project...

If you wanted the jar to be in the tree you could get the tree to totally surround it. This may take a while though, similar to getting a barbed wire fence growing through a tree... Or you could but it down into the root ball, and the tree would naturally surround it. It would be best to choose a fast growing tree. Willows grow fast, and I assume they would heal fast too. If the crematory jar was made more into a tube, the tree could easy be trained to grow around it, like the fence, and totally encapsulate in over time. The trick then would protecting the container and making it look semi-decent while the growth process is taking place. THE BEST IDEA however, would be to grow the tree specifically to be used for such a situation around a decorative with a lid facing outward. This way, the crematory jar could simply be placed into the tree whenever the death occurs in the family. The cover of the tree box could be part of the memorial, or it you really wanted, it could manufactured out of glass once the tree finished encapsulating it. do you like that idea? Go ahead and use the idea if you like. You would need to make the side walls of the box very strong, possibly with a domed top, or have a triangle box to support the weight of the tree that will grow above it.... Good Luck!

carson - we didn't build new but we did gut our house down to studs and plywood and moved out for the 6 months of construction. I don;t know what your GC provides in terms of those services. Our GC has a complete firm which includes project manager/interior design teams. The interior designer took control of the kitchen and house in terms of floorplan and size, floor colours, paint colours, choices in the bathrooms, etc. She moved some walls throughout the house and that was all included in our contract price. I knew the basics of what I wanted and she fine tuned it, shoved me out of my conservative box, and gave me a great basis from which to decorate. When we moved back in I was in the position of your third choice. I needed an interior decorator to finish with window coverings, accessories, some furniture choices, placement of art, and to tie the rooms of the house together. We found our ID one day when I was out for a walk with a girlfriend and we happened to serendipitously (no other word for it) walk by their studio. We had some consulting hours at our home and then they presented their ideas in a portfolio with their suggested samples (fabrics, etc) or pictures of suggestions. Sometimes, for example our bedroom curtains, they gave us two suggestions both of which would work but it depended on how much we wanted to stretch our decorating style. We stretched it big time. We made our choices and then they gave us quotes for the various items. We only changed one thing and that's because of cost and they found us something that was less expensive. So I think your choice needs to governed by how much will be done by the time you move in, how confident you are in your ability to make choices and how much support you have now in making choices..