Also you might cross-post on California Gardening if you want input on the specific suggested plantings.

Is your messaging on?

Looks very heavily overplanted IMO. And there is no clear sense of scale either. Just how big is this garden?? Sure has an awful lot of stuff packed into it! Just the design plan itself looks overly busy.

An owner's preferences would weigh heavily in evaluating this plan. One can imagine a hoarder who loves furniture and "things" more than they love space, stuffing a room with furniture to the point that it is full but for minimal "paths" to seating areas. I have a sister who would be content living with such an arrangement ... while it would put me in a constant state of anxiety with the fear of tripping and feeling that piles of things were ready to avalanche on me at any minute. This garden reminds me of this. It is stuffed with plants to the point of smothering space. While even a die-hard plant lover might love it at the beginning, I think that as plants grow, they will be removing 50% of them in order to allow space for the others to survive and flourish. Also, the paths seem on the skinny side and will be eaten up by adjacent plants. In graphic art terms, there is basically no "white" space. It makes it harder to appreciate the beauty of any given plant when it is submersed in a sea of green camouflage.

Given that we don't have elevations (and I'm not reading individual plants) it's not possible to evaluate how the plantings look against the house. But I'm going to guess that the look is "smothering," with little attention given to enhancing architectural features.

Whoever drew this plan has never grown fruit or avocado trees before. It is not advisable to plant under avocado or citrus. You might be able to put a few things under the stone fruits, but probably not under figs. I can't speak to the entire plan, but that was the first thing that jumped out at me. Unrealistic.

Yes, way over planted. And if we knew what the shrubs were, could provide more insight as to whether this designer has a grasp on planting design. If the client wanted a botanical garden paradise, then perhaps I could see why there seems to be not only too many shrubs, but also too much variety.

1) The grass area seems almost a literal interpretation of what the client asked for "a little grass area". In this case, its out of proportion to the rest of the yard.

2) I would make the firepit and seating circular and maybe place it further into the yard as a destination sitting area with the rose / arbor a gateway to it . Design the firepit so it can be covered with a table top for summer use. Fixed bench seating is too restrictive. I would not have fixed benches around two sides of a fire pit. Allow for moveable furniture.

3) The main design flaw I spotted was the front yard symmetrical bench seating. I doubt that will feel comfortable. I would move the seating area closer to the front door more of an extension of the front porch.

4) The gravel area is labeled as 3/8" which sounds like pea gravel which I would not use. Use a low walkable ground cover like Dichondra or Thyme and use more patches as the negative space to balance out the shrubbery. Or use compacted DG for the paths and loose DG for the "gravel areas".

Overall, I would redesign without creating so much formality or symmetry. Keep everything flowing together minimizing the use of straight lines and corners except for the raised beds because of efficiency of space, but for use areas and plantings, keep it asymmetrical.

Now, I could be way off base if the client said they want formality and symmetry or likes an eclectic look (i.e.loose adherence to design principles). In reality, its not fair to critique a design without knowing the criteria upon which it was developed. I guess you could call this a "blind critique" - not knowing what the designer was thinking.

I agree 100% with the last paragraph above :-) It is very difficult to make an informed critique of a design without knowing the client brief that went into its development. All I am really prepared to say - which I said previously - is the plan appears to be grossly overplanted. But that could very well be a client requirement!

Chickens are noisy, and smell (even if you are cleaning well). I would place them far from the house. Even without roosters, they bawk (sp?). It's loud. Not unpleasant, but loud, and unwanted next to a sleeping room. I am talking for 3-5 birds, not sure what your plans are for. Especially when it is wet or rainy.

In response to the comments of overplanting - I agree for sure. I've often wondered if the designer/architects of such plans get "caught between a rock and a hard place" - in so far as if they were to present/implement a realistic design that would have longevity as the plants grow to their mature size, the homeowner might either reject the plan on paper because it doesn't look grand enough, or complain after installation because the garden looks too baren and blah initially? I'm not a designer/architect, but I've always wondered if the professionals are in a bit of a difficult position. The picture above of the landscape plan does look magnificent on paper, but would be difficult to manage over time for the average homeowner.

This reminds me of some of the front walkways/steps getting installed lately in my area - they are getting more and more complicated with circles, and squares, and strange mixtures of different types of large, small, medium pavers, etc. To me, the structures look awful, but I often wonder if the homeowners are chosing the complex designs over the simple designs because on paper, they look neat. So in essence, I wonder if to compete, the companies end up putting in the latest bells and whistles just to get the contracts? Or maybe I'm just getting old!

As a professional designer, the notion of overplanting is a bit of an anathema to me. I can't tell you how many times I have been called in to "correct" or edit a previous design that called for far too many plants (and too many different plants) in too small a space. These plans may look good for a short time after installation but give them a season or two and they will be overgrown jungles!! Not to mention the unnecessary expense they impose on the homeowner for having to purchase 10-15 plants when 5 would do.

I caution my clients - whether with a professionally installed landscape plan or DIY'ers - that the brand new plantings WILL look a bit sparse. And they should!! Considering virtually no plant material is installed at its full, mature size and in fact, some plants never stop growing until they finally die, you have to leave room for normal, unrestricted growth. And the plan should reflect that as well - generally the plant symbols are shown at 1/2 to 3/4 of mature size so there should be some spaces showing, even on the drawing. And the drawing should be more than just a pretty picture - it should be a practical diagram that illustrates how, where and why things fit together.

If the bare spaces bother you, fill in with some temporary annuals. Or some bulbs. You can't garden successfully unless you can learn to be patient :-)

Gardengal, I hope you didn't interpret what I said as a complaint against designers or architects - it definitely wasn't meant to be. I was just wondering whether practically speaking, if a designer ended up with too many homeowners complaining after an installation that looks too sparse (even though, as you say, it should be sparse), then maybe the designer might be tempted to overplant just because the customers too often complain. I'm not a professional but occasionally I help friends with their gardens, and my impression has often been that they are never happy with the garden unless it is stuffed to the brim on day 1, and I've never been overly successful in trying to convince them to keep things sparse to allow room for growth. So I was just supposing that maybe the designs with too many plants might arise because the homeowners themselves are part of the problem.

So I hope that there was no offence taken.

daylily, no offense at all :-)) I completely understand where you are coming from and only wanted to point out that this is indeed a pretty common occurrence!! However, one of the major responsibilities of a skilled landscape designer is to guide their clients/homeowners towards good design choices. That is, after all, one of the primary reasons they have contracted with a designer in the first place! And one of those "proper" choices is to ensure that the garden is not overplanted from the beginning. IMO, designers that do overplant (or overdesign) - even at the client's wishes - are doing their clients a major disservice both in terms of economics and overall plant health. And appearance!!

This is not always an easy concept to communicate, however. Most homeowners get any garden design exposure they have from TV landscaping shows and we all know how condensed and far from true life these really are. They are done entirely for show, not for practicality, so an overplanted landscape is pretty much par for the course. It has to look perfect, not spotty, for the reveal at the end of the show!! I sometimes wonder what these "perfectly filled-in" landscapes look like a year or two down the road........not very good, I bet.

I just did a consult yesterday afternoon that mirrored this exact situation. The clients inherited a grossly overgrown garden when they moved in and have spent considerable time and effort in clearing out the excess. Now they want to replant and wanted my help in plant choices and placement. The wife totally got the need for restraint and allowing things to fill in over time. The husband however wanted to cram it full of plants right now - no bare soil showing - and it took both of us some doing to convince him otherwise!!

I have seen this problem often. The more inexperienced a user is, the more they wish the landscape to look "finished" from the beginning. Once they have more experience (which is not most users!) they are content to endure a sparse look at the beginning while waiting for things to fill in. It doesn't take as long as most people seem to think. Commercial clients seem even less patient. They want things to look finished on "opening" day.

Could very much benefit from a north arrow and graphic scale

I like the fact that the chickens are close to the house, because if you think about it you have to tend to those chickens everyday. Water, food and general cleaning. The farther away it is the less likely you will be to do daily maintenance. It's the basics of permaculture, planning in zones in terms of intensity of use.

I would think about combining the chickens with the vegetables. The chickens will eat pests and fertilize the crops.

Use plants more sparingly and create a plant schedule.

After going back and opening the links the OP posted showing the plant legend and a description written by the designer, I must say it is well thought out and does seem to include a few client criteria i.e. bamboo shoot harvesting, guinea pig play area, etc. However, the plants are overwhelming. I counted 1072 plants in the backyard and 420 for the front = 1472. Now get this, only 3 species are common to both front and back with the exception of a few differences in varieties. A total of 147 different species. This tells me the designer is a horticulturist who perhaps owns a nursery, works for a nursery, etc. but lacks the experience of having their design built. Any contractor would laugh at having to install an irrigation system for this planting plan. By the way, was an irrigation plan part of the scope of work?

Other posters, go back and click on the links above and read the description. To describe this as over planting is an understatement.

@girlguineapig - have you got feedback from other sources like contractors, nurseries, etc.? Are all these 147 species of plants actually available to purchase (at the wholesale level) ? Let us know if your arrangement with the designer allows you to make comments, changes, etc. or is this the final product?

I think I know why Oaktown wants your messaging on. It's the same thing that makes me ask if your neighbor's house is at least 25' from the wall of your chicken pen--your town requires that. :)

I don't think this yard is over designed at all. This is what you would call an estate style design with curves. Estate style designs have several views of plantings from the house and walking gardens.

What I would do is spend more detail on the outdoor living space. Make sure the placement of furniture and components fit in the correct locations for the best view of the landscape yard. Your landscape designer did a great job.