I AM a professional garden designer but planning one's own garden is far more challenging than designing for clients!! My original and long term garden did evolve over time. And that included redesigning and replanting the front garden three times, with each rendition a little more planned and designed as my vision and skill level changed. The back garden was a later project undertaken in the middle of the front's changing persona and it was carefully planned/designed from the start. And trees and permanent shrubs were included at the very first stage.

FWIW, you can bring in a designer for just a consultation and they can help you with a layout and spatial organization and even where to site trees or other major elements. But you do not need to take it any further than that if you wish, with the the plant selection entirely your choice (although I'd be highly inclined to listen to and consider the designer's opinions or suggestions if I were you :-))

Thanks gardengal. Your advice and comments are always spot on. Nice to know that even pros go through several iterations over time.

I’ve thought about consultations. We live in a part of the country where high five to six figure landscapes are pretty common, and the LAs and garden designers mostly have experience with and time for those. Not my price range sadly. If that were possible, I know the dream team I’d line up - from designer to contractor, masons and nurseries!

This garden evolved over time. I had a general sense of the ‘feel’ that I wanted but did not have any formal plans. I had recently become disabled and was not sure how much I would be able to do in any case...! So I started ‘a little bit here; a little bit there’ to see how things would develop and let me get a sense of what the soil and other garden conditions were like to figure out what was likely to do well here.

When we bought the house in 1997, there was a scruffy old spruce tree in the front and a few cedars in the front too. In the back there were a couple of middle-aged white pines, a juvenile red oak and a mature white ash - and a decrepit garden shed! The trees in the back were one of the reasons we bought this place. We’ve treated the ash twice for EAB and it seems to be doing well so far - but we’ve planted a few understory trees in various places to provide shade for the garden if/when the ash comes down. The shed has been replaced. The white pines and the oak remain and are key parts of the garden. In the front, only one cedar remains of the original trees.

While the garden was created in bits and pieces over time without a formal plan, the desired overall ‘feel’ remained pretty constant and provided the necessary guidance to bring it together and adjust as necessary to deal with unexpected changes. We knew when we started that we wanted to be here longterm so were not too worried about having it look’complete/finished from the beginning, although we’d try to avoid having it look like an unfinished mess :-) We occasionally hired contractors and craftsmen to build things (e.g. the new shed, the south gate and arbour, the iron arbour and iron tuteurs, etc.) but they built to drawings I provided because I had a specific vision for each of them.

If you have the interest and desire to shape it all yourself, and have a reasonably long time frame to stay there, go for it! Take what time you need to develop the plan for various pieces and how to make them come together. Hire out the bits you need assistance for - but remember that it is YOUR garden and keep control of the process. And have FUN!

I'm sorry about your hemlock hedge, Maisie. That must have been terrible. I actually have a similar thing going on with my young forest of white pines, which are dying from blister rust, but in my case these trees are far from my house and/or any other structures, so removal of my trees will be up to Mother Nature. I have planted some young spruce in amongst the dying pines, and there are many hardwood saplings ready to take over when my poor pines bite the dust and fall to become fertilizer for the other trees rising up.

Our 2 acres used to be all cleared pasture land for our horses, and I never envisioned using the land for gardening, or re-foresting parts of it. We used to have a large vegetable garden every summer, and grew much of our own food. The pastureland's sole purpose in our minds was to feed our horses. But with the equines gone to greener pastures and trees springing up some 40 years later, my vision has changed. It just basically evolved.

I can't imagine hiring a landscaper, and frankly I wouldn't trust one not to pollute my land with round-up or other toxins. *I* know what I like things to look like, but it is doubtful anyone else would share my vision. Whatever a "designer" came up with, I would basically hate it because it wouldn't be mine.

The only things I consider mistakes are putting a plant where it is not happy. Usually I just give up on such plants, although I've transplanted a few to give them a new chance at life in soil conditions more to their liking. I had to transplant a young crabapple tree when we had a new waterline put in (so its roots would not grow into the line), but I couldn't have foreseen this happening. Fortunately the tree survived. Mostly I let nature guide me.

I moved into my house toward the end of 2015, and was kind of flailing around planting sparsely and looking at plants in catalogs. This winter I read a few books on the kind of designs I like, and now have a clue. I have to redo some of the planting Ive done but thats part of the learning process. I have put plants in the wrong spot and they are not happy. DIY and growing from seed can save a lot of money.

Yes, I have used professionals before -- both times were great experiences. They were for the front landscape at my first house, and a patio tear out/re-do at my last house (man, that patio was spectacular - for my neighborhood, anyway) and he also drew up plans for the front which never got done due to lack of funds because said spectacular patio set me back more than $20K....

Anyway, a good designer will work WITH you on achieving your vision/goals while taking your aesthetic into account - not everything you may want may be possible or adviseable for various reasons, but as with any sort of design, there is a back-and-forth until a final plan is settled on.

Right now at this house I am suffering from that "writer's block" you mentioned. I put in some front shrubbery that looks a whole lot better than the mess that was here when I moved in, and I worked on a back bed in which was contained a "berm" -- I'm using quotes here because really it was just a pile of rocks and broken concrete covered with some soil -- and a few misc things here and there. I need some additional trees strategically placed by the road to set off my house as well as screen it, and I can picture in my head roughly what I want for landscaping near the house in terms of overall look but I'm having difficulty beyond that. It's time to call in the pros again, they'll know exactly what to do. If you hire someone to draw up the plans, you can do the work yourself. Kind of like hiring an architect -- they're paid to design, not to build. Or, you can just hire it all out. Either way -- worth the expense.

spedi, there is a big difference between a landscaper and a landscape designer. And neither is inclined to 'pollute' your garden unless you give them free rein and no supervision :-)

Also, a good designer should be able to help you design to your vision.....not theirs! But many gardeners do have a clear vision and the ability to see far enough into the future to know how to achieve it without help. And just as many haven't a clue how to get there on their own.

My garden started at the house and then expanded in 4 additions to wrap around the side of my yard. I agree with knowing the "feel" and adjusting to get there.

I'm thinking of some big changes as the original bed is dominated by just a few huge plants and I'm thinking of removing some of the orginal plantings to allow for more diversity and cohesion.

I like my fence as a backdrop to my garden. Mine is practical as it keeps in the dog and kids, but maybe one of those split rail ones might give structure to your garden while tree/bush replacements are being considered?

My house initially need a large amount of repair and rebuilding: roof, foundation, falling down porch, septic, etc. There was a veggie garden and one garden bed along what had been the foundation of a barn (long ago fallen in) that were both out of range of the reconstruction, so I started there. The garden bed got the plants of sentimental value that I had moved as well as plants at this house that I wanted to save but were in the way of the work. It was several years before all the needed repairs had reached a stage that I could start planting anywhere else, so I spent the time (when not scraping paint or other grunt work) researching and planning and caring for my two patches of garden. We did make mistakes once we started the rest of the garden even so, and have taken down poorly placed trees we planted and unhealthy ones from the previous owners. After 20 years, we have started redoing some of the first gardens planted, removing or relocating plants that were too large for the space or that haven't been happy in their location. For me, my garden is as much process as a finished product. My garden is generally seen by me or friends, or neighbors going by at 40+ mph, so it doesn't have to conform to neighborhood standards since there isn't a neighborhood. I am sure that parts of my gardens would make a designer cringe! I guess for me it worked out like any large project, with at least a long term goal, but then taking it in small chunks so I didn't get overwhelmed. At least part of my goal now is to make it more manageable and less hard work as I am getting older and looking at the next twenty years.

I enjoy the process of envisioning a space and then creating that, but I'm also more than a bit of a nerd generally about researching, and so have worked to build both a plant vocabulary and an eye for design. I especially love visiting gardens on open garden days run by the Garden Conservancy or local groups and I regularly visit other gardens and arboretums as well as looking at eye candy garden books. However, I see no problem with getting input from someone else if you feel stuck. It runs on a sliding scale of amount of input, and unless you choose a design build firm to do it all at once, you can choose how and when and if parts of a design will be implemented. In addition to design-build firms that do large budget projects, there are folks who do on site consults as GG48 said, and either then do designs or make less formal suggestions for layout and direction. So there are garden designers and garden coaches to varying levels, and if you have garden-obsessed friends, some of them may be willing to do a wander around and help you get unstuck as far as ideas. I know I have done garden ambles with a few friends and learned a lot. Is there a local garden club that might have recommendations or can you ask friends and folks at work for people they have used for garden design?

I try to start with function and how I want to use the yard along with where those functions would best be placed - paths with a destination and built to be reasonable for the intended use, location of the BBQ reasonably close to the kitchen, a sitting area with shade and a nice view, etc. That tends to form the structure, and then I work around that in planning everything else.

Just to clarify, I have zero desire to supervise anyone, or to allow anyone else to attempt to design to MY vision, whatever they call themselves: "designers," "architects," or "artists." I'll do my own art, thank you.

Posierosie and NHBabs, I can relate to your priority for practicality and functionality. I use the same criteria as a starting point for where I locate gardens and other landscape features. The creation of shade or the lack of it, planting for privacy, or for proximity and convenience figure heavily in where I place things.

Loving your thread, Maisie! I only started gardening 4 years ago, when we bought our first house. I've always enjoyed visiting gardens, but had no experience myself. I had two plans done by two different companies (over 3 years). I was disappointed by the process both times. Mostly because there was one visit to discuss what I wanted, and then I was presented with a plan. I would have liked some back and forth, to discuss ideas, but apparently that's not how it's done around here. So instead, I took inspirations from the plans, for example the bed shapes.

My plot is wider than it is deep, so after we planted a cedar hedge, we picked the spots where we wanted our edibles (apple trees, crabapples, pear trees, amelanchier, 3 raised beds for veggies), and also planted large trees where we wanted shade (maples in the back, linden for deck privacy), and one ornamental tree (Japanese lilac) to frame the front of the house. And then I worked on side yards, where my only garden beds are located.

I've made so many mistakes, and moved things around so much! For example, the first year, I planted a hedge of 13 ninebarks (as per first plan). Then realized they would never get tall enough for privacy. So we planted amelanchier (tree form) behind. But I got tired of my ninebarks getting aphids, mildew, etc. So after 3 years, I pulled them out and gave them away. Replaced them with hydrangeas Limelight. Pulled out my hydrangeas & amelanchiers because I decided I did not like so much symmetry. Planted my hydrangeas & amelanchiers elsewhere, to replace with a variety of conifers. I'm now happy where my amelanchiers are, but not so much with my hydrangeas. So I will pull them out again in the spring, and plant them in their "forever home".

I know people will read this post and shake their heads, but I have to say, I've really enjoyed the process even if it was hard work. And the more I pull out stuff and make changes, the happier I am with the results.

My backyard is really basic. I don't know whether I'll ever plant it. But if I ever do, I will hire the most competent landscape designer I can find, and not ask for a plan, but rather for advice on garden bed placement & shapes and paths. I would sleep on it, do some research, sketch it, and maybe have that person come back, until I have a plan that I'm happy with.

Marie

Maisie, I just want you to be aware that for those of us that access Garden Web via the GW interface rather than the Houzz interface, multiple tags don't allow it to show up on all of those forums. Lack of response from the New England forum folks won't be due to lack of interest, but may be simply that they don't see it there due to incompatible programming. You can put a separate post there with a link to this post on the perennials forum where It does show up for GW users if you want.

Babs, based on the comments you have made on various forums - and specifically the Landscape Design forum - and the photos you have shared of your own gorgeous garden, I would say that you have a uniquely well-developed eye for design for someone with no formal training :-)) You most often hit right at the heart of the matter and always make great observations and excellent suggestions.

If you ever got bored puttering around your own place, you could probably start a lucrative garden design business in your area :-)) A couple of the LD pros thought you were a professional designer!!

Ah, like GG, I also have worked as a professional gardener - my partner and I did design and build for a decade after finally burning out as a social worker...but there is not one single area of congruence between building my gardens and making one for a client...and the biggest screaming difference (for me) is entirely financial. Never, in my life, have I been able (or willing) to spend even a fraction of my customer's budgets on my own gardens...so it has been a 30 year growth experiment with extreme fits and starts. Also, the hugest impediment to any sort of plan or scheme has been my insistence in filling every available space with plants before jobs which needed finishing...such as rendering and painting the walls. We did have a rebuild in 2011 (but it is so small, this only entailed 2 Geometrically shaped raised beds and trellis-y stuff). Anyway, it will never be 'finished' or ever look anything other than a mess (but it is colourful and interesting). The allotment and woods are still...primitive...but I have accepted that, for me, the most essential things are plants...and a lot of them, so it's just squeezing in more pots...

For customers though, I have a massive ticklist and spend ages measuring and site inspections, then designing and estimating materials (we did all the work ourselves), then building - which could take us several months. And yep, they did look pretty good - well, the landscaping did...but it takes a bit longer to really bed in...and even for customers, it is not uncommon for us to make changes over the seasons. But yeah, I am disciplined...while for myself, less so.

Thanks everyone! It helps to remember there are many ways to make a garden - and a big part of the pleasure is in the making. Nice to know I’m not the only one who gets stuck sometimes. Sorry for the confusion with the tags. I’m adjusting to the new format.

The perspectives on professionals and from professionals have been great. The idea of bringing in a pro is a complicated one for me. My work brings me in contact with a number of landscape architects and designers. I’m sure a few of them would be happy to give their thoughts but I am 1) mildly horrified by the current state of the property, 2) not at all sure we share the same aesthetic and 3) would feel guilty if I didn’t take their advice. Also I am sometimes surprised by landscape architects who don’t know much about plants or designers who get caught up with a particular style and just do variations on that theme.

Woody, I like your concept on a “feel” I’m still working on that for myself and to be honest, it changes with the latest book I find inspiring or great space I see. I am sorry to read about your disability. I plan to be here for the long haul and do think about what I will be able to do as my mobility changes.

Spedi, good for you for planning the next generation of trees. I didn’t plant much even as I knew the hemlocks were going. A couple of years ago a dear friend and arborist gently explained the level of removal the old trees needed would imperil anything new. (Actually he said, “why the h*** would you make it harder for the crew? They will have enough to cope with hauling out those blanky-blank dead 40 footers” but that is pretty gentle from him.) Also it has been interesting to see the views that opened up, mostly not great but at least one nice one.

Posierosie, we actually did just put in a fence. It took forever to get on the schedule and then they installed the wrong one! Trying to figure out now if we keep it. It is nice, just a little more formal than I imagined. It has also made me a little frustrated by contractors (that and the roofers that never seem to finish and the carpenter who went AWOL. It’s been quite a year.)

Marie, you are my new hero. Just the pep talk I needed to be ok with moving things.

GG is right as usual, NHBabs your posts have been an inspiration. The one area I did get planted includes a quick fire hydrangea based on your endorsement and great photos. But I think I already have to move it. Needs more space.

Camp, I think part of my challenge is I see these great, pricey landscapes and want a million dollar result with no budget to speak of. Unrealistic I know, but if only wishing could make it so!

thanks again everyone.

Interesting about the Houzz vs Gardenweb links. I use this url to get to the perennial forum on Gardenweb: (http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/peren/) yet this thread shows up for me. I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it, NHBabs, that this thread within the perennial forum has Houzz in its url (rather than Gardenweb). It's a mystery.

Since I'm not having my pines removed, Maisie, I'm more at liberty to plant trees in among the dying trees. Of course it's possible that one or more of my pines may fall on and crush my new seedlings when they begin to go! No crew leader swearing at me, just Ma Nature knocking over trees at some point in the future!

Forty foot trees! Those are giants, and it's very sad about their demise.

I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it, NHBabs, that this thread within
the perennial forum has Houzz in its url (rather than Gardenweb). It's
a mystery.

For me right now, navigating through the Gardenweb interface, the URL is https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5182612/from-vision-to-reality-the-do-big-long-term-stuff-first-challenge?n=16.

Lol Sped. He is a friend and a good guy - just a bit salty. It wasn’t his crew doing the work. But he knew the cost was going to be high to get everything out and didn’t want me increasing the time, effort and cost for a few small new evergreens. I’m not even sure they were 40 feet (a bit of drama goes with the salty language) but above the ridge line of the three story building next door. I definitely miss them.

I found some pictures of the yard when I first moved in, and had to elaborate on my previous post. The yard was insanely overgrown with wild trees. Maybe fine for a new woodlot, but not okay for a safe stable place to live. I knew there would be a lot of landscaping work to do, but I had to get the tree situation taken care of first. After that I didnt really have a plan or any knowledge of plants or landscaping. I thought about consulting a landscape designer the first spring but really had no budget for it and thought I could do it on my own.

A lot of the work I did the first spring (2016) involved removing undesirable vegetation and trying to plant some structural plants. 8 trees came down, 4 large, 4 small, all either extensively rotted or within unsafe proximity to the house. A huge garlic mustard invasion was identified and attacked in the back. I learned a little about plants, then I planted 12 tiny shrubs to hopefully, eventually form the basis of a privacy screen along the road. 3 of the shrubs ended up being a water hungry species that need to be moved to a wetter area and replaced with something that can handle dry summer soil. 3 of the other shrubs are a summer deer forage species and need to be replaced or fenced. I planted a ton of creeping phlox in the front bed which still survives, and some foxglove, delphinium, and lupines which mostly didnt survive.

Last year (2017) 2 trees fell and I had 3 ugly, weedy, improperly pruned white mulberry trees growing around my powerlines that I had cut down to the stump in late autumn. I am going to allow those 3 to resprout and prune them to a manageable multistem shape as screening until my other privacy screen plantings mature and evolve. I used the woodchips from the mulberries to mulch over and smother the entire area of turf around the privacy shrub planting instead of just a small mulch ring around each plant. I learned more about plants and in my front bed I planted 16 long-lived structural plants- baptisia australis, amorpha canescens, ilex glabra "densa compacta", and rhododendron roseum elegans. The roseum elegans and leadplant look really sad (plants in the wrong place, sun exposure and soil texture respectively). Ill be watching to see if they need to be replaced or moved.

This year Ive learned more about design and putting all the plants together. Its going to be all about filling in the front bed and establishing the planting, fixing mistakes, and starting desireable plant colonies in the backyard. So far Ive seeded 500 deep plugs in a DIY cold frame to provide myself with cheap plant material. I have even more to seed out when it warms up a little and I have identified plants that I would be better off buying.

I could have saved a lot of time and effort by consulting a designer or landscape architect, have them clear out areas, and order and install the plants, but I do not want anything cookie cutter, I didnt want to have them make decisions for me as an uninformed party, and I dont have any kind of budget for a big project like that. The research Ive done and experience Ive gained so far has sharpened my vision to something I can now see clearly in my mind. I wont lie, some of the stuff I did is ugly, but I think long term when it matures it will be beautiful. I believe educating myself will help me manage the property in the future and provide personal satisfaction in a way paying to get it all done at once would not. Each year I move on to a new set of goals, take on unexpected challenges, and move onto the next phase of the landscape. There is no rush for me and it is fun to see the way it all unfolds.

I am not devoid of garden design skills, but this is not my strongest talent. I have been in the gardens or people who clearly have more of a gift for artistic placement than I have. There are moments when I would love to have one of these people give me advice. Not really what to plant but, what shape and height to put where. I mostly don't mind because I am far more of a plant collector than anything else. By the way I have seen very artistic gardens where the gardener planted in drifts of one, so my own mishmash can seem discouraging. at times.

However, when I first moved into the house, I contracted an hour's worth of advice from a garden designer. I am so glad that I did. She drew a very simple plan with some suggestions. The key suggestion that she made was that I put up some kind of fence in my front yard. This was not on my screen at all, but I did it. The day that my white picket fence was installed, I looked into a front yard that suddenly seemed much bigger! It was so inspiring and I never would have imagined that enclosing a space could make it seem expansive. I certainly didn't follow through on all her suggestions She suggested some privacy planting for the backyard and I decided I had no interest in additional privacy..

This is so clearly a case of different strokes for different folks. If you have a clear vision, go with it. If you have the strength and time to move wrongly placed trees and shrubs then that can be part of the garden adventure. If circumstances warrant, I would once again be happy to get some suggestions from a professional. I therefore, greatly sympathize with Maisie's particular situation. The garden designer whose suggestions I partially took was a stranger to me and not likely to know whether I took or neglected her advice.

Just want to say thanks to Maisie and to everyone who has participated. This is a discussion that I am finding a fascinating read.

Thank you all. It has been wonderful learning about the wide range of experiences. I find myself re-reading the posts and finding even more to consider.

Maisie

I Agree Babs, great thread!

Yes go big first!!

I started with a clean slate, no beds whatsoever.

I didn’t know what I was doing, and did everything backwards. I initially started with a driveway bed. Planting mostly perennials with very few shrubs.

I loved it, I became addicted! So much that I kept going and going and going, like the energizer bunny.

I’m still paying for it eight years later, and trying to add more ‘bones’ to complete them. I did finally stop ‘expanding’ the beds a couple years ago. Realising I’m slowing down a bit, and sure not getting any younger.

The best advice I can add to ‘Go Big first’, is to start with a focal point/area if you can, and the build from that.

That’s what seemed to work best for me and make the beds look more cohesive.

You are fortunate. Having contacts with pros is a great advantage to get you started!

I learned the hard way, but will say.... I enjoyed every minute of it!

Have fun!!

ETA. I’ll admit... Ive never moved a tree or shrub. I’ve done all my gardening by myself with the exception of a little help from my daughter. I just don’t have that kind of strength. So I just build off of them..I make it work lol!

I liked the reminder that the changes and edits are part of the gardening experience. Certainly I had an idea of what I liked at the beginning, but the more I learned and the garden grew, my garden grew with me.

Just last night, by random chance, the garden evolved. At the end of my privacy planting just over on my neighbors side of the property line, a drunk driver drove his pickup truck through an agglomeration of multiflora rose, japanese honeysuckle, golden rod, blackberry, and white mulberry saplings. That mess has been bugging me since I moved in. Now Im pretty sure that if I beat back the regrowth every couple weeks, my bottle brush buckeye will spread into that area.

Skip that is certainly finding a silver lining in a cloud! It will make a great story someday!