Big Plans, Small Garden

Part 1

The Challenge

Once in a while as a landscape designer, I am faced with a challenge in designing a small space that has to be very carefully thought out and executed.

You start out with big plans and a long plant list of "must-haves" but need to pare down your expectations and edit your ideas until you have something workable and livable.

My test this spring was transforming a retirement community space surrounding a small residence into a garden oasis. My client was used to a lushly planted good-sized garden at her previous residence and had envisioned something similar, but on a smaller scale at her new place.

Surrounded by large overgrown yews, hollies and swaths of mint, the unit was on a grassy slope with ugly black drainage pipes visible.

Interview

My first step was to sit down and interview my client about her likes and dislikes as to colors and plant choices, and most importantly how she planned on using the space. She wanted a pathway of stone to circumnavigate the entire residence so she could travel easily throughout the garden to enjoy it. Because of the slope, the first priority would be to build a low wall to take care of the grade change.

Requirements

My client had a long list of plants that she wanted to include and she also wanted a small patio outside of her sunroom to sit a chair. Low maintenance is always a given when I install gardens, so I pared down the list to include only non-invasive, reliable but colorful plant choices. Irrigation was also a priority as she didn't want to worry about watering.

Visualization

To make sure that we had enough space for garden, pathway and wall, I painted outlines on the ground. Painting in advance is invaluable to ensure that the bed lines and pathways flow, and gives the client an aid to visualize the changes.

Plan

I drew the plans up in scale including wall and plant specifications, drainage considerations and irrigation requirements. Costs were determined on the amount and size of plants, square footage of the wall and pathway, and extent of the irrigation. We fiddled with the plant selection until we were satisfied that we had a good mix of deciduous and evergreen woodies and a long succession of bloom of perennials.

We were ready to begin.

Patch will post Part 2 on Thursday.