What I do
Everything from a planting plan to the whole garden.
Six things, and they overlap. Most projects start with the design process and then pick up the planting plan and lighting plan along the way. Some only ever need the borders rethinking — and I'll say so.
01
The bespoke design process
This is the core of what I do, and everything else sits inside it. Stage one is an informal meeting and a proper assessment of the garden, ending in a costed quote. Stage two is a detailed survey and two alternative layouts. Stage three models your chosen layout in 3D and revises it into a final concept plan. Stage four produces the working plan that goes to the landscape gardener, with a planting plan and lighting plan as optional additions. You can stop at the end of any stage — plenty of people take the concept plan and build it over several years.
02
A complete garden metamorphosis
The full redesign. It's for gardens that are awkward — sloping, overlooked, narrow, shapeless — or simply dull, and for owners who have stopped going out there without ever quite deciding to. I start from how you want the space to feel and what you want to be doing in it, then rebuild the layout around that: where you sit, where you eat, how you move through it, what you see from the house in February. The result should be a calm, usable outdoor room that reflects the way you actually live rather than a catalogue of features.
03
Borders and beds reworked
Not every garden needs digging up. If the paths, patio and general shape of the garden work perfectly well, and the problem is patchy grass, a thin, tired boundary or borders with no structure, then reworking the beds is the sensible — and far cheaper — answer. I redraw the bed shapes so they're generous enough to plant properly, then design new planting with real character: evergreen structure first, seasonal layers over the top, and enough density that weeds have nowhere to go.
04
Bespoke planting plans
A planting plan is the difference between a border and a collection of individual plants. It sets out exactly what goes where, in what quantity and at what spacing, chosen to suit your soil, aspect and exposure rather than what looked appealing at the garden centre on a Saturday. It also means the planting can be sourced and priced as a list instead of bought at retail in a panic, and that the garden is designed to look considered in February as well as in June.
05
Garden lighting plans
For roughly half the year, the view out of your windows after work is a black rectangle. A lighting plan fixes that for surprisingly little: a few uplighters into the structure planting, something soft washing a wall or a multi-stem tree, low-level light where the levels change so the steps are safe. It is specified as part of the working plan, which means the cabling goes in while the ground is already open — far cheaper than retro-fitting it two summers later.
06
A working plan your landscaper can build from
The working plan is handed to your landscape gardener and it is what protects you once the diggers arrive. It sets out the agreed layout, levels, materials and setting-out clearly enough that a contractor can price it accurately and build it correctly, instead of inventing details on site. It also gives you a fair basis for comparing quotes — when three landscapers price the same drawing, the differences between their numbers actually mean something.
What does it cost?
There is no price list, because there is no standard garden. Design fees are quoted per project and confirmed in writing after the first meeting, once I have seen the size and complexity of the site and we have agreed how many stages you want. A full, free quote comes out of that first visit.
The one thing worth saying plainly: the design fee is a small fraction of what the build will cost, and a design mistake is very expensive once it has been set in concrete.
Not sure how much design you need?
Tell Dawn what you've got and what you'd like to be doing out there. She'll say honestly how much design the job actually warrants — sometimes that's the full process, sometimes it's a planting plan and a good landscaper. Rated 5.0 on Google.