How do I find someone to make my ideas into reality?

[QueenOfIce]

Our garden is a blank canvas, it's a good size and it needs loving. I have no idea about gardening. I know how I want to feel in our garden and how I want to use it I just don't know how to find the person who can design and make it happen!

Should I be looking for a landscaper? A gardener? I'm clueless!

I had the same question three years ago. I asked on my local town fb if there was someone with gardening expertise who could come and give me some guidance. A head gardener of a local grand house messaged and came after work that evening. He charged me £15 an hour and just gave me ideas of what he'd do himself. He then wrote down a list of plants he'd recommend. He did offer to do the groundwork but eventually I employed brick layers to do that who had all the equipment. I still have the list of plants three years on and all those I've planted have done really well. best few quid I've ever spent

Maybe tell us what colours you like, if scent is important, what styles appeal to you and a bit about the garden space - size, sunny areas etc and we could recommend stuff?

A gardener/landscaper will be expensive, better to DIY it in my opinion unless you need specialist work doing like patio building, tree removal etc

Our garden faces south east so we get the afternoon sun in the morning it's quite cool. It's about 15m by 15m we have cat proofing (roller kind) so nothing that climbs.

I really want a peaceful oasis, I love scents but I'd like minimalist low maintenance. I want somewhere I can enjoy my cup of tea in the morning. We have french doors that open onto the garden I love the space but no clue what to do with it!

I need to make an area that the cats will use. I was thinking an area with soil with mini fencing and some plants that look pretty are safe for the cats but hide them when they go in there. Basically a safe place for them to use the toilet but doesn't look like a toilet!

I love zen styling but also English country garden style. I am hopeless!

I definately have some ideas but first, colour scheme?

Are there any particular colours you would mostly like?

Zen style gardens tend to have lots of curves, curvy pathways and circle shaped beds/features.

Clearly divide your borders, don’t use flimsy log rolls or wicker rolls or anything like that as they fall apart, use sturdy materials like paving stones/bricks.

Pale colours on the fence help reflect light and make the space seem bigger.

Zen gardens often have a water feature of some sort, doesn’t have to be a full on pond, maybe just a little fountain?

Some photos...
(I’m only allowed 3 at once so I’ll post separately)

Then when I know what colours I’ll suggest some plants that you might like.
😊

More images...

Some water feature ideas..

Buy this book Matt James How to Plant a Garden.
It's the best approach to garden design I have ever seen. It will help you to sort out your ideas, then you can decide whether you can do most things yourself or whether you want to get someone in and throw money at it.

To answer your original question - a landscaper generally does 'building' work outside. They will make walls, install paving, dig large areas out, remove trees, etc. They rarely know anything about plants (IME).

A garden designer generally comes up with a design on paper including a list of suggested plants. In theory they should know about the habits of those plants, ie how big they grow and whether the plants will be happy in that location. The garden designer may also be willing to create that design and do the planting. They might have to get a landscaper in to do the heavy work.

Some firms include both aspects under one roof.

have you got lots of Pinterest pins and a 'mood board' of ideas?

We are by no means loaded - suburban semi - but we got a local garden designer to do ours as I was in a similar position. She was really excellent and I got just what I wanted. Someone to put down on paper and come up with a plan and drawings for all the ideas that were in my head but that I didn’t know what to do with. She did mood boards and asked loads of questions about how we wanted to use the garden and also stuff that I hadn’t even thought of like: do you want a rotary washing line out, do you want space for a bbq etc. She also did us a planting plan and planted as many or as little as we wanted her to (we asked her to plant the larger stuff and did the small stuff ourselves). For the actual hard landscaping she uses a landscaper that she works with, who you could of course just employ on their own. But I did find during my research that landscapers didn’t seem to have the creative side so much (or plant knowledge necessarily), although that might be doing all landscapers everywhere a disservice!

Thank you so much for all your help! Love the photos great ideas. I would like pastel colours calming and peaceful. I'm trying to come up with some ideas for our cats for their enrichment that won't make our garden look messy!

My personal plant suggestions..

Sweet Alyssum
Lovely strong honey scent, flowers nearly all year, it’s an annual so dies in winter BUT it self seeds so it pops up merrily every year and needs no pruning or maintaince.

Geranium Rozanne
I don’t believe it is scented but perennial, very hardy, nearly year long flowering.

Dwarf fescue ‘Elijah blue’
Lovely small, swishy, blue grey grass, needs no real pruning or maintenance and I believe evergreen.

Cat mint ‘nepeta fassanii’
Similar to lavender, not scented sadly.

Catnip ‘nepeta cataria’
Not quite as pretty as cat mint, little weedy but most cats LOVE it, they to chew it, roll around in it, lay in it...

DWARF buddleja like ‘Buzz’ or ‘Blue Chip’
Gorgeous, strong honey scented flowers that come in purple, white, pink or red.
Does need a heavy prune once a year but otherwise needs little care

Cerastium/snow in the summer
Gorgeous silver grey ground cover, perennial, lovely white flowers.

Erodium ‘Bishops form’
Hardy perennial, needs no pruning/care, happily self seeds and provides you with more plants for free and lovely dainty pink flowers.

Perhaps a tiny fruit tree?
One of the ‘sibley’ variants that don’t grow much over 4 foot tall?
Sibleys patio apricot pictured.

I am fairly sure everything I have recommended is non toxic/cat safe but better double check before planting anything.

The big thing to avoid are lilies which are extremely poisonous to cats (cause kidney and liver failure) and nearly all bulbs

Thank you doggy I love your suggestions especially the cat mint and the fruit tree. So pretty!