Planning & Designing a Garden

Your home and landscape are as individual as your personality. The pictures in a book may look great, but if they don’t fit your lifestyle, and your environment, they won’t make a good basis for planning your garden. Here is a step-by-step for getting started in planning the home landscape and selecting the professionals who will help you have a beautiful and successful garden.

Benefits of Landscaping

Selecting your landscape partners

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you may want the services of a designer or contractor for major work, and a relationship with a retail nursery or garden center for purchasing your plants and equipment. Many nurseries have designers on staff to assist in your planning. For a list of retail nurseries in your area visit the Landscape Texas find a vendor section.

There are several types of professionals available to help you are each stage of your project. Ensure your success by doing business with a qualified professional

Retail Nursery & Garden Center
Texas Certified Nursery Professional (TCNP)

Retail nursery employees, managers, and owners take for a self study course consisting of 4 parts: Plant Culture, Plant Identification, Merchandising, and Landscape Design. Certification requires continuing education

Texas Master Certified Nursery Professional (TMCNP)

Individuals who have earned the TCNP designation and want to take the next step in professionalism attend the TMCNP program consisting of a 4-day study course taught by professional instructors and industry professionals, followed by an exam. This course offers advanced training at Texas A&M University using TAMU facilities and laboratories. Certification requires continuing education.

Find a retail nursery in your area that employs certified professionals by visiting the Find a Vendor section of this web site.

Design assistance is available from a landscape designer or a landscape architect.

A landscape architect is licensed by the sate after university graduate work and a qualifying exam administered by the state. A landscape architect will produce and blueprint and may work with landscape contractors to complete a project.

A landscape designer specializes in designing outdoor spaces, but is not a landscape architect.

A landscape contractor is qualified to read a blueprint. The contractor can lay drainage pipes, use earth-moving equipment, and supervise stonemasons and carpenters. Some landscape contractors employ landscape architects in their design departments.

Texas Certified Landscape Professional

This is a peer-reviewed certification administered by the Texas Nursery & Landscape association. Landscape contractor supervisors, owners, and managers take for this self-study course followed by an exam covering 20 topics including management, landscape and irrigation design, resource efficiency, building materials, botany, turf, and pruning. Continuing education is required for this certification. To find a Texas Certified Landscape Professional in your area visit the Find a Vendor area of this website.

Once you have identified several potential landscape partners interview them and make your decision based on more than just price. Be sure the individual you hire is qualified to do the work you need and is properly licensed by the municipality and state of Texas. Irrigation contractors are required to be licensed by the state of Texas. To verify the qualification of a contractor, visit the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality web site

Ask some questions:

Do you want to...
Do it yourself
Have someone do it for you?
Combine the two strategies?

Do it yourself - new landscape

Landscape Basics
Just starting out in Gardening? You need the following basic tools:

• Rake
• Spade
• Watering can
• Garden hose
• Leak-free sprinkler
• Extra pots for container grown plants
• Wheelbarrow
• Gardening gloves
• Hand-held trowels
• Pruning shears
• Pruning saw
• Lopping shears
• Bulb planter

Good quality tools pay off in the long run because they last longer, and they are safer and more effective. To find a TNLA member nursery or garden center near you that sells gardening tools, visit the “products and services” page.

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How many plants

For masses of color in a flower bed, use this simple chart to decide how many plants you need.

1. measure the flower bed.
2. use the plant reference guide on this web page to find out the recommended spacing.
3. apply this formula using the chart below

Plants per square foot x number of square feet in the garden = Number of Plants Needed

Sample
Planting petunias is a flower bed 8 ‘ by 10’ or 80 square feet. Petunia’s recommended spacing is 10-12 inches apart

1.4 (Plants per square foot) x 80 (square feet in the flowerbed = 112 petunia bedding plants

Do it yourself - renovation
Questionnaire and Grid

Download this questionnaire and landscape grid to help analyze your area and landscaping needs. Take this information to your local nursery or garden center when you visit and ask for a Texas Certified Nursery Professional to help plan your garden. To find a TNLA member near you, visit the products and services section of this web site.

Lawn and Garden Building Blocks

• Soil
• Existing buildings and hardscape
• Trees
• Shrubs
• Lawn
• Beds
• Vertical space
• Specialties

Trees

Uses
Benefit
Characteristics
Placement
Soil
Planting
Maintenance after planting
Pruning
feeding
Watering
Pests and Diseases
Avoiding tree injury

Shrubs

Uses
Soil
Types of soil
Selection
Maintenance
Water
Pruning
Fertilization
Pests and Diseases
Winter Protection

Lawns

Benefits of lawns
Where and when to plant a lawn
Water
Fertilizer
Thatch removal
Mowing
Common pests and diseases

Groundcover

When to use
Soil requirements
Growth habits
Problem solvers
Maintenance
Common pests and diseases

Vines

Use
How they grow and types of support
Annuals vs perennials
Common pests and diseases

Flowers

Perennials

Uses
Soil preparation
Planting
Maintenance
Winter protection
Water
Fertilizer
Common pests and diseases

Annuals

Use
Placement
Soil preparation
Planting
Water
Fertilizer
Common pests and diseases

Do it for me - new landscape
Questionnaire and grid [pdf file]

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Selecting a landscape professional

A landscape professional is your partner in making your home or commercial landscape beautiful, environmentally responsible, efficient, and enjoyable. Landscape professionals provide all types of services from design only through installation and maintenance.

• Why choose a landscape professional?
• What type of professional do I need?
• Criteria for picking landscape companies
• How to work with a landscape professional
• Find a TNLA member landscape firm
• Find a Texas Certified Landscape Professional

Why choose a landscape professional?

1. Home value. Landscaping greatly impacts home value. A bare root twig planted near a window can grow into a 50-foot tree. A professional plan sites plants correctly so they won't become threats or obstructions to the home.
   
   
2. Peace of mind. Hiring a design professional before ripping up your lawn will save you headaches, not to mention dollars. Many landscape professionals consider design a value-added service.
   
   
3. Know-how. Mass marketed plants can be non-hardy for your area. You may not be aware of varieties susceptible to pest infestations. A professional helps you avoid expensive mistakes. Landscape designers keep up with the newest varieties, offering you a whole spectrum of plant material.
   
   
4. Long-term maintenance. A professional will ask how much time you want to devote to maintaining your landscape and will design accordingly. Garden ideas gleaned form magazines may be impractical for your lifestyle. The orchard or rose arbor you want may require regular chemical treatments to survive.
   
   
5. Investment in the future. Wise homeowners choose investments based on their return. The unified aesthetic appearance of a professionally designed landscape is intrinsic to its value. If well-executed and attuned to its surroundings, landscaping has a recovery value of 100 to 200 percent, according to MONEY Magazine.

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What type of landscape professional do I need?

A Garden Designer specializes in designing outdoor spaces, but is not a landscape architect.

A Landscape Contractor is qualified to read a blueprint and may also do design. A landscape contractor can lay drainage pipes, use earth-moving equipment, and supervise stonemasons, carpenters, and laborers. Some landscape contractors employ landscape architects in their design departments.

A Landscape Architect is licensed by the state after years of university graduate work and a rigorous test. A landscape architect will produce a blueprint and may hire contractors to complete the project.

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What criteria should I use in selecting a landscape professional?

Professionalism

• Does the firm have Texas Certified Landscape Professionals, or Texas Certified Landscape Technicians on staff.
• Do they have a federal identification number that designates it as a real business?
• Are they insured?
• Professionals arrive on time and take pictures or draw sketches of your property while there.

Ask:

• How many years have they been in business?
• Ask for customer references and follow up by calling referrals.
• Who will be supervising the installation - problems can result from communication gaps between estimator and installer.
• Are the installers trained, and what proof of training do they offer.

Paperwork

• Ask for an itemized estimate listing materials and plant sizes.
• Who is responsible for cleanup.
• The estimate should detail products essential to the desired result: weed control, edging, mulching, etc.
• A reputable firm provides a contract specifying starting and completion dates (making allowances for weather).
• If a deposit is required, the contract should show that the money is held in escrow at a specific bank.

Timing

In most regions, landscape professionals find the best time to plant doesn't necessarily correlate with the busiest time. A reputable firm will make recommendations about planting times, while trying to accommodate your timing needs.

Commitment to Communication

Communication with the consumer is one of a landscape professional's most valuable assets.

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What should I do to work successfully with the landscape professional?

• Be frank about the amount of money you intend to spend. A "time plus materials" arrangement is one way to set prices.
• Interview several professionals. Ask to see their "before and after" portfolio of completed jobs.
• Check references.
• Go see a completed project
• If you have trouble visualizing the job, ask for a sketch.
• Seek guarantees that faulty structural work and plants that perish within a year will be repaired or replaced without charge.
• Remember that a newly finished landscape may look a bit sparse until the plants have a chance to grow. The end result will begin to show in two to three years.

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Where do I find a landscape professional?

Visit the products and services area of this site to find a landscape professional near you.

Do it for me - renovation
Questionnaire and grid [pdf file]

find a landscape professional

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