All of us end up revamping our landscape or garden at some point, whether it’s because plants died and need replacing, we’re having hardscape installed, or a flowerbed has become overgrown and needs an overhaul.
Here’s where a written landscape plan is invaluable. If your needs involve significant hardscaping like laying pavers or excavating a retaining wall or pool, you will want to hire a professional. But for simpler garden makeovers, drawing up your own plan is easy, costs nothing and is exceedingly helpful.
This article covers two types of plans: A simple sketch that anyone can do, based on my own plan to refurbish my front bed. And a much more complex plan intended for large properties, or just for fun.
[Jump to: Part I – Simple or Part II – Complex ]
The benefits of written plans are obvious.
For one thing, if you’re working with landscapers or others you can hand them the plan to consult when you’re not available. No more running home on your lunch hour to deal with a clueless landscape crew! Seriously, a plan frees you up and lets others help, always a plus.
A written plan won’t let you forget which plants go where. You can experiment much more easily on paper than on dirt. And, you can take your time to work on it when it’s most convenient for you, like during the winter or evenings. Less rushing means a better outcome.
Finally, a plan invites you to tackle your project in phases.
Part I – A Simple Plan. If you want to try your hand at making an easy plan, here’s what I’ve found works for me. I’m an artist, so my drawings are more detailed than necessary. Let me assure you — they don’t have to be. A reasonably accurate sketch is all you really need.
What You’ll Need
- Paper, pen, pencil or marker, and ruler
- Something to trace large and small circles with, like a jar lid and coins (or just draw them freehand)
- Colored pencils, optional
- Reference photos of the entire existing garden or flowerbed
- Plant photos, height and spacing information
TIP: To make a visual plant guide, take screenshots online of the plants you want and organize them in a Word or Google document. Allow room for notes and print it out. Write in plant variety, bloom period, height, spacing and possible locations/ companions.
Map it out. Start by drawing a birdseye view of your property or area. Try to keep everything in proportion. While it’s optimal to measure and draw everything to scale, that’s not necessary for small areas if you’re reasonably close. (Large landscapes are a different story.)
Locate and mark permanent obstacles like utility boxes, walks, faucets and storm drains on the map. You don’t want to accidentally block access to them or misrepresent their presence.
Mark north with an arrow. It’s important to know where the sun is relative to the plan. From which direction will most of the light be coming? Which sections get morning sun? Afternoon shade?
Draw in permanent vegetation. Use a tiny circle for a tree trunk surrounded by a large pale circle or dotted line for the edge of its canopy. This helps you see where shady areas are as well as the understory. Then add in all plants that are staying with symbols or small circles. Label them if you wish.
Redefine flowerbed edges. If you are making a new bed or expanding an old one, draw new contours with a pencil so you can erase as needed. Play around until you are satisfied. You may want to try several variations. Then ink in the boundaries.
Decide on final design and placement. Fill in where you want each new or transplanted variety of plant to go. Pay attention to bloom times, height, spacing, colors and texture. When you’re happy with your choices, mark and label each with a distinct shape symbol. You can use circles, stars, sputniks, swirls, ovals etc. for each variety. You can even use stickers if you want.
Color-code your symbols (optional). For example, for pink phlox Nicky I used a deep pink circle. Spiky orange sputniks are daylilies. For dark foliage plants I used purple circles, and so on. I find this technique makes it easier to coordinate companion plantings as I go.
Ready for plants! Now it will be easy to ensure each plant goes where it’s supposed to. I’ll be using this very plan myself as soon as the weather warms and my plants start arriving (by mail).
Adjust as needed. It’s inevitable that you’ll make a few tweaks and not follow your plan exactly. That’s to be expected! Just mark and record the changes as you go. Five years from now, when you’re ready to move a few things again, the plan will be waiting to remind you what’s there. (Oh yeah, there are a few bulbs in there!)
Part II: A Major Landscape Design Examined
You may never have need for a large-scale redo. But if you do, it’s helpful to be aware of all the things that have to be considered. I’m not going to go into every little detail here– this is professional landscape designer territory after all, and I’m certainly no professional. But I did take an in-depth, hands-on class on landscape design, and I learned a lot. I’d like to pass on what I got out of it.
The rest of this article shows what can reasonably be expected from a large-scale landscape plan, whether you make it yourself or hire a pro.
If you’re knowledgeable, know what you want and are detail-oriented, there’s no reason you can’t tackle a big landscape do-over yourself. It can save you a lot of money, for sure.
On the other hand a pro offers proven talent, expertise, and the wisdom of experience. They might create a terrific plan that would never have occurred to you. Sometimes they can save you money on materials through supplier relationships. So it’s not always an easy decision.
Take A Class. If you’re still not sure, do what I did: Take a professional landscape design class. It can help you decide if you want to tackle it yourself or get help. I took mine through Continuing Education at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The class was taught by a successful landscape designer, which meant we students got practical business advice as well as hands-on guidance.
The plans seen here are my renderings from that class. Even if you don’t ever expect to create something like this, it’s helpful to see the process up close.
What You’ll Need for a Complex Landscape Plan
- Long tape measure or surveyor’s measuring wheel
- Camera or cell phone
- Draftman’s stickers or reusable artist’s white tape
- T- square; French curves, optional
- 20 X 30 layout pad; designer’s layout tissue roll
- Ruler and slide rule, or an online app for scale measurements
- Sharp pencil; fine-tip black Sharpie pens
- Colored markers or pencils
- Foam core for mounting, optional
THE CLASS PROJECT
While the property we redesigned actually exists, the assignment itself was strictly imaginary. To make it as real as possible, the class visited the property and met with staff posing as “the client,” just like a landscape professional would. Here’s what we learned:
The challenge: The home office of a gardening nonprofit is in need of a total grounds overhaul. The former fieldstone residence with detached garage has been converted into offices. The large yard is nondescript, typical of a somewhat neglected rural property. A tiny concrete pad by the back door was once a patio. A concrete walk leading to the front door is cracked and uneven. Gloomy overgrown shrubs dominate the front of the house. Several hollies and a few mature trees scattered about are the only assets.
Vision and requirements. The “client” presented us with their vision along with a wish list of requirements: A place to hold outdoor meetings; a better place to eat lunch and host business meals; an area to hold public events for 100 guests; an organic vegetable garden; a quiet spot for yoga, and an inviting way to enjoy nature. They love the adjacent meadow but want a more interesting view from their conference room windows year round.
There are also some problems: An eyesore across the street needs blocking out. There’s no disability access. The side yard has poor drainage, making it soggy after a rain.
Environmental concerns are important too, as is wildlife preservation. The budget is tight but negotiable.
The directive: Come up with an entire property redo that satisfies all of these requirements (which were made deliberately complicated to challenge us). A tall order!
The plan begins. Roughly here are the steps to follow as I and my classmates did. Whether it’s your property or someone else’s the steps are basically the same.
Gather Information. Capture the client’s vision and how they want to use the area with detailed notes. Ask questions, find out it there are ordinances or setbacks to worry about, what materials the client favors, etc. A ballpark budget should be discussed but left flexible (if possible) at this stage, until the plan is more fully developed.
Measure, Photograph, Sample. After meeting, the first step is to physically walk the property, take measurements and snap photos from all directions. Soil samples may be taken for analysis, especially if there’s concern about fertility or ph levels.
Create A Functional Schematic. A scale diagram of the property showing the building footprint, utilities, boundaries, hardscape, and current vegetation is drawn up. Directional orientation, buried pipes, wet spots, prevailing wind direction and so on are marked on it.
This schematic is not the plan; it informs the plan. Think of it as the “Before” scenario. It forms the “base layer” from which all new designs will spring, usually by tracing the base layer (with designer’s tissue or tracing paper overlays).
Sketch out possibilities. With a fresh sheet of tissue in large sweeping strokes, start to create a new layout. Major vegetation areas should be indicated; flowerbeds, eating areas and so on are roughed in. Add hardscaping and indicate how people will walk through the new space, since you want whatever plan you create to be efficient and practical.
These sketches are very preliminary. They are deliberately kept loose and free. Lots of changes happen at this stage. Toss and start again!
Several viable layouts will emerge. Each should adhere to the requirements, stay within budget and follow practical considerations along with good aesthetics.
Think outside the box. Literally! Develop ideas that push past your first inclination for rectangular beds and a bigger patio. Force yourself to imagine something entirely different.
Why? Very often, the best designs are not the first, second, or even third idea. If you don’t try now you’ll never know if a better layout was possible. So get the “easy way out” out of your system. Consider at least two different possibilities.
Push parameters. This project involved a lot of requirements to force us to think beyond the typical. Few home landscape plans will ever need to be this elaborate. But for the sake of education it was loads of fun designing. After all, one rarely gets to plan an outdoor space as if money were no object! (Setting a realistic budget was another class entirely. Here the focus is on just the plan.)
Yet often it’s a tight budget that forces the designer or owner to come up with an ingenious idea that wouldn’t have happened any other way. So take time to explore all your options. You might surprise yourself.
Pick A Theme. To help you get started and to unify the landscape, it’s helpful to choose an appropriate style or theme. Architecture will often inform a garden’s style. A minimalist cube of a house will look best with a modern garden, while a two-story colonial with pillars and portico can easily accommodate a more formal look. There are many ways to do this, and it’s helpful to explore different looks.
Pick two. You will be whittling down your ideas to just two. I began by creating several layouts with curvilinear beds (above) then eliminated all but one. For my alternative, I tried a very experimental design based on intersecting circles (below).
Creating a plan around a design element or theme unifies disparate elements and makes a garden unique.
Choose One. Because my circular design was more challenging to execute, my professor chose it for my Master Plan. Truth be told, it was not my favorite layout.
Normally the client chooses the final design, or it’s a compromise. Aesthetics aside, a real project would also factor in practical considerations like material preferences, cost, timing etc. We rarely get to design exactly what we want. I had my work cut out for me.
The Master Plan Is Embellished. With the design direction finalized, I fleshed out fresh iterations with lots of detail and labeling. This last and rather elaborate version helps the client envision how everything will come together, and uncovers any hiccups for the planner to resolve.
A proposed plant list is created, the budget firmed up and the whole thing presented to the client. If there are no further changes, the master plan is complete and construction (or planting) can begin.
Of course, this is where the class ended. Had this been a real project, actual ground breaking would have followed.
Evaluating My Master Plan
So, what’s in my plan, exactly? A new, regraded, wider walkway guides visitors to the front door or on to the event area. From there, one can take a nature walk or stroll through the perennial garden to the rear patio, a picnic spot or farther out to the meeting kiosk. Immediately adjacent to the back door (and kitchen) is a new patio and grill with a slatted wheel-shaped pergola for shade. A vegetable garden is just steps away across the drive.
Visually, sweeping curves draw the eye along low walls, stepping stones, perennial beds and sweeps of lawn. The circular design motif is subtle (from eye level) yet unifying through the repetition of key materials. Plantings are kept informal at the edges to pull in the meadow and marsh, seamlessly extending the view outward.
The property went from being a disused yard with limited appeal to a versatile space that works to serve the needs of the nonprofit’s staff and their guests, while deeply respecting nature and wildlife. It now features:
[Compare with original requirements]
- wide, pebble-resin walkways enabling disability access
- courtyard-style event space with electric outlets in the wall
- dining patio and grill with slatted pergola
- conference room views of trellis, sundial, perennials, meadow
- multipurpose kiosk for meetings/ yoga/ wildlife viewing
- raised bed vegetable garden with composting station
- native and pollinator-friendly garden; beehives (optional)
- spring bulbs to brighten shady groundcovers
- privacy berm with shrubs to screen out road, neighbors
- dry rock rill for channeling runoff into a rain garden
- recycled and native stone; recycled beams
- nature path and birch grove, picnic bench
Don’t Forget Climate Change. In a nod to our increasingly volatile climate, the client also asked us to consider eco-friendly, pollinator-friendly and recycled or local materials wherever possible. This plan uses recycled cobblestones, beams and local Pennsylvania bluestone; it avoids tropical and pressure-treated woods and concrete. Birch, wild blueberry, hemlock and many other native species are utilized throughout.
Add a personal touch. The most fun for me was designing the meeting kiosk. Inspired by colonial dovecotes and indigenous dwellings, it evolved into a multipurpose raised hut/ yoga spot/ wildlife blind that seats 8. The walls are vertical panels on tracks which can roll back for floor-to-ceiling open air views. A vented cupola helps with air circulation. Reed grass and native sumac flank its low-slung profile, allowing it to sit easily in the semi-wild landscape. Snack bar, wifi and discreet lighting make it a versatile hangout space.
The Take-away. While most of us will never work on such a complicated, fun (and costly) plan as this, the exercise of doing so was instructive in making me aware of what all goes into good landscape design. It’s so much more than just “right plant, right place” and hardscape.
For one thing, I never would have pursued a plan based on circles without my professor pushing me. But after I completed the assignment, I love the final result. It just goes to show that we often have more to give to a project than we think.
I hope you enjoyed seeing a little of the process along with me.
Successful landscape design is so much more than just the plants.
Now climate change is the impetus forcing us beyond our comfort zone. We must consider storm runoff, gales, heat mitigation and wildlife preservation like never before. Cherished species may need to be replaced with stronger varieties able to cope. Today’s landscape planning isn’t just about the plants; it’s about everything connected to them, too. In fact, plants are often the least of it!
Something to keep in mind as you plan your next garden project, no matter the scope. Regardless, do your best to enjoy the journey wherever it takes you. The result will be well worth it.
