Communicating every detail about your garden design with the gardener who is going to care for it after it is built is vital, as is the way in which you share that information, says John Wyer FSGLD.
How many times have you gone back to look at a garden a few years after you designed and built it, and let out a large (disappointed) sigh? ‘Why did they do that?’, you ask yourself. And ‘That wasn’t what I intended, either!’. Sometimes, it is just a lack of care that is the issue, a sea of weeds and the comment from the client, that ‘It got away from us a bit’. The question is, how do we garden designers help ourselves avoid feeling such disappointment?
The best place to start is before we put pen to paper. Dan Pearson OBE, a Fellow of the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers (SGLD), has often said that one of the first questions he asks a client is how much resource they want to commit to looking after the garden. For some, it is simple economics, of either time or money. For others, it is an opportunity to have a more nuanced discussion about what they want to achieve and how much they are willing to commit to looking after the ‘finished’ landscape.
I put ‘finished’ in quotes because, as I have said in this column on several occasions, a landscape is never finished. However, once the design is done, and the scheme implemented, what then?
Jeff Stephenson, Head of Horticulture at Bowles & Wyer, once said to me: ‘The most important document you can give a gardener at handover is the visuals that you gave the client, the ones that sold them the design.’ I was initially a little taken aback at this, but his logic is impeccable. The starting point should be what is the client expecting? Is it wild or neat, organic or not? What is the shared vision, the design intent? If the gardener is not briefed properly, it is likely that the aftercare will go in a different direction from your intent, or even that of the client.
In trying to select a gardener, there are several things to consider. Let us start with the practical. It is usually possible to split the tasks into four groups:
- Housekeeping, that is, cleaning the paving, mowing the lawn, leaf sweeping, etc.;
- Straightforward gardening, such as weeding, watering, and trimming hedges. Still skilled, but within the reach of a competent gardener;
- Skilled horticulture, that is, planting, pruning, training of climbing plants, recognising pests and diseases and dealing with these, and the long-term management of the garden. Some gardens have a kitchen garden as well, which is another specialist area; and
- Tasks that usually require outside help or special equipment, such as pruning pleached trees or tall hedges, for example, or arboriculture.
The point here is that these groups of tasks do not require the same level of skill, which can be helpful. Often, a client wants to keep their old gardener on but both you and they realise that the incumbent is not up to the task. So, keep them on for the easy stuff, and hire someone to do the horticultural stuff on a less frequent schedule. On larger sites, this can save quite a bit of money.
Trust, personality, and values are important here. If you, the garden designer, are going to entrust the care of your ideas to someone else, then they must see things in the same way as you do, and they must be able to get on with the client. Take references and interview thoroughly.
‘THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT YOU CAN GIVE A GARDENER IS THE VISUALS YOU GAVE THE CLIENT.’
Communication is also vital, not only in terms of the information you give (Jeff’s point), but the way in which you communicate: what channels do you use, and how often do you use them? Also, think about how people learn or communicate; many people in horticulture are dyslexic or neurodiverse, so perhaps use voice notes and photographs instead of emails.
The handover information should include detailed plans: planting, masterplans, some construction drawings where appropriate, and, of course, the visuals. In addition, the gardeners need information about practical issues: the services (lighting, irrigation, water features, etc), what to do with arisings (compost, I hope), and the arrangements for parking when they visit, access, and so on.
The ideal outcome is that the client, gardener and you have a long-term partnership in the project. It will be a shared joy to see it develop and mature. And that may just bring you more work.
JOHN WYER FSGLD
graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a post-graduate diploma in landscape architecture in 1983 and co-founded Bowles & Wyer in 1993. His extensive design portfolio spans private gardens to large-scale development projects, and many have won awards. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Garden + Landscape Designers (SGLD) in 2011, and a Fellow of the Landscape Institute in 2020. As well as continuing to take a lead role in Bowles & Wyer, and to serve as
Vice-Chair and Treasurer of the SGLD, he lectures in Britain and abroad and writes a monthly blog that explores the design process and role of landscape and maintenance. bowleswyer.co.uk
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