A Landscape gardener takes care of the hard landscaping in a garden. Many people think they do everything, including laying turf and planting bulbs, etc. It’s true that some landscapers also undertake these tasks, but strictly speaking landscape gardening involves laying paths, patios, walls, fences, rock gardens, planters and anything else that goes to make up the skeleton of the garden.
We normally work to a plan put together by the homeowner or a professional garden designer. Often when we do small jobs the householder has a good idea of exactly what he wants so we simply interpret his instructions and construct his dream. It usually involves a path, whether straight or meandering, and some features to add height, as well as an area for sitting or relaxing. That’s the most basic type of landscaping and to be honest many people can undertake it themselves with a little time and effort.
What we really enjoy are the bigger projects, especially when they’ve been designed by a professional who understands perspectives and the limits of a landscaper! They can imagine exactly how it will turn out, whereas an enthusiastic amateur often has limited vision. It takes a certain amount of artistic ability to imagine what will happen when a landscape gardener has been let loose on a bare plot of land or an unkempt garden.
That’s what’s so rewarding though. Given a clear plan we can build anything with the variety of materials available these days. Most gardens aren’t huge, but it’s amazing what can be achieved with a little vision and a lot of grunt work.
The end result is normally – and hopefully – a delight to behold and we’ve had so many delighted owners. That’s where the rewards of the business are most evident. It’s great to look at a newly constructed garden and appreciate the beauty. It’s even better to return after a year when the plot has been planted up and everything is coming into its own.
We love our job, but the only downside can be the odd client who thinks they know what they want, but changes their mind every 5 minutes!
I guess every tradesman gets these customers to deal with, but it makes our wonderful job just that little bit challenging.
When we quote for a job, we take into account everything, but when an owner has drawn up his own plans we simply have to add 10% because the chances are he will change his mind somewhere along the line. He’ll decide a pathway needs to be further over, or the wall shouldn’t be where we’ve just built foundations but a foot further down. These things can be challenging, but overall we’d never change our profession because it has wonderful upsides and we love to be out in the fresh air – well most of the year anyway.