Perfecting your skills as a pro of landscape design can be a tricky process. Every client has a different vision, which means adaptability and collaboration are key elements in meeting their wishes and needs. But what is the best way to prepare for that, especially if you don’t have much experience in designing with a particular feature or landscape plan?
Based on the upcoming seasonal trends of the year, we’ve put together a short guide for you in order to lead you to solutions that breed success. Follow these quick and easy steps along your journey to perfect your skills in landscape design and never look back.
Design Traditions You Need to Know
Familiarize yourself with the history of landscape design as well as different design techniques derived from Eastern and Western traditions. Depending on your client’s style and taste, they could be more drawn to straight lines and symmetry or irregular shapes and curves. Maybe they want a wider pathway through their garden with a curve at the end, or maybe they want more water features incorporated into their space for a more naturalized environment. Learn your client’s interests and style to categorize which outdoor elements you should be looking to design with. Here’s the difference between an Eastern Design and a Western Design:
Different Purposes of a Garden
What does your client want out of their garden? Do they want to grow vegetables and fruits? Do they want something more visually appealing to look at and show off? Or do they want somewhere to hang outside, host friends, and enjoy the outdoors? If you can pinpoint exactly what they want, whether it’s one or a combination of all, you can guide the process along to a better outcome than either of you expected. Log into iScape’s database to combine vegetable plants, perennials, and outdoor furniture to create the perfect garden your client wants.
Get to Know the Garden
Like you would when first getting to know someone, ask the important questions! Who is this garden? What is it made up of? How does it work? What does it need to grow to its fullest potential and beauty? Help your client and yourself understand the outdoor space to set up a brighter future. Things you need to familiarize yourself with include:
- Areas of sun and shade
- Soil conditions
- Climate conditions, such as wind, rain, snow, temperature
- Zoning areas of different types of perennials, shrubs, trees, and other plants
Know the garden so you can know your design.
The iScape image database not only holds thousands of outdoor features but also specific descriptions of growth information you’d need to know. If your client has a question about a particular plant’s growing stage, refer back to iScape’s description to give your client confidence and ease in their new outdoor space.
Utilize Your Surroundings
Any professional working on landscape design would know that an outdoor space goes beyond the borders of a property. Whether a client’s home is closely fitted together with neighbors or more spread out, you can most definitely see nature beyond the area you call home. If your client’s neighbor has a beautiful blooming tree during the spring and summer, position the outdoor furniture to face in its direction for a nice afternoon view. Or if your client has a great area of land or body of water in the distance, decorate the bordering areas with plants and flowers that compliment the picturesque paradise view.
Create Options of Function and Utility
Maybe your client knows what they want. Maybe they don’t. One piece of advice to rely on every single time is to have ideas ready to share. They may not think they want a particular functionality right now, but later on, when the opportunity has presented itself and they get the chance to enjoy a new perk of their outdoor space, the first person they’ll come running back to is you! Of course, don’t go so far as to overstep a client’s plan, but if you can point out other uses of a patio set besides their original intention of hosting, like an outdoor office space for example, you’ll be on your way to becoming the next best professional in landscape design out there.
Prioritize the Future
Though it’s hard to bite down the excitement of your client’s visual plan coming to life, it’s important to remember that the steps you take during the landscaping construction process are just the beginning. All plants have boundless potential to grow into beautiful sights, so if you’re only short-term planning for your client, you’re doing it wrong. The biggest mistake you could make would be planting something too big or too small for an outdoor space, leading to more time and effort for unnecessary upkeep on both you and your client’s part. Educate yourself on the full growth potential of the softscape your client wants to ensure a beautiful landscape in all of its stages of life.
The iScape image database offers many plants in their different stages of growth, from young to mid-age to adult. Being able to show your client what their yard will look like in its different stages of growth will definitely set you apart and elevate your client’s experience, bringing you up as the top leading landscape professional.
Download iScape now and find plants, hardscapes, and accessories to complete your landscape designs. Or, if you need some design help, Hire-a-Designer now and let the iScape Pro’s help guide you! iScape it!
