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Garden Projects
For gardeners who want help with an entire garden project from start to finish; my design, plant sourcing, and installation services may be the perfect fit.
Who it's for:
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Newer gardeners looking to grow their confidence and knowledge
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Gardeners who want a partner to help them reimagine their space
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Gardeners looking to address a challenging garden area
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Gardeners who want to plan a garden of 400 square feet or less in a given season
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Gardeners who want to make a multi-season plan for creating new beds or reducing their lawn
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Gardeners pursuing the PG County Rain Check Rebate "conservation landscaping" track
Who it may not be for:
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Homeowners looking to "buy a garden" or a "turnkey" solution
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Homeowners who primarily want a service for invasive species removal or ongoing maintenance
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Homeowners who want to reduce their entire lawn at once (>400 square feet)
My Design Process
While assessing your home at an on-site consultation, we can discuss "opportunity zones" for new projects on your property. Where my services seem to be the right fit, I'll take measurements for a garden design.
Design Estimation:
Once we've identified the area to be planted in the spring or fall), I will put together a design estimate that both includes the scope and cost for the design phase and a ballpark estimate for the entire cost of the project (through planting day). This helps customers budget for the total project cost. Once we're in agreement, I'll go to work on your design!
Master Planning:
If you have a goal to develop a large area into multiple garden beds over multiple seasons, I offer a high-level master planning option to help you picture the broader vision and make decisions about what to do first. I offer a discount on all detailed designs that were completed as a part of a master plan.
Detailed Garden Design:
Detailed designs include a planting layout and a plant list. The designs are intentionally simple and can be updated quickly throughout the review process. Typically I review the initial design on-site and gather your feedback there. Subsequent revisions are usually reviewed over Zoom or email. If desired, I can put together a short slide presentation to capture the design concepts and describe some of the key plants.
The Plants:
All of my designs focus on straight species Maryland native plants. Plants are selected for site conditions and mature size. If you'd like to know more about my design methodology, this article in The Laurel Independent, Mastering the Matrix, will provide you with an overview.
It's completely fine if you don't "know the plants." I've found that most customers who want to garden for wildlife first need to learn the fundamentals of gardening with natives and then gradually learn the individual plants over the first year of growth. Part of my job is to help you create your first garden while you're still forming your own relationship with our native plants.
Plant Sourcing
That's right, for the most part I go and get the plants myself from native plant growers in Maryland. I make a big plant buy each planting season (spring and fall), which lets me shop from the widest variety of species. I primarily buy straight species natives (and local ecotypes as available).
Designing from Inventory:
Native plants can be tricky to source and inventories change each season. During the design process, I build out plant lists from wholesale vendor inventories that will have plants available when I need to pick them up. This means you get the best species for your garden and the certainty that the design will become a reality.
I try to keep them to a minimum, but substitutions do happen occasionally. I communicate any design changes as early as possible, so customers can make informed decisions.
Buying Great Plants:
One of the tenants of my mission statement is to buy from Maryland growers to help scale their businesses up. My customers benefit because these growers also tend to be awesome at growing plants native to Maryland. The more plants we buy from our local industry, the better that industry will become, with more species, sizes, and quantities available year over year.
Delivered Right to Your Site:
Regardless of where I buy my plants, your experience will be a consistent one. I will assemble your order and deliver it right to your home, usually on planting day. This takes the pressure off your shoulders so you can focus on planting and stewarding your garden.
Ground Preparation & Planting
Ground Preparation:
If you have existing garden beds you'd like planted with natives, we'll just need to make sure they're free of both invasive species and conventional weeds. Invasives may need a separate remediation process. Conventional weeds can be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Approach to Planting:
In general, I try to take a collaborative approach with homeowners and other land stewards. Rather than "planting your garden," I generally like to plant with you, helping you identify your new plants, show you how to get them securely in the ground, and discussing how they'll grow in the future. I find gardens survive much better when their owners are digging the holes along with me.
This also keeps costs way down, as labor can as much as double the cost of your project. I do have some labor offerings, both directly and through partner organizations, and I can talk through those as needed.
Weeding Consults After Planting:
By default, I include three "weeding consults," one in each of the three following growing seasons (spring, summer, fall). I want to make sure you're supported throughout your garden's first year.
In these sessions, we'll make sure you can identify the things we planted, identify new arrivals (and sort them between volunteers and weeds), and help you eliminate any weeds. I find this helps prevent inadvertent "weeding" of things we previously planted. Again, this is meant to be a collaborative and educational process, rather than a "weeding service."
Pricing
I try to strike a balance between accessible pricing and sustaining a mission-driven business.
Average Costs:
Recent projects have ranged between $10-14/square foot.*
This includes design, plants, supplies, and project management support on planting day.
*Master plans usually do not necessarily add to the total design cost, but often shift that cost toward the first project to clarify the vision and enable initial decision-making.
*Ground preparation costs (lawn reduction, invasive removal, etc.) are currently case-by-case and I can provide more information about options and costs during your consultation.
*Hiring additional labor can significantly increase this cost, so I always first recommend customers determine what they can do themselves and then weigh the cost/benefit of hiring on additional labor. I'm happy to discuss this more during the on-site consultation.
Prince George's County Rain Check Rebate:
If you're located in PG County, I can facilitate design, application, and timeline for the Rain Check Rebate program's Conservation Landscape track. The program pays $5/square foot of lawn reduction. In past projects, this has covered roughly 50% of the cost.