Terry L. Ettinger Horticulture Consulting Services
Meeting The Needs Of Today With A Vision For The Future
Landscape Design Services
The Design Process
Design Development
The first step in creating your landscape design is developing a
"base plan" of your property, at right. This plan will include
all of the information from your survey (e.g., dimensions of your property, utility lines and right-of-ways, location and
dimensions of other permanent features such as driveways, fences, etc.), your architectural drawings and other observations
(e.g., location, size and species of existing trees and shrubs, etc.) I made during our meeting.
Once the site details are documented, the creative process will kick into high gear as I'll lay a series of trace paper
sheets over the base plan, at left, to sketch out specific site conditions (e.g., steep slopes, wet soils, deep shade, views to be
screened, etc.), functions/uses (e.g., play areas, vegetable gardens, patios, walkways, etc.), and design alternatives.
When I'm satisfied that I've addressed all of the needs and desires you've expressed - in a manner the conditions of your
property will allow (e.g., if you express a need for color in a dry, shady corner of your backyard, I might meet that need
by specifying masses of spring-flowering bulbs, summer-blooming hostas and liriope, and fall-blooming anemones that
tolerate dry shade), I'll transfer information from my sketches onto the base plan, resulting in a
"plan-view" landscape
design for your property, above.
For a closer look at a completed design, click on the "Completed Design" link at right.