USA v UK: garden design-any thoughts?

[guypa...@spidergarden.com]

Hi there,

This isn't an advert, I am just interested in USA gardeners thoughts on
garden design.

I work for a garden design company in the UK (both internet and actual
landscaping construction) We sell our garden design plans and workshops
online, and that seems to work well here in the UK.

We also get lots of requests from the US, but aren't always able to help. I
appreciate there are lots of differences between gardens and gardening in UK
and USA. I would like to find out more about USA gardens and how our
services should change to accommodate our US users. Examples of these UK v
USA differences would be size of garden, the type of features people like,
etc.

Are there any obvious things we are doing wrong that you would like to see
corrected? We get good feedback from the site, but would like to do more for
our USA users.

I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this topic.

Many thanks,

Guy Paterson
guypa...@spidergarden.com
--------------------------------------------------------
Spidergarden.com
- Your Garden Design & Landscaping Solutions
web: http://www.spidergarden.com
email: ma...@spidergarden.com

[sjs]

Yikes!

I don't know that there is any one US style! For instance, many of
the Phoenix, AZ gardens are designed around Cacti & gravel to
preserve water. Southern California gardens can use all those
wonderful tropical plants & design accordingly. Northerners must
design around their limited selection of extremely cold-hardy plants
and may be interested in trying to create warmer microclimates
within their garden bounds. And, these days, many gardeners are
looking at using more native plants which, obviously, vary
from region to region.

Around here, most of my friends consider a "garden" to be a
vegetable garden (no flowers!!)

Then there's lot size. Well, there is huge variation there too.
Many folks (lucky dogs) seem to have 1-2 acres. But then lots of
us are trying to get the best out of little city lots. The city
lots that I see the most of here in the North-East are (1) square
and pocket handkerchief size, in back of town-houses and condos.
Condo lots can be as small as 12'x12'. (How do you make one look
bigger?) (2)long and narrow -- the typical size in older
neighbourhoods. These might be 35'x60'. Lots of books have
designs for these types of lots. (3) the only size that always
seems to be omitted from garden design books -- the wide, shallow
lot which goes with a "ranch-style" or "bungalow" house. Those
would be about 35'x60' again, but with lots of width and no depth.

I think the biggest difference between the UK and (the interior of)
North America is the temperature extremes and the amount of moisture.
None of the UK books I've read worry about Real Cold or Real Heat.
None seem to bother with irrigation systems or xeriscaping. And
few books from either the US or the UK spend much time designing
for dry shade. Many folks like to have a nice big tree on their
lot. They therefore are stuck with the problems of dry shade. Most
woodland plants prefer damp places full of leaf mold. City gardens
don't usually have any leaf mold! And then there are the problems
with spring ephemerals and the woodland plants which die back in
August like Sanquinaria and Podyphyllum and some kinds of Dicentra
(Blood Root, May Apple and Bleeding Heart). The Far South has
interesting problems too with mixing plants which grow in their
"winter" and hibernate in summer with those which are dormant in
winter and hibernate in summer.

As for features, there is more and more interest these days in
this country in
(a) water gardens
(b) butterfly gardens
(c) gardens to attract birds in general and hummingbirds in particular
(d) deer-proof plants (Imagine a lot big enough to attract deer!)
(e) gardens using native plants
(f) xeriscaping (or at least more efficient forms of irrigation)

Y'know, if I were you, I think I'd try catering first to the parts
of the US (and Canada?) which most resemble the UK, whice would be
the temperate coastal areas & then I'd start picking sections of
the country which appeal to me and learn all about them & their
particular problems. Unless I had a number of folks available to
me to research the different peculiarities of the different regions
in the US, I don't think I'd try to tackle the whole country at
once.

Let's see... a 40x75 wide and shallow treed city lot in the North-East
with an owner who wants a natural look designed to attract birds
might be a place to start. =:-)

sjs

--
sj.sk...@pobox.com

[Dana S. Millaway]

IF we get to have different home and IF I get to design it, I would love
to build it in a U shape with the open part facing the winter sun and
preferably glassed in with automatic vents in the roof. There I would have
a water garden and/or fish pond, some fruit trees and herbs, lots of
blooming plants and edible ornamentals for foliage. What a place to putter
and relax. Now, IF ONLY I could win the lottery to pay for it. LOL. My
chances of that would probably be a little bit better if I ever bought
tickets, eh?

"sjs" <s...@pobox.com> wrote in message news:3A81EF71...@pobox.com...

[Pam]

As a garden designer myself, I have often wondered how one can successfully
offer landscape design services through the Internet. Surely you are not able to
personally visit each site? That would seem to be cost prohibitive in the
extreme. Granted that the UK is a significantly smaller country than the US, but
cetainly there are enough variations in climate, setting and context that would
require a more individualized approach and necessitate onsite visits? I would
not feel that I was giving my client good service unless the site was initially
analyzed carefully, not to mention the large degree of interaction that must
occur between the designer and client to achieve a mutually successful design.
How do you incorporate such factors as neighboring views and screening
requirements, sun and shade consitions, prevailing windflows and microclimates,
not to mention designing for the context of the architecture of the residence
itself, without visitng the property?

On a much more general note, there is such a huge range of climate types across
the US that plant hardiness and suitability is very regional. A good designer
would have to have an immense knowledge of plants in order to be able to specify
plants that would be able to perform well and be easily available in all of
these many permutations of climate zones, altitudes, humidity and heat
conditions.

The workshop portions I can more easily understand. Basic, good design concepts
are fairly universal (although sometimes seriously lacking in TV shows dealing
with landscape design) and no doubt can be communicated via the 'net, but
designing for individual gardens sight unseen escapes me. I'd be interested in
learning how you accomplish this.

Pam - gardengal

[David Hill]

I was sent a garden calendar from Texas a couple of years ago,it had 13
gardens in it, 10 from UK, 1 from France and 2 from US.
I think that this must say something.

--
David Hill, Abacus Nurseries, South Wales,
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk