Our recommendations below aim to highlight some key considerations and factors that we would like you to be aware of before a purchase is made of any of our products
Plants in relation to levels of light
We have designed our gardens to include plants that require reasonable amounts of natural light every day. We have not catered for gardens that are in full shade or full sunlight. Our planting plans assume that all our customers gardens will receive a good 3 – 6 hours of sun per day in the summertime. If your garden falls within our idea of ‘the extremes’ these being full shade (under 3 hours of sun per day) or full sun (over 6 hours of direct sun a day) then you may need a different selection of plants. We can help you with this via our bespoke and additional design service. Please do get in touch and we can start discussing this with you.
Plants in relation to soil types
Our plant selections have been based on plants that will tolerate most normal soil types associated with new home development sites. The soil used on these sites would typically by in compliance with the British Standard BS3882 for topsoil. This soil is typically used by businesses involved in landscaping such as builders, developers, local authorities, gardeners, and landscapers. We recommend that if your garden has soil conditions that are obviously more severe and as such, for example, comprise heavy clay from the surface down, then you may require a more specific set of plants. We can help you with this via our bespoke and additional design service. Please do get in touch and we can start discussing this with you.
We do recommend that all plants are planted with a good amount of horticultural grit mixed into the soil at the time of planting. This will aid drainage for the roots of the plants. This isn’t essential but it will certainly help plants, especially those in heavier soil. Soil improver or peat free multi-purpose compost would also be a great addition as this will provide a little more nutrients and goodness into the soil for the plants to establish themselves.
Plants toxicity
Many plants can cause allergic reactions to human or animal/pets’ skin, we, Garden Designs For All, cannot guarantee that any of our planting plans will not include plants that create these allergic reactions. We do however highlight plants that pose a ‘toxic if eaten’ threat to both humans and pets. For further guidance on potentially harmful plants information can be found via the UK’S Horticultural Trade Association website
Maintenance of the plants
Our plant selections have been carefully chosen to allow you more time to enjoy your garden rather than be spending all your time tending to the plants. The plants will, in most cases, only require seasonal care rather than regular weekly care. General maintenance notes for each plant have been provided within the planting plan design element of your drawing package.
All trees and plants will need regular watering especially within their first year of being planted and especially in periods of prolonged heat. Where possible, water your trees and plants in the morning and or evening and not during the hottest and sunniest part of the day.
General plant notes
The chosen plant sizes are our recommended minimum size. You can of course install larger plants although these will typically result in a greater cost and a greater level of risk in their establishment due to the potential stress on the more mature roots.
Our planting plans have been designed to accommodate the future growth of the chosen plants. The symbols that we use, mostly circles, are drawn to an approximate 75% overall size of the possible spread of each plant. You will see space on our plans around the plants, this is absolutely fine as it will provide each plant with space to grow to their full potential. If you would like a denser and fuller border on installation, then you can reduce the planting distances. The downside to this is that, in time, you’ll likely need to cut back the plants to prevent one from dominating over another. If plants have space around them to grow, then they’ll happily grow more evenly and healthily giving you a more attractive and enjoyable display.
We recommend that all trees are planted no closer than 2 meters from any building and or built wall or structure. Tree roots can, but rarely do, damage concrete foundations so leaving this buffer will potentially mitigate this from happening. As a further preventative measure, we recommend that all trees are planted with a root protection barrier installed around the rootball of the tree and set within the planting hole. The result of this barrier encourages roots to grow down into the soil and not spreading laterally. Discuss this with your chosen professional landscape contractor as they should be able to advise you further.
Planning permission
Our designs have been created so that normal planning permission is not required, however, we can’t be certain that your location and specific site won’t have some kind of restriction on it. We recommend that before you engage in the purchase or build of the design you check that there are no covenants and or planning permission requirements associated with your property. If you have any existing trees and or hedges within your garden that you propose to remove or have work completed on, please also check that these have no restrictions. If there are restrictions and you fail to comply with them it could lead to you being heavily fined and or imprisoned. This process will be your responsibility as the homeowner.
Here are some useful links below.
Garden levels
Our designs have been prepared for you showing the ground being level or near level. However, we know that not many gardens are totally flat and its often nice to have level changes as this creates more interest through the space.
We recommend that if the levels in your garden are severe to a point of needing multiple steps out from the back of your house or a cross fall through the middle of the garden, then you may need a little more bespoke design help. Please do get in touch and we can start discussing this with you.
In less severe scenarios a professional landscape contractor will often be able to offer recommendations on how best to arrive at the chosen and intended design.
Please do consider that raising and lowering levels can result in the need for planning permissions so do check with your local planning authority and or the governments guidance before getting started. Here are some useful links below.
The build
We do recommend that you engage with a professional landscape contractor to discuss and complete the works for you. Our services do not stretch to the build works and or provide the construction information required to build the gardens. We do not hold any responsibility for how the gardens may be built. We provide the design inspiration combined with our planting recommendations only. There are several organisations that can be used to search for landscape contractors. Here are some useful links below.
The Association of Professional Landscapers www.landscaper.org.uk
British Association Landscape Industries www.bali.org.uk/home