Now Blooming

Five years ago, Gail Caruso moved from a condominium with no garden at all to a house in Riverton with what she calls "a huge yard."

It has a couple of big dogwood trees and lots of shade, and she has a vision of how she would like it to look.

"But I know absolutely nothing about gardening," she says, "... so I don't know where to start."

Many homeowners have a similar lament. As soon as the weather warms up, the garden becomes an extension of the house, a variety of outdoor areas for relaxing, playing, eating or entertaining. And just like rooms inside the house, these garden rooms need decorating.

But not every homeowner is a gardener or someone with a talent for landscape design. One answer: Hire a professional.

Maybe you only need someone to help you "rearrange the furniture" - redoing the garden beds and adding new plants. Or perhaps you want somebody to do a complete landscape makeover, a design that might include pools and patios.

But how do you go about finding the right person for the job?

The same way you'd find a new hair stylist, says Al Masullo of Knolltop Nursery in Haddonfield, who has been designing and installing large residential landscapes for 25 years.

"Most people will see something they like and find out who did it," he says. Talk to friends and associates who have embarked on similar projects, Masullo advises, and ask who they would recommend.

Landscape designers do mostly residential work and may have degrees in either landscape design or horticulture, or other certification or accreditation. Landscape architects must have specific degrees, are licensed in 47 states, and can handle major commercial developments, parks, and public spaces, as well as residential design.

Then there are landscape companies that offer mowing, mulching, and spraying services, and might also do some planting; and gardeners, who may do anything from weeding to designing and installing garden beds.

It's not credentials that concern JoAnn Maroney of Doylestown. It's a designer's willingness to listen.
"I certainly want their ideas, and I want to listen, but I want them to listen to me, too," says Maroney, a real estate agent who's planning a major redesign of her backyard this year to make it more suitable for informal entertaining. "We have to be a team, so the end result is something that I am happy with. I don't want to come home some day and say, 'Oh, my gosh, it's lovely, but it's not me.' "

Some of the landscaping she's had done in the past was too formal for her tastes, Maroney says. This time she plans to have more input.

"I would expect a design [drawing], and a list of plants," she says, though she doesn't have time to do much gardening herself. "I think you need that so you know how to keep up with the gardens."
What clients are looking for in a garden, and how they intend to use the space, are among the first things a landscape designer should ask, says Brad Baker, owner of Baker Creative, a design/build company in Wyncote.

During his first visit with a new client, says Baker, he not only walks around the property with him or her but through the house as well, so he knows what the view is from the kitchen or bedroom, what path is taken to the car, and whether the garden is used at night.

"Lighting is important, because most people use their outside space at night in the summer," he adds. Even if homeowners are only looking out on it from inside, "the landscape can have interest and drama with good lighting."

Both Baker and Masullo ask clients to show them pictures of landscapes and plants that they like. "I can use 10 different plants for the same purpose," says Masullo, though he tries to use plants that require little maintenance.

Also important, Masullo adds, are such questions as whether the clients want space for children to play in, or for entertaining, which might dictate the size of a patio, or where they want the barbecue to go.
"It has to be arranged in a way that makes sense, just like a kitchen. Function and aesthetics... have to mesh for the design to work," he says. But before any designs are sketched, he adds, a designer and a client have to pin down the budget. "People don't like to reveal it, but you have to know what you are working with," whether it's a few thousand dollars or tens of thousands.

Consultation and design costs are usually billed at an hourly rate or as a flat fee. Installation costs are often billed separately. Project costs vary widely, depending on what's involved - maybe as little as $1,500 to $5,000 if there's no hardscaping (patios, paths, etc.), and perhaps $20,000 to $25,000 for a backyard with a patio, fencing, and mature-looking plantings. But you can spend several times that for more complex projects.

Not all garden rehabs involve major landscaping, of course. Caruso, the Riverton homeowner, doesn't even want all the work done for her. She just wants a "garden buddy."

"I want somebody who knows gardening and design and will come in and do it with me," she says. "I'd like to get in there and get my feet dirty alongside this person... . I see all my areas, and I have an idea of what I'd like them to look like, but I don't know what grows in what kinds of conditions, so I don't know where to start."

It's not such an unusual request, says Charlotte Kidd of In the Garden Design, Care & Workshops in Flourtown, who fills the role of "garden buddy" for several clients.

"We talk about a plan, what plants they like, how much of it they want to do," says Kidd, who specializes in informal garden design. "It becomes an educational project for them - they get in touch with the plants, the watering, the weather."

Large project or small, landscaping is likely to be a good investment for a homeowner. Just ask Maroney, who's co-owner of a Doylestown real estate business.

"Landscaping is like the frame around the picture, the hairdo on the woman, the icing on the cake," she says. "You have to have nice landscaping."

It's nice to look at, too.

My Backyard | Yards are like outdoor rooms. Sometimes you need a decorator.

ONLINE SLIDESHOW

To view a photo slide show on landscapes done by the pros, go to http://go.philly.com/landscapes.