Sudbury Living - Spring 2008 - 23

It starts with a plan T Sudbury landscape designer and consultant James St. John offers some free advice he intimidating task of developing an attractive, functional home landscape can sometimes be overwhelming. The goal of this article is to guide you through the process of designing and implementing a home landscape plan. First you need to decide what style of garden you want. Will it be formal or informal? Perhaps you would like an English cottage style or Japanese garden. It is a good idea to look through gardening magazines, as well as go on garden tours, so you can make notes or take pictures of what you like. Consult with family members for ideas about privacy features, outdoor living areas (patio, deck, courtyard, etc.), swimming pool, children’s play area, shade, flower beds, vegetable garden, greenhouse, and storage. This next step we’ll call site analysis. Note existing features such as buildings, driveways, trees, beds, fences, walks, etc. Draw up a scale drawing of the property showing the relevant features. A scale drawing is very effective when you actually start to do the design. Any inexpensive book on landscaping has directions on how to do a scale drawing. Once you have completed the drawing, make copies of it to draw on. Never draw on the original. You will be drawing various ideas, and need extra copies to try those ideas out. Make note of the exposure of the sun. Note areas that are shady or sunny, wet or dry. Things such as the height of windows, the height of house corners from the ground, and overhang widths should be considered. On the scale-drawing copy, draw circles or ovals to indicate where and how large areas will be. For instance, a circle would represent where and how large the vegetable continued on page 25 Spring 2008 Sudbury Living 23

Sudbury Living - Spring 2008

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