Inherited a Garden? Here's Why You Shouldn't Rush In
- Ian Green
- Aug 9
- 4 min read
By Ian Green, Pre-Registered Member of the Society of Garden & Landscape Designer
Why waiting matters
Gardens reveal themselves over a year, not a weekend. What looks like a patch of bare soil in November might be full of bulbs in March. A tangle of stems that seems worth pulling out in January could be a shrub that flowers beautifully in June. Trees that look like dead weight in winter cast the shade that makes a seating area bearable in August.
If you clear before you've seen a full growing cycle, you're making decisions blind. You don't know what you've got, so you can't know what you're losing.
This isn't about doing nothing. It's about doing the right things in the right order, so that when you do make changes, you're working with real information rather than guesswork.
What to actually do in year one
• Watch before you dig.
Resist clearing anything you're not certain about. If a plant is diseased, dangerous, or genuinely in the way of something urgent like access or drainage, that's different. But “I don't know what this is” is not a reason to remove it. It's a reason to wait and find out.
• Keep a simple record.
Photograph the garden every few weeks, from the same spots if you can. Note what comes up and when. This becomes invaluable later, both for your own understanding and for anyone helping you design the space, because it shows what the garden actually does across the seasons rather than what it looks like on the one day someone visits.
• Do the basic maintenance, not the redesign.
Mow the lawn, keep paths clear, tidy anything that's a genuine hazard. This keeps the garden usable and safe without foreclosing any options.
• Get a sense of the bones.
Even while you're waiting on the planting, you can start understanding the structure: the boundaries, the changes in level, the aspect, how the sun moves across the space through the day. This is useful groundwork for later and doesn't require touching a single plant.
• Talk to anyone who knew the garden, if you can.
Previous owners, neighbours, even old photos, can tell you a huge amount about what's been planted and why. It's not essential, but it can save you a season of guessing.
When patience pays off
I worked on a garden in Lincolnshire that had been inherited from family and left untouched for years.
It was overgrown to the point where much of it felt unusable, and the house it belonged to was mid-renovation, so there was real pressure to get the outside sorted quickly.
But the clients held back before deciding what to remove. That patience meant we were able to keep a magnolia and a weigela that had been in the family garden for years, plants with real history, and build the new design around them rather than starting from nothing.
The result is a cottage garden that feels rooted in the past as well as built for how the family lives now. None of that would have been possible if the garden had been cleared before anyone understood what was there.
When it's time to bring in help
A year of watching will tell you a great deal, but it won't tell you everything, and at some point most people reach a stage where they've got a clearer picture of the garden but no clearer idea of what to do with it. That's a natural point to bring in a designer, not because you've failed to work it out yourself, but because turning observation into a coherent plan is a different skill from the observation itself. If you've inherited a garden and you're at the point of wanting a proper plan for it, I'd be glad to talk it through with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should I wait before making changes to an inherited garden?
As a general guide, one full growing cycle, so roughly a year, gives you the clearest picture. That said, urgent safety issues (a dangerous tree, a collapsing structure) shouldn't wait, and general upkeep like mowing is fine throughout.
What if the garden is very overgrown and I can't even see what's there?
You can still cut back safely without removing anything permanently. Reducing overgrowth to see the shape of a plant is different from digging it out. If you're unsure whether something is a weed or a valued shrub that's simply overdue a prune, it's worth getting an opinion before you cut hard.
Should I remove a tree I don't like the look of?
Not without understanding what it's doing for the garden first, in terms of shade, screening, wildlife, or structure. Trees are the hardest thing to put back once they're gone, so they deserve the most caution
Is it worth getting a soil test before I plant anything new?
Yes, and it's one of the few things worth doing early, since it costs very little and tells you a great deal about what will thrive. I've written more about this in my piece on soil pH, linked below.
Can a garden designer help even if I'm still in the “wait and see” phase?
What if I want to use the garden this summer, not just watch it?
You don't have to choose between the two. Set up a seating area, a table, somewhere for the children to play, using the space as it already is, without touching the planting or structure around it. Living in the garden and observing it can happen at the same time.
If you're standing in a garden you've inherited and wondering what to do with it, I'd be happy to help you think it through. Get in touch and we can talk about your space.
About the author: Ian Green is a garden and landscape designer with over 25 years' experience, working with clients across Lincolnshire, East Midlands and beyond. He believes that the best gardens start with listening to the space, and to the people who'll live in it
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