What to Expect From a Garden Design Consultation
- Ian Green
- Jan 1
- 3 min read
A calm guide to the first conversation
When you decide to change your garden, the first step is rarely digging or planting. It’s a conversation.
A garden design consultation is where everything begins. It sets the direction, the pace, and the thinking behind the space you’ll eventually live with. Yet many people arrive at this first meeting unsure what will happen, what they should prepare, or what they should even be asking.
So let’s slow it down. This is a clear, honest guide to what a garden design consultation involves—and why it matters more than most people realise.
Why the Consultation Matters
A garden consultation isn’t about choosing plants or sketching something pretty on the spot. It’s about understanding how you live, how the space behaves, and how those two things can work together over time.
This first meeting is where listening does the heavy lifting.
It’s your opportunity to talk openly about what’s working in your garden, what isn’t, and how you’d like the space to feel. Not just in summer, but year-round. Not just now, but in five, ten years’ time.
You might say:
“I want somewhere quiet to think.”
“We need space that works for family life.”
“The garden feels disconnected from the house.”
“I want something calmer, easier, more settled.”
There are no right answers. These conversations shape the design far more than any Pinterest board ever could.
At the same time, the designer begins to read the site—its conditions, limitations, and quiet opportunities. Soil, sunlight, drainage, boundaries, existing planting. These practical realities are what allow a garden to succeed long after the novelty wears off.
What Happens During a Garden Design Consultation?
Every designer works slightly differently, but most consultations follow a similar rhythm.
It usually begins with a conversation—often at the kitchen table—about how you use your garden now and how you’d like to use it in the future. Expect to talk about:
How the garden fits into your daily life
What you want more (or less) of
Your preferences around style, mood, and materials
Features you’re drawn to—or keen to avoid
Budget expectations and realistic timescales
From there, you’ll walk the garden together.
This is where details start to emerge. Areas that feel awkward. Corners that never quite work. Views you’d like to frame or soften. Elements worth keeping and others ready to go.
Notes are taken. Measurements made. Photographs captured—not for show, but for thinking.
What often surprises people is how little of this is about “design ideas” and how much is about understanding. Good design comes later. First comes clarity.
The Practical Conversations That Shape the Design
Gardens aren’t static. They grow, shift, drain, dry out, flood, thrive, struggle.
A meaningful consultation brings practical considerations into the open:
Soil type and condition
Sun and shade through the day and across seasons
Drainage patterns and water movement
Existing structures, trees, and boundaries
Local climate and microclimates
These aren’t constraints—they’re the framework that keeps a garden grounded.
A shaded corner might become a calm woodland space rather than a planting problem. Poor drainage might suggest a change in levels, materials, or planting style. Maintenance expectations also come into focus here. A garden should support your life, not compete with it.
Beginning to Visualise the Garden
At some point, the conversation starts to turn forward.
This might involve rough sketches, reference images, or examples from previous projects—not as finished answers, but as ways of exploring direction. You’ll talk about:
How the space might feel at different times of year
Materials for paths, terraces, and boundaries
The role of lighting after dark
Sustainability, biodiversity, and long-term resilience
This is a collaborative stage. Your insight guides the intent. Professional experience ensures what’s proposed will actually work.
Why It All Starts With a Conversation
A garden design consultation isn’t a sales meeting. It’s a moment of pause.
It’s where you step back from quick fixes and start thinking about the space you actually want to live with. A garden shaped around how you move, rest, gather, and retreat.
Thoughtful gardens don’t happen by accident. They begin with listening.
If you’re considering a garden design consultation, think of it not as the first step towards a finished garden—but as the first step towards clarity.
And from there, everything else follows.
Curious to learn more?
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