Planting plans.
The part that makes all elements of a garden design – that extension of your home (not house) fit.
Like a hug from your Dad when you were 5 years of age and his arms like gigantic (at the time) elongated popeye’d muscles encapsulating and engulfing one tiny receding being into one complete and utter sensation of ‘there’s no better place in the world’ meets that sensationalist memory of wondrous adornment as your eyes glazed peeping, through his hold – and you fitted, perfectly, in every sense. One only at odds bereft without the other.
Planting design (in this case) is the part that I have always and utterly absorbed into. It is what I did when I was 9 years of age for pocket money, going through horticulture college as a way to pay my way, off the top of my head when I was in 2nd year working in garden centres and now when I do design advice clinics – 1 garden every 15 minutes for 8 hours.
I find it a fascinating poetry, the ability to close your eyes & see photosynthetically into the future; people in a space 3, 5 or some random prime number years later and how they will feel at varying times of the years as the seasons change & the scent moves and, it decides ultimately whether one moves on, passes through swiftly without noticing or, stays longer.
Have you ever stopped to admire the planting in a retail park (as intended by it’s design not, by accident) when you’re meant only to notice the electrical retail signs – versus – the country demesne hotel where you fell in love and intended then to there wed. All because you were sipping a Bloody Mary there so many moons back and stayed longer than logic intended and you forgot time.
Of planting in short, blues, calms, soft greens & similar on the colour wheel slow thing down. Opposites make you move fasters.
Plant specification set and agreed, of size, dimensions, establishment and source. Costs to product (if I may) costed, exact and, man hour units (mhu) to planting calculated again, exact.
Further, it allows a calculation again, on mhu to maintenance costs, Green waste removal (access of labour/ machinery type) considered at design stage) and of the future plant growth rates per annum.
