Green leaves and white flowers on a plant.
Illustration of a green leafy plant branch with thin, elongated leaves.

Planting Design

Planting design is the element that can make a garden come alive. It brings together so many layers - texture, depth, height - to create an immersive experience. 

We offer a professional planting design service tailored to the conditions in your garden.

White roses blooming on a vine with green leaves and a wooden fence in the background.
A garden corner with various green plants and pots, including a small tree with round green fruit, surrounded by leafy plants and ferns, with a wooden fence and window in the background.

We’ve successfully provided planting design only packages a number of times, most often where a client has recently completed any ‘hard landscaping’ such as raised beds, paving, and so on, themselves. At this point, none of that is up for grabs. Rather it’s a case of working with the layout, and proposing a planting scheme that suits the conditions – the orientation, light levels, materials of the beds or paving and the client’s own aesthetic preferences.

The next steps involve moodboards to set the tone and feel of the planting, agreeing key architectural shrubs, a planting palette and plan, sourcing and planting up.

The cost of a planting design is influenced by the size of the area to be planted up.

Close-up of dense green foliage with small pink and purple flowers and berries.
A garden scene with tall white flowering plants in the foreground and a bush with small, round pink and purple berries in the background.
A lush backyard garden with dense greenery, flowering bushes, and a wooden fence, featuring a simple white table and benches on a dirt ground.
A lush backyard garden with various green plants and ferns, bordered by a wooden fence and a brick house with white-framed windows.

A closer look at my work

Discover more of my work, planting ideas, and ongoing projects over on Instagram.

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Offerings

With a keen eye for detail, an intrinsic sense of balance and an intuitive feel for colour, Outfront Designs offers a range of services to meet your needs - from a full garden design package through stand-alone planting design, to our seasonal window box delivery service.

View from open French doors into a small, lush garden with a wooden fence, potted plants, a small table with benches, leafy trees, and flowering plants.

GARDEN DESIGN

  • From courtyard-sized spaces to more expansive gardens, we love using our knowledge and expertise to create intimate, enveloping spaces that emphasize beauty, joy, and a slower pace of life. Spaces to settle in and get comfortable.

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Close-up of a window with flower boxes filled with daisies and yellow flowers, with a brick building reflected in the glass.

SEASONAL WINDOW BOX SERVICE

  • We create and deliver seasonal window boxes four times a year. Packed with plants for small spaces, they are perfect for the front of your home, bringing beauty & joy to you and passers-by too.

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FAQs - Planting Design

  • The design phase usually takes around 2-4 months. The speed is determined by the challenges the site may present, and client availability to engage in the process.

  • This varies from project to project, depending on the time taken to complete it. I prepare a Fee Proposal for all projects broken down step-by-step so that you can see exactly where my time and your money will go.

  • This is such a big question, and of course costs will vary depending on the size, scale, complexity, materials specified and so on. I will always draft a design with your budget in mind. Another approach is to come up with a masterplan for your garden that can be implemented over time as funds become available. The gardens I have designed to date have cost between £10,000 to £35,000 to implement.

  • I’m always surprised how much I am asked this! No, I don’t do any hard landscaping myself. Instead, having designed the space, I can share a list of local contractors who you can approach to implement the design. Thus you will have a separate contract with me, from that with the landscapers.

    I’m more than happy to talk with the appointed landscapers, briefing them on the design, resolving any issues that may arise, and offer a project inspection role to ensure that the design is being implemented faithfully.

  • I hold both professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

  • I am a Friend of the Society of Landscape and Garden Designers, and have been so since gaining my Diploma. I find it a valuable source of information.

  • I love learning and enjoy reading and attending events. I take Gardens Illustrated magazine, and the journal of the SGLD. I attend events when I can such as the London Gardens Network conference, the SGLD Conference, and smaller, more local events such as GroundLevel. And I always love a garden visit!