Plan And Design Your Garden In Winter To Enjoy It In Spring

The holidays are upon us and believe it or not we are actually above our average rainfall total (at least for now) for the first time in several years. Winter is just around the corner and there a definite ‘Hunkering down” feel. Landscapes, water conserving or otherwise are doing the same. For the most part, leaves are down, perennials are shrinking, most flowering plants are done. Irrigation systems have been turned off and outdoor lighting has been reset for longer nights. Gardens are quieting down. The cold days of Winter should be coming soon. So while this time of year takes a lot of burden off from outdoor chores, it is a great time to begin planning for new landscapes or ones needing renovation. We at Gardenworks have a saying, “ plan and design your garden in Winter to enjoy it in Spring”. The planning of a landscape can take some time. First, there is the time to propagate the desire to want and afford a new or renovated yard. Then the time to write down a wish list, to scour websites, magazines, books and neighborhoods looking for ideas – creating a wish list if you will. It is then time to consider who will create the plan. Will it be yourself or a professional designer or if it is a very bold venture, a Landscape Architect? Or it could possibly be a Design/Build professional, like Gardenworks, who would not only help with the design but also create the actual garden. Believe or not it can take several weeks to months, sometimes years to get a landscape from an initial idea, to a concept, to a planting plan and finally installed. A very dear friend of Gardenworks, from San Diego, Bill Schnetz has written a book with Molly Bogh entitled “Life After Lawns - 8 Steps From Grass to a Waterwise Landscape”. Bill owns a Landscaping company, Schnetz Landscaping, that is very similar to Gardenworks. In the book, Bill and Molly use eight steps to outline, define and explain moving from a lawn centric garden to one that is water wise and appropriate to where you live. The authors spend time thinking about the process from planning to design, material and plant choices, features and amenities to who and why should do the work. The effort to demystify changing out from lawns that are easy to understand and care for to more climate appropriate gardens that can be intimidating is covered in the book and leaves the reader with a much better sense of what may be involved in the journey. It all comes down to planning and understanding, including costs, which may take some time to develop and hence a good reason to begin when “cocooning” during the Winter. Bill and Molly’s book is available through Amazon, we recommend it as a good place to begin planning and designing your new waterwise landscape in the Winter to enjoy it come Springtime. Please visit other portions of our website to learn more about Gardenworks Inc. Happy Holidays to you and yours!