How to design a garden when you're not a garden designer | The Impatient Gardener
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- I’m not a garden designer but I design gardens-my own and sometimes my friends gardens. Here’s my process and a sneak peek at a new garden I’m designing for this spring.
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My name is Erin and I love sharing inspiration and information with real-life gardeners. I live and garden in southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5.
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As a seasoned gardener, I think the newbies would find it interesting to see all the steps...
How you clear the existing vegetation; how you prep the soil and how you lay out all your selections, as well as plant. Also, Erin, I love that you have a drone. What type do you have...have you answered that question 15 times already! Thanks for sharing!
Do these videos exists? This is where I currently am - with an amazing garden concept design/consultation, but no idea where to start and what the steps involved are. What can I DIY and what do I need to hire out with etc.
@@therapywithisabel there should be videos out there. I got my information out of books and going to classes before the internet. Check with your local garden centre...not the big box stores...but an actual nursery. They will provide lots of info.
Yes I would like to see more of your designing. I have been thinking of doing so changes in my yard and need more ideas.
“I’m not a professional and I don’t play one on UA-cam” hahaha the level of self awareness in this statement is inspiring hahaha
Love her integrity...some you-tubers are fakers, but she's the REAL deal. She thinks the way I do about gardens and I likewise LOVE the new perennial movement/natural gardens.
Hey I totally put dahlias and canna in my naturalistic garden and they make everything else look better. The canna leaves really made my grasses pop. Screw convention. 🤛🏻
Super fun! I totally hear you. I’ve been listening to that niggle in my head with the soon to be veggie garden and finally listened. Love your tactics and your truthfulness. Humble coupled with huge talent is a killer combo. 👍
I would love to see more on how you are designing any area of your yard.
Please do a whole series on the process and installation of this garden. What fun to work with a creek and bridges.
I love your frankness and sense of humor. You make me laugh. Thanks for the good info too!
I know this video is a year old but I loved the content! I am in Minnesota and I started a couple of new garden spaces last fall and can hardly wait for the snow to melt so I can get planting! The info and steps you provided are such a great help to my thinking and planning process. I have my graph paper out and ready to start sketching! Thank you for sharing this great video...I am glad it popped up!
Really interesting, especially how losing a tree can totally change a particular part of the garden.
Yes! Please share more of this journey as you move through each step in your process. The light bulb went on for me when you mentioned “circuitous” garden space...there is a resident garden that strikes a chord within me but couldn’t pinpoint why. Now I know it’s because it is circuitous and you can move completely through and around the garden to enjoy it from every angle. Oh now I’m on a mission this Spring! Thank you! 💚🌸
For my customers, I take a photo of the area (along the side of the house, across the front porch, etc) I then upload the photos to my laptop and via Photoshop, delete what's there and cut/paste photos of the plants I suggest. That way, the customer can see what the end result will be. Many don't know the names of plants, so if I walk around pointing, "Hostas here, with ......" - they have no idea what I'm talking about. It also helps me to adjust the look, if what I suggest is not in their budget, and I need to go with less, or with other plantings. I take the photos around noon, so I have some idea of what the light track is through the day (shadows, shade).
Yes, definitely more design videos. I like your style of explaining things and that you are a "regular person" who designs in her own yard. Thank you!
Another thing i like to do once i have my sketch is to mark which plants bloom when, and what gives me winter interest. That way i make sure I have something going on throughout the season. Thanks for all the info!
Great idea!
Yes, more design ideas. Thank you for stating you are not a professional. So helpful for a beginner Gardner who is stuck on ideas on how to design a garden.
Yes, I would love to hear more about garden design. Color choices, textures, etc. Can’t wait until spring to see your new project get underway.
From a garden designer of 35 years regarding pitches to clients... I would provide what I called a "napkin sketch" unless they needed approval from HOA. Worked every time 😉
You don't need a smaller Garden just different plants ❤🌷
Such a good point about exposure and light. Especially light. Some people look at that while they dream in the depths of winter. The sun doesn’t track at the same angle and tree canopies can really change the sun exposure from winter to summer. Micro climates can really come into play here too. We may live in one type of zone, but we may have micro climates that are different in our yards.
Erin, you made me laugh with “a couple of times in spring, a couple of times in summer”))) I love your videos and suggestions! I totally agree about everything, except the “couple of times” part 😃 You know it never will happen, cause you love your garden! 😂💚
You know, I thought the same thing when I was saying it! Good intentions! :)
Piet Oudolf is an absolute genius. I'm drawn to everything he does.
Agreed. He has a new book out about his own home garden “laboratory”, Hummelo. I’d love to get it.
@@thestraightroad305 me, too!
I started out with Google maps also to help me trace out the exact layout of the home and yard. It was really useful.
Ooh, that is so clever!
What a brilliant idea. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!!!
This is glorious, I have been researching "photos landscape design" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you ever come across - Giyily Landscaping Yatty - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some great things about it and my mate got amazing success with it.
I use google earth as well, to give me an overall “map” of my own home, and where my gardens should be.
Thank you for this video, I felt like I was at your kitchen table having coffee with you talking about designing a garden. A lot better then watching someone put sticks in a basket. Can't wait to see more videos!
Love your process Erin, I think we are kindred spirits. I live in NW Indiana zone 5, about 25 miles from Chicago. I am retired, but I have the perfect retirement job now, I work at an independent garden center for my cousin, who is the nursery manager. You are so lucky to be close to Northwind Perennials, Roy Diblik's place. My cousin had him come and speak during a winter conference right after he provided the plants for the Lurie Garden and the garden around the Shedd Aquarium. Sorry this is so long, but I'm very happy to have found your channel.
Roy is great. I just saw that he's launching a UA-cam channel this spring and I'm looking forward to it.
You expressed your version of designing a garden in a very logical and understandable way. I now have a name for the thought in my head that starts a new garden bed, niggle. Thanks for adding more steps to my process. I would enjoy following this design further.
Perfect timing! I spent't yesterday planning an enclosed vegetable garden. But feel it needs more work. Now, thanks to your inspiration, I'm going to take a chair and table and sit out where I think I want my rest area. Get a feel for it. Good Luck! Keep us posted please.
For me, I can almost FEEL when I've nailed a part of a design. It's hard to describe, but if it feels like I'm trying too hard to make something work, I'm on the wrong track and I need to just keep working on it. Good luck!
Sit out there and sketch it. After about 10 sketches you'll have an idea.
Love this video! I appreciate that this is a video about a very large garden project. Most videos I see are smaller projects but it's nice to look at the garden on a larger scale.
Yes! I would love to see every step of the process!
Thank you Erin. This has been very helpful info for me. Designing a garden space has always been a big challenge for me due to a lack of experience, confidence and indecision. But I’m learning and starting to get past all of that. Thanks again for the tips.
Yes more garden design would be great.😊
Fantastic advice!
Originally from Wisconsin and live in North Texas which is another world of plants and trees.
I highly agree with getting a consultation at a garden center to launch off your garden design!
Yes, please! More videos on how to design a garden as a non-designer. :) Would like to see more of your sketches and on specific designs you’ve done. What strategies you used in picking out the plants and how you placed them to achieve the look you wanted. Thanks so much!
Yes, please, let’s have a part 2,3,4, etc.🤩
S R Yes!! Part 2, 3, 4 or 586....
This is exactly the kind of "garden show" I've been looking for. My garden is very much cottage-try-some-new-plants-over-there. I've made a lot of mistakes and killed a lot of plants, but that's been part of the fun for me. I've been having some great "aha" moments following The Impatient Gardener - can't wait to get going when it warms up...
me, too! I do a lot on a budget and a little at a time. My stuff isn't perfect by any means, but it works for me!
I would love to watch this process as it goes along. We will be building a house when we retire in 4 years, on an empty farmers field. I have lots of ideas of what I would like plant wise but putting it all together is daunting ! I want lots of shrubs with perennials mixed in but like you, I want to have destinations and rooms. And I want it to be fairly manageable so as I get older it is still easy to maintain. Agggghhh!!
Tip from an older retired woman (me): Go with shrubs only because perennials are high maintenance. Plant shrubs that will never grow larger than the space you have allocated to them, so that way there is minimal pruning. Consider a foliage garden, where the features are the leaves, colours, textures, bark, form of the shrubs - not flowers. Flowers are often messy (think wet petals on the ground to be picked up), time-consuming, risky, and the source of not only joy but disappointment (eg, will it flower this spring in this cold weather?). Grow only super hardy plants, so you won't have to rely on the weather for your plants to thrive. I have mixed perennials and shrubs (see my channel) and the perennials are far too much work.
I too am retired and making a lot of new gardens gardens for the past four years in a new home. It does get a bit harder each year! I agree small trees, shrubs and evergreens are the way to go, but don"t rule out perennials and vines. Many are not a lot of work and they give such joy. If, you find some are too much work later, they can be given away then. I also plant a lot of reseeding annuals and of course bulbs. Try shrubs and perennials that have different bloom times, various types and colors of foliage for lots of interest. Mulch may be your best friend. It cuts way down on watering. Plant what you love!!
And yes please, could we watch the creation unfold? Always fun to watch and learn how other folks work.
Love listening to you. I’m learning a lot and chuckle along side of you. Love your humor and frankness.
Yes I would like to see more garden design shows from you. Thanks for being here for the gardening world.
I’m so glad you did this video! You validated every step I took in my “blank slate” back yard last spring! Complete newbie with a vision in my head, lots of goggling and introducing myself to my local garden center guys as “the crazy newbie gardener” ( we are all well acquainted now). I would love to see you do a video on how to “reshape” or “expand” an existing space 😳
Very helpful! Would love to hear more about designing new areas, how to coose plants, prioritizing what goes in first, etc.
Hey Eirin! I'm a lady from Norway who came across your video and is very excited. Will be creating a new garden after buying a slightly older property. I like your method and will follow you.
I can't wait to see all of this! I've been really inspired by Piet too and thinking most of the backyard is going to be in that style with maybe a twist
Oh I always have to put my own spin on these things!
@@TheImpatientGardener that a girl! 💪🏻
YES! I want to see more, and follow this process with you, and learn from you. Thank you for your videos.
Very helpful! Looking forward to seeing the new design of your garden.
Using a garden hose to outline a new bed area or walkway is very helpful for me. You can see it from different angles and adjust it easily before anything permanent goes in.
Hi there
I just love your spirit, you have an awesome natural personality that is so relaxing and watch.
I love being in the garden and digging in the dirt, the same way you describe gardening.
You're one of my favorite UA-cam gardener's to watch, my go to gal.
Such a pleasure to listen to you talk gardening.
Cheers
Thanks! Following along on this new garden area is going to fun.
I’ve always used the old graph paper and tape measure method. It works for me 😃
Yes! Very interested in this topic. Like hearing your thought process. I like how you let things unfold to a certain extent, while still having a general concept. I struggle with perfectionism, and well, gardening is sooo imperfect! I like the idea of breaking things down into manageable projects, but struggle with what to do first. I think I need to take pencil to graph paper and just get something down. But first off to Pinterest as you suggested. Great idea to rope in ideas that swirl in your head. Would love more videos like this!
Yes please! I'd love to see each step in the process. Thank you
I would live to hear more about your process. I bought a new house 2 years ago. The first year I tried to learn the environment to determine what I could do for my landscaping. Last summer I tackled flower beds and paths in my backyard. This summer I wanna start the front yard. My head keeps getting stuck at 'curb appeal'. I took pics of my house and yard and started drawing in possible designs. I also walked out the measurements with a tape measure til my professional son could do the accurate measure. My hang up is I LOVE flowers and forget shrubs and grasses for winter interest. I also get hung knowing How many plants to put in a space. I either put too many or not enough. All your help is much appreciated! I'm trying winter sowing first time this year too. Thanks for all your videos! Ps. Love your dahlias!
I'm expanding my garden and I'm so stinking excited!! You have given great advice, TFS!
Yes, more design videos please.
Yes Erin, I love getting ideas from you! This will be my first year of really trying some gardening. I have planted things all around but nothing is cohesive. I love the idea of looking from a drone and mapping out the area. Have a great day.......Mary
I just love listening to you talk. Yes, please take us through the process especially when you start to pick out plants for the sloped area. That is my whole yard except for around the house and there are hardly any videos on planting on slopes or hills.
Thank you for sharing all that great information can't wait to see the outcome of your design area.
Love this!’ I just bought a 3.5 acre blank slate, and my brain is just spinning thinking about beautiful gardens!!
Lucky you!
We just bought three acres and love this as well. Good luck on your many projects!
Thank you for simplifying this process. Look forward to more.
Yes please take us along on your garden !
A series is an excellent idea! This video was very helpful for a garden novice! Thank you, look forward to more.
I really like this video. To understand your thought process is so helpful for me. We are actually renting our property but the landlord has allowed me to plant what I like in the garden, in the yard and around the patios. So there is an area in the back that’s kind of wild and your pictures of other gardens and this garden that you’re starting on our inspiring to me. Thank you for your help And yes I would love to follow this series of you doing this area of your yard from start to finish.
I would love to see more design videos, including seeing your final plan on paper for the new garden area you are designing this year. It would be really helpful to see the installation of your plan too, from clearing the area, putting in hardscape like the bridge you mentioned, bringing in the topsoil and of course planting the plants you select. I'm in the process of designing my garden as I moved into this house about a year and a half ago. And it is overwhelming at times.
I’d love to see the process! Yes, please!
Love to watch how you design your garden I think you're entre garden is amazingly beautiful.
This was a great video Erin! Sometimes I think so much about what I want to do that I don't do anything. This is a great simple way to build new areas of your garden. It's -2 degrees today in my part of Iowa.
Erin Phelps I agree. I overthink and then nothing is done because it’s all a jumble in my head. Erin, I would love to see more of your process.
Loved this video! Very encouraging for me who started with a “blank slate" over 10 yrs ago! “It'll be great" they said! “It'll be so much fun" they said! NO, it has been anything but great or fun! After a ton mistakes and redoing I think I'm FINALLY getting the visions for what I want and finding my own style that works for me. Even thru this video today I've gotten more ideas, more encouragement!! Thank You and YES I'd love to see more videos like this!!👍👍
Same here.
Yes, this is helpful. I struggle with design, and feel rudderless, so watching what you do through the process will be helpful.
Yes please! Do take us along for the rest of the process. Looking forward to seeing what you create :)
Erin, what a great inspirational video! Most definitely, we would love to see your progress! Like someone said in the comments, I felt like I was sitting in your kitchen and talking to you.
When we bought our house we were given a floor plan of the house with all dimensions AND a lot plan with the dimensions. It was so helpful! Our house was built in 1995, maybe thats why all the plans were available. I would love to see your systematic approach to designing your new garden. Love your little creek and the bridge idea. Very interested to see how you will deal with the stump. I have a huge pine stump in the middle of the backyard, looked and looked for ideas how to hide it without investing too much resources and ended up putting a low and wide planter with bright trailing annuals on top of it in the summer.
My first thought (like a year ago) was that an enormous planter would be cool on that stump. But that requires watering, so not exactly sticking with my low maintenance concept (and running drip out there would be challenging at best). I'll be interested to see what I do with it too!
@@TheImpatientGardener Maybe another of your art water pots?
Yes!! Would love to see more!! And I just love your pups!!
I have a brand new home in a brand new state and zone. This will be my second garden on a new lot, but it's still quite arduous. Just today I finally used a pencil, ruler and paper to draw out the house sitting on the lot. Watching this helped encourage me to go to google and print out that map. I am heading to a garden show this weekend and there will be local designers so I am hoping to find a good one. Sometimes trying to save money ends up costing more if you don't get those bones right. I liked this video and would love to see more on this subject.
Hello, thanks for sharing your knowledge of gardening. I'm loving the photo box seed storage.
I appreciate you sharing this & just got me thinking about the front of my property. So just having the wheels turning is a good place to start. And yes would love to see more. T.Y. for sharing the process.💜
I think this is my favorite video so far. Very timely for me as I too am designing an entry garden with same criteria. You have many good ideas. Thank you.
Wow I was so surprised that you design your gardens the same exact way that I do! I would add that I sit inside the house and look out various windows and think what would look good out there. And I’m always moving things around when I walked by and think that would look better somewhere else. Thanks-excellent ideas, and useful as I live in the North also. Looking forward to checking out your other UA-cam videos.
Erin, Yes I want to see more and the footage with the cellphone was perfect for me because it felt more natural more in the moment. Like I was along for the thinking process. I like that!!!! When I saw that creek I thought of a bridge, but not of making IT the sitting area. BRILLIANT!!!!
👍 yes I would love to be with you while you do this I know I can learn a lot and I need the insight and inspiration, that would be so wonderful and fun, I can’t wait, thank you so very much for inviting us!!!!!!!
Hey I enjoyed this video!! Loved the little drone footage and video snippets, but also enjoyed just hearing you talk strategy and planning!!
I agree with Rhonda. Please do a series!
Yes more. This video sparked some ideas and very helpful to me. 👏🏻👏🏻🌸👏🏻
Erin great video! Thank you so much.
I am very interested in seeing more of your process in creating your new garden.
Excellent video! Very helpful! I would love to see a series.
The theme of landscape design is so interesting! I want to create something similar in a project in planner 5d.
Yes. More garden design 👍🏼🌻
More design videos? YES PLEASE!! And while you've said you won't make it, a video on garden styles would be extremely helpful. If not a video, perhaps suggest a book or another resource that would be helpful on the topic. And a list of "must have gardening books" would be awesome and very much appreciated by this newbie and I'm sure others.
I'm totally interested in learning more on this topic! I have so many ideas running around in my mind but the actual design phase completely paralyzes me. It's so discouraging! You have such a natural way of presenting your ideas and knowledge that I would love to learn more from you. Thanks for sharing your talent and hard work!
Perfectly said, I feel the SAME way! =D
Please share your inspiration and implantation of your new garden, love you stuff!
Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you for your sharing and creativity.
Thank you Erin for articulating your process. Several great thoughts came through. Design is iterative as you said. A final design may be very different than the original though. So taking the time to allow for letting your mind settle on the design is critical. And gardeners and gardens evolve. My process us similar but I feel better about it now that you have set your down. Thank you so much. Zone 5, Kelowna, bc
This is great, I have a corner of the garden that I’ve never loved, this has given me the push to redesign it, also yes we definitely want more videos of the design and planting process.
This was probably the most helpful video about gardening that I’ve seen, Erin. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
More please! It’s really helpful to see/hear about your process. Thanks!
Thankyou for all your clear information 🙂
Great video! Can’t wait to see the transformation.
I loved this video! and YES please make videos as you work on the project.
I would love to see you do more with this planting and clearings
Very interesting look forward to seeing your design process this spring
Wow...her advice is REALLY right on! (she has integrity, too!) All the steps she recommends, while perhaps time-consuming...are sooo important! I am so much like you in how I get inspired. Love to garden, but just as interested in the art and design of outdoor spaces as well. If you've recently bought a home, take time to get used to living in the space before splurging on a professional garden designer. How would you like to use the space?...and think about years down the road, too! Too shady? Do you need to thin trees? Too hot...would planting a tree or large shrub change the landscape? Lots of things to think about. But if you've lived somewhere for several years and already have some garden beds established...(me), the creative juices start flowing and you find dreams for things you maybe didn't want to do a few years ago, but now you DO! You know what the issues are already...drainage, wildlife, clay soils etc. Boring landscape? You can change a flat topography and give it interest by creating little hills. But you have to think about your outdoor spaces first and realistically, that takes some time.
Great video!! Yes, it would be great to see part 2 of this video. When I was designing the north side of our house, I also took into consideration how the plants would look from various angles. We did add a path and added a few accent pieces. I’m still fine tuning the space. This year, I hope to add some taller plants and maybe some evergreens. Btw, i love the Lurie garden as well. I work right next to it and usually stop by during my lunch break.
Yes!! More of this!! I have areas I want to improve and would love to be there through it all!!!