Gardens and green areas: design, types and costs

The landscape architect has the task of planning and managing green projects in both urban and rural spaces, for both private and public clients. Calling a garden designer ensures a coherent result from an environmental, functional point of view and in harmony with the context. What are the stages of garden design, the types to be inspired by, the choices to be made for plants, materials, accessories, and costs to be incurred?

Garden designer: who to contact

The design of gardens and green areas is an activity that aims to create pleasant, beautiful, and also functional public and private urban spaces.

Plants and vegetation have a positive influence on the environment, air quality, humidity, temperature, but also on people’s well-being. A garden can have different purposes, it can only be decorative or vice versa a space dedicated to free time, play, and relaxation.

Depending on the objectives you set yourself, you will have to study a project tailored to the space in question, and to ensure that the result is satisfactory, it is important to contact the right garden designer. He is the landscape architect who deals with the design and interventions relating to green areas and landscape, at different scales: large green areas and public spaces, interventions in protected areas, redevelopment of abandoned or degraded areas, and, finally, the design of parks, vegetable gardens, and gardens, both public and private.

A landscape architect uses specific tools and methods and has skills in various fields: he has design and planning skills, he is familiar with the legislation of the sector, withdrawing, aesthetics, architectural principles, techniques of representation, sustainability, botany, history, and landscape protection, environmental conservation and ecology -.

When you are looking for a garden designer, therefore, you speak with a professional who deals with landscape planning projects, able to intervene consistently in private gardens, parks, and vegetable gardens, but also in large green areas, in protected areas, and in contexts of urban redevelopment.

How do you design a garden? The steps to follow

The aim of a garden designer is to create a natural environment in harmony with the context and with man. This means studying the shapes, colors, volumes, floor plans, but also the scents, furnishings, and context. It is easy to understand that at the basis of the design of the gardens there can only be an inspection and a meeting with the client (whether public or private), so as to know the requests and needs of the client. The landscape architect then proceeds with a careful analysis of the place subject to intervention and the climatic conditions, fully investigating all its characteristics.

In doing this, he begins to develop his first ideas, thinking about the materials and technologies suitable for the space in question. The actual design begins when all the ideas are represented and determined, with a preliminary design that aims to communicate the basic design idea to the customer, through drawings, floor plans, photo insertions, and even models.

The client and the architect evaluate every detail together, such as the choice of furnishings, lighting, outdoor flooring, materials, and the irrigation system. Thanks to the designer’s skills, even the choice of plants will be consistent with both the aesthetics of the project and the environmental needs of the place.

This leads to the final project, which sees the production of more detailed drawings and renderings, useful for defining all the components of the garden: greenery, architecture, flooring, lighting, and furnishings. On the basis of this work, all the details are defined for the executive project, which the garden designer shares with the other workers involved in the construction site, such as gardeners, construction companies, and plant engineers.

In this phase, a precise metric calculation of all the interventions is also carried out, which becomes a detailed estimate for the client.

The different types of gardens

The references and ideas for the design of a garden can be really many.

Among the main types of gardens we can identify:

The English garden was born in the eighteenth century and has a spontaneous and wild aspect, with irregular shapes and a romantic style. In fact, the projects are well thought out and proper maintenance is essential. Tall trees are used and spaces must be adequate.
The Italian garden has its origins in the noble villas of the 1400s, it is elegant, geometric, and well defined. Hedges, bushes, flowers, and trees are distributed in a precise order, which transmits harmony and balance. In this case, correct planning and timely maintenance of the green are essential.
The Mediterranean garden has a natural appearance and is enriched with the species, scents, and colors typical of the Mediterranean scrub. We use flowers and bushes, trees with large foliage, and succulents. There are shaded areas dedicated to relaxation, often accompanied by the presence of water.
In addition to these three types, there are modern gardens, which use shapes and designs that move away from more traditional gardens, for example by replacing greenery with stones and paving. More and more in vogue, even in the West, there are exotic gardens, such as the Japanese ones, based on the typical values ​​of the reference culture.

Lastly, no less important are the hanging, vertical gardens, terraces and green roofs, or alternative gardens to traditional solutions. There are different solutions for each of these types, which on the whole represent a way to ensure the development of greenery even in places where, apparently, it would not be possible to create a garden.

The low maintenance gardens

In addition to knowing the types of existing gardens, it is important to remember that the project must respect all the needs of the client. In addition to defining suitable spaces for the activities that will have to be carried out, it is essential to take into consideration the level of maintenance of the garden that will be required.

If you want to reduce the commitment to the activities necessary for the conservation of the garden over time, it is essential to clearly address this request to the garden designer.

In addition to the irrigation system, which makes the watering process automatic, the architect will follow some principles when designing the gardens. For example, it is advisable to reduce the areas intended for the lawn, opting instead for flooring, paths, and mulches. Choosing the essences, it is better to focus on evergreen species, which do not require important and possibly indigenous pruning, so that they can more easily survive the local climate without particular attention.

Garden furniture, decorative materials and lighting

In addition to the choice and arrangement of plants, when designing a garden, decisions must be made regarding a whole series of equally important “accessory” components.

A garden can be enriched with stones or rocks, to delimit spaces, create places that detach from the surrounding greenery, or create particular designs. There are different shapes and colors, suitable to satisfy any type of need. Even the choice of flooring can become part of a coordinated project of materials and surfaces. There are now many products on the market suitable for any need that arises during the design of gardens, with more or less natural, valuable and innovative materials.

Equally important are the lights and the lighting system, which both contribute to making the garden usable in the evening, and to complete its aesthetics and image. Very often, in fact, the light has a shocking decorative effect and we will have to choose between lanterns, spotlights, suspended lamps, light chains and so on. The garden designer will also have to pay attention to aspects such as light pollution, especially in the case of large green areas, to be illuminated with more powerful systems.

Not least is the choice of garden furniture, which in addition to seats, fountains and decorative elements, also include architectural elements such as gazebos and pergolas, useful for creating covered spaces.

How much does it cost to design and build a garden?

The cost of designing gardens can vary greatly depending on the size, type of plants and type of accessories chosen, which also affect the time and labor required for the realization. Therefore, it is difficult to find a realistic reference price. Rather, it is always advisable to ask for different quotes in order to make a better evaluation.

To help those interested in creating a garden, comes the Green Bonus, also confirmed for 2021, a tax deduction intended for those who incur expenses for the arrangement of the green. The deduction is equal to 36% of the amount spent, applicable to a maximum of 5,000 euros, returned in 10 annual installments of equal value. All payments must be made by traceable means and the bonus is only for the owners of properties with a residential function. Finally, the deduction cannot be requested for the periodic ordinary maintenance costs of existing gardens.