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Do you want to be a garden designer? This is everything you need to know before you jump in.
Garden design, is it a profession or a hobby? Of all the careers and hobbies out there, few can seamlessly fuse the two like technical gardening.
Having good taste and planting four bargain plants isn’t all it takes to become a landscaper. To achieve a grand design, you need to learn techniques and tricks to make a green space the most beautiful and unique place you can remember.
Throughout this text, we reveal everything you need to know to be a magnificent garden designer.
What is a garden designer?
A garden designer is a person who is professionally dedicated to the design of gardens and small spaces to create unique places of enjoyment and relaxation. A good garden design professional must use multiple techniques to get the most out of their ingenuity, their spatial vision and use tools that allow others to show their creation.
There are garden design professionals, who charge for their services, and amateur designers who make their creations as a hobby and for personal and family use.
What tasks does a landscape design professional tackle?
The jobs a landscape design professional does depend on your status or level of experience you have. In general, any garden design professional has to perform the following tasks:
• Visit the garden.
• Take the precise measurements to make a very detailed plan of the dimensions of the garden.
• Determine the use that will be given to that space and environment.
• Plan lighting, whether natural or artificial.
• Write down all the information provided by the client, both regarding tastes and conditions and affected services (pipes, cables, water connection,…).
• Carry out a soil analysis.
• Prepare sketches of the first proposals.
• Carry out administrative tasks typical of a freelancer or project manager within a company.
What do you have to study to be a garden design professional?
Although many landscape designers begin by experimenting and improving their projects in a self-taught way, in order to work as a landscape design professional we recommend having a bachelor’s or engineering degree related to the environment and taking the specific technical courses in this area.
Where can a landscape design professional work?
Much of the work of a landscape design professional is done in close proximity to nurseries and specialty plant stores. But there are many more job options:
landscaping studio
Without a doubt, the ideal place for a garden designer. Work in a place surrounded by people with your same concerns and clients who value your work.
In Spain there are several interesting landscaping studios like the one directed by Rocio Cejudo in A Coruña or Puy Alonso in Madrid.
architecture offices
The gardens can sometimes be the most striking space in the home, and it can be the differential aspect for the buyer to opt for one home or another. By the way, an expert in garden design will surely dare to design a vertical garden in the living room:)
Real estate and renovation companies
When you have to give a new look to a home, office or premises, it is necessary to refresh some spaces and give them a green touch. Qualified professionals are needed there, since leaving an essential aspect in the hands of anyone, it will seem that you have placed the balance plants more or less gracefully spread over the surface, but that is not a garden.
Artistic garden design professional
If your creations are different and impressive, you can venture as an interior and exterior decorator. Valuing your personal style and earning a living from it will be difficult, but not impossible.
There are film production companies, luxury real estate companies, event companies looking for designers-artists to create original and different spaces.
Advice for construction companies
Construction companies have magnificent civil engineering professionals. But when dealing with civil engineering in parks, we face unknown aspects that can sink the project, since they are rarely well defined in this part.
Here the expert opinion of a good garden designer can find the best technical-economic option and achieve the satisfaction of the last customer.
Teacher
Putting your knowledge, skills, and experiences at the service of others is another job opportunity for a garden designer.
garden decorator
Sometimes, the garden is already built and the services of a professional are required to provide a fresh approach and generate new sensations from what already exists. This is the function of an experienced person who will know which elements to contribute and which to withdraw to achieve a new image with limited resources and established conditions.
How much does a landscape design professional make?
The average salary of a garden design professional is quite complex to know. The reason is that until very recently there was no university degree, and therefore, there is also no Professional College that studies these data of the group.
There is the Gardening Agreement, to which most gardening and landscaping companies adhere to calculate salaries agreed by the government and unions. But they are still estimates. We can affirm that we are facing a profession of a liberal nature, without regulation, and that the value of the professional must be recognized.
Much of the work of a landscape design professional is done in close proximity to nurseries and specialty plant stores. But there are many more job options:
Landscaping studio
Without a doubt, the ideal place for a garden designer. Work in a place surrounded by people with your same concerns and clients who value your work.
Architecture offices
The gardens can sometimes be the most striking space in the home, and it can be the differential aspect for the buyer to opt for one home or another. By the way, an expert in garden design will surely dare to design a vertical garden in the living room:)
Real estate and renovation companies
When you have to give a new look to a home, office, or premises, it is necessary to refresh some spaces and give them a green touch. Qualified professionals are needed there, since leaving an essential aspect in the hands of anyone, it will seem that you have placed the balance plants more or less gracefully spread over the surface, but that is not a garden.
Artistic garden design professional
If your creations are different and impressive, you can venture as an interior and exterior decorator. Valuing your personal style and earning a living from it will be difficult, but not impossible.
There are film production companies, luxury real estate companies, event companies looking for designers-artists to create original and different spaces.
Advice for construction companies
Construction companies have magnificent civil engineering professionals. But when dealing with civil engineering in parks, we face unknown aspects that can sink the project, since they are rarely well defined in this part.
Here the expert opinion of a good garden designer can find the best technical-economic option and achieve the satisfaction of the final customer.
teacher
Putting your own knowledge, skills and experiences at the service of others is another job opportunity for a garden designer.
garden decorator
Sometimes, the garden is already built and the services of a professional are required to provide a new approach and generate new sensations from what already exists. This is the function of an experienced person who will know which elements to contribute and which to withdraw to achieve a new image with limited resources and established conditions.
How much does a landscape design professional make?
The average salary of a garden design professional is quite complex to know. The reason is that until recently there was no university degree, and therefore, there is also no Professional College that studies these data of the group.
There is the Gardening Agreement, to which most gardening and landscaping companies adhere to calculate salaries agreed by the government and unions. But they are still estimates. We can affirm that we are facing a profession of a liberal nature, without regulation, and that the value of the professional must be recognized.
What skills we need to be a landscape design professional?
To be a good garden design professional, you have to be creative and passionate. Great technical capacity is required (specific knowledge, organization and execution). It is also necessary to develop social skills that allow generating empathy and making customers feel comfortable so that they show us their tastes and needs to offer a design that satisfies their needs and desires.
In addition, a garden design professional must know how to handle the negative points of the profession well, such as understanding clients, improving previous designs without repeating them, maintaining originality while maintaining the usefulness of the space, the possibility of working on weekends, trips to the place where they require our services, etc.
In these times, everyone has a camera in their pocket, so becoming a professional garden designer is more complicated than it was a few years ago. It is a task that requires permanent training to keep up with new technologies, new cameras and materials, and cutting-edge design, editing, and editing programs. Expert knowledge in these areas is the only thing that allows developing competitive and quality work.
To learn how to design gardens, the best recommendations are training and experience
Many life aspects are repeated, and in this field of landscaping, they are key. The more gardens you design, the more aesthetic you acquire and the more you identify the tastes and needs of your clients. Training is the other fundamental pillar. Reading books and taking courses is within everyone’s reach and they are the best investment.
Some reference garden designers
There are many people who have designed gardens of stunning beauty. As it is not possible to mention them all, we will highlight a couple of them:
Patrick Blanc is the inventor of vertical gardens: leafy plant walls that cover unique buildings. This French scientist and visionary have an impressive resume. He has collaborated with Nouvel or Putman and has even worked at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami. In Madrid, he made the cuneiform with over 300 types of plants.
An international garden designer
Diana Balmori is a renowned Spanish landscape architect, teacher and urban designer. She founded the landscape design firm, Balmori Associates.
Among her projects, parks such as: World Financial Center, Campa de los Ingleses Park, Plaza Euskadi, Winter Garden Atrium, and Ciudad Empresarial Sarmiento Angulo stand out.
One of her significant contributions was the development of green roofs. This “fifth façade,” as Balmori has called the vast expanse of urban rooftops, is now a regular job for garden designers and architects. By exploring this fifth façade, it is possible to change not only the appearance of a building but also the way the roof works. Green roofs offer a future alternative to the evolution of the urban landscape and can ease urban air pollution, the warm island effect and storm water management.
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