Anyone who visits a landscape garden can form an opinion about what they like or dislike about it. This eBook will teach you concepts and terminology so you can describe WHY you find a garden or grouping of plants either pleasing or not so pleasing. That way, you can reproduce the “good” and avoid the “bad” in your own beds and borders.

Whether you decide to design your own landscape or have someone else do it for you, a thorough grounding in a few basic concepts will put you well ahead of the general gardening public. Plus, it will help you to have some fun along the way.

This guide will describe a “typical” design process that might be followed while developing home landscape beds and borders. Obviously, each project will present unique situations and challenges, but there are several basic steps that are common to all projects.

Learn How to Develop a Baseline Map and Landscape Inventory as Part of Your Design

We have divided these steps into the following chapters:

Introduction to Beds and Borders
Chapter 1 – Early Planning Decisions
Chapter 2 – Preparing a Baseline Map
Chapter 3 – Making a Landscape Inventory
Chapter 4 – The Functions of Plants in the Landscape
Chapter 5 – Choosing a Garden Style
Chapter 6 – The Art and Science of Garden Design
Chapter 7 – Design Criteria
Chapter 8 – Color Combinations for Beds and Borders
Chapter 9 – Unifying the Landscape Design
Chapter 10 – Beds and Borders as Theater

The “A Rookie’s Guide to…” eBook series is designed to provide the hobbyist gardener with helpful, practical tips for success in the home landscape. Each one will concentrate on the major issues, gardening techniques and horticultural knowledge needed to help you avoid common pitfalls. Every eBook is filled with illustrations, pictures and hyperlinks to our PlantsGalore.Com and HostHelper.Com websites to help you expand your knowledge on the topic.

The information provided is based on university generated research and over 40 years of practical gardening experience by the author, Ralph Heiden aka Mr PGC. He has an MS degree in ornamental horticulture and has taught horticulture and gardening classes and seminars to thousands of homeowners, hobbyists, hostaphiles and Master Gardeners over the past 3 decades. He is also an avid photographer with a very large collection of plant and garden images from the U.S., Canada, Western Europe and Great Britain.

Landscape design is both an “Art” and a “Science”. The Art part deals with factors that influence how the human eye will perceive the elements in your garden. It is the subjective side of the design process based on how “most people” will respond to the way you arrange the softscape (living things, primarily plants) and hardscape (non-living elements) in your beds and borders. This process was discussed in detail in the first eBook in this series, “A Rookie’s Guide to Designing Beds and Borders“

For purposes of this eBook we will assume that you have gone through a planning process and have either designed or have had someone else design your new beds and borders. You should have either meticulous drawings or at least a rough sketch of your new landscape on hand. This should, of course, include a detailed list of plants and hardscape features that will be included in your new or revised landscape.

This eBook deals primarily with the “Science” part of landscape design. It will address the objective fact that we are dealing with plants that we must keep alive in order to achieve and maintain our subjective design intent. To assure success, we need to analyze the growing environment, select our plants properly, install them with care and give them proper maintenance over the long run.

This guide includes a “typical” process that you might follow while installing landscape beds and borders. Obviously, each project will present unique situations and challenges, but there are several basic steps that are common to all projects. We have divided these into the following chapters:

Chapter 1 – Dealing with Existing Landscape Features
Chapter 2 – Your Landscape Inventory
Chapter 3 – Problem Plant Species
Chapter 4 – Managing Project Costs
Chapter 5 – Pre-Construction Activities
Chapter 6 – Beginning Construction
Chapter 7 – Installing Hardscape Feature
Chapter 8 – Preparing the Soil
Chapter 9 – Selecting and Purchasing the Plants
Chapter 10 – Installing the Plants
Chapter 11 – Post-Planting Care

The “A Rookie’s Guide to…” eBook series is designed to provide the hobbyist gardener with helpful, practical tips for success in the home landscape. Each one will concentrate on the major issues, gardening techniques and horticultural knowledge needed to help you avoid common pitfalls. Every eBook is filled with illustrations, pictures and hyperlinks to our PlantsGalore.Com and HostHelper.Com websites to help you expand your knowledge on the topic.

The information provided is based on university generated research and over 40 years of practical gardening experience by the author, Ralph Heiden aka Mr PGC. He has an MS degree in ornamental horticulture and has taught horticulture and gardening classes and seminars to thousands of homeowners, hobbyists, hostaphiles and Master Gardeners over the past 3 decades. He is also an avid photographer with a very large collection of plant and garden images from the U.S., Canada, Western Europe and Great Britain.

The “A Rookie’s Guide to…” eBook series is designed to provide the hobbyist gardener with helpful, practical tips for success in the home landscape. Each one will concentrate on the major issues, gardening techniques and horticultural knowledge needed to help you avoid common pitfalls. Every eBook is filled with illustrations, pictures and hyperlinks to our PlantsGalore.Com and HostHelper.Com websites to help you expand your knowledge on the topic.