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Landscape Plans – When and Why You Need Them!

A landscape plan is a record of, or a proposal for a landscape, shown from an overhead or ‘birds-eye’ perspective.  You can be asked by Council to supply a landscape plan at the outset of a property development such as a subdivision, or for significant home renovation or landscaping projects that require consent. Rather than see this as a nuisance, think of it as an opportunity, as it means that the design of your landscape is being considered from the outset as an integral part of your...

Landscape a NZ Garden​ - How much does it cost?

The much-asked question ‘How much does it cost to landscape a garden in NZ’ has a very simple answer. In short, as much as you are prepared to spend! So is the sky the limit or are you constrained by post build budget  blow outs that have little to no money for your landscaping? Budget matters. This is why landscape designers and contractors will always ask you early in discussions what your landscaping budget, as the amount you are prepared to spend will influence the solutions they su...

Landscape Design - Spring Project

Landscape design sales always nose-dive during winter, which is a shame as it is the ideal time to plan your spring landscape design project. What better way to spend gloomy winter days than to look to our gardens for a bit of spring cheer, especially with cheery yellow daffodils already showing their heads. Using yellow in the garden is an easy way to add a touch of sunshine to your outdoor space. ...

Garden Planning : How to tell your Garden Soil type

Garden planning includes understanding your soil type. Here’s how to tell what type of garden soil you have. It’s quick, easy and best of all, free!  MAKE A SOIL SAUSAGE  Just scoop up a handful of soil, add a little water and mould it into a sausage shape. Now bend it a bit more. If it falls apart in your hand, your soil is sandy; if you can keep bending it until it forms a circle, you have clay soil. If you can easily bend it into a sausage but it doesn’t stretch to form a circ...

How to make a Low Maintenance Garden - With or Without Weed Mat

"How do I make my garden low maintenance?" When I have this conversation with landscaping clients, talk often turns quickly to their plans to lay down weed mat. In garden circles a fierce debate rages on this topic and whether weed mat is wicked, or a wonderful low-maintenance garden solution? Those who sit in the wonderful camp might say weed mat suppresses the growth and spread of noxious weeds and so it reduces the need for spraying, which provides an environmental benefit that balances out t...

Landscaping for Indoor Outdoor Flow

Indoor Outdoor Flow - landscaping and gardens are an undeniable part of this and there are some very simple ways you can achieve indoor outdoor flow, regardless of whether you are building new or landscaping as part of a renovation or home makeover project, if you simply consider the inside and the outside together and create ‘linking’ elements, things that flow either physically or visually from the inside to out....

Online Garden Design New Zealand

Online garden design in New Zealand is an easy and cost-effective way to get the garden you want. Wherever you live in New Zealand, you can work with an experienced designer and get their expert design advice on what to do with your garden. Our online DIY Designs are as bespoke and personalised as our traditional garden designs and the process is much the same, but with welcome conveniences like viewing the design online at a time that suits your schedule using our online booking system and...

Small Garden Design New Zealand

Small garden design in New Zealand is a DIY Designs specialty and we have created a few online options to help you get a great design for your small garden space, regardless of where in New Zealand you live, at a really affordable price.Small garden design is perfectly catered for with three of our online in New Zealand offers. One great option is our ‘Micro Design’. This is a visual design, perfect for small projects like a garden makeover for your front entrance or just one pesky corner of...

Auckland Garden Design Consultation

In Auckland, garden design consultations are often suggested as a ‘next step’ when you get in touch with a potential garden designer. However, if you have made several garden design enquiries, it can come as a surprise when one designer pitches a fee for doing the consultation and another does it for free. So, a free garden design consultation versus paying for a garden design consultation. Seems like a no-brainer, right? I mean, why pay for what you can get for free? Well, having done ...

Working with Top Auckland Landscapers

Working with Top Auckland Landscapers is the dream of any aspiring Auckland Landscape Designer. Or at least it should be.Reflecting recently on my career as a landscape designer to date, I realise how much my design style and my approach to designing gardens has been influenced from having cut my design teeth working directly with one of Auckland’s top landscapers. I believe this is one of the key reasons for my success as a designer.Anyone who knows me, knows about my long affiliation with to...

Auckland Garden and Landscape Design - Best Privacy & Screening Ideas

Auckland landscape design professionals have long been experts at creating privacy for the garden and for many years have been lessening the impact of infill housing for Auckland homeowners with clever garden privacy and screening design solutions. Clever garden privacy and screening ideas have evolved along with our city, which is great because the Auckland landscape is changing again and rather quickly - one multi-housing complex at a time. Drive through any central Auckland suburb and yo...

Garden Design Ideas for a Balinese Garden

Garden design ideas for a Balinese garden – search this term and you will find results ranging from a contemporary resort-style aesthetic to rustic, aged settings. This makes the Balinese Garden a versatile garden design theme, easily recreated in many garden contexts. Whatever your aesthetic, these verdant, tropical-looking gardens create an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity, making them the perfect choice if you are also looking for garden design ideas for a ‘holiday at home’ gar...

Using New Zealand Native Plants for Landscape Design

Designing landscapes with New Zealand Native plants celebrates the uniqueness of New Zealand’s native flora and so is deservedly popular. However, it is not always as fail-safe as one might think. As with all themed landscapes, when designing with native plants or creating a ‘Native Garden’, appropriate plant selection is crucial. Choosing ill-considered selections may not create the low maintenance landscapes many people are looking for when using native plant species. Size matters. ...

Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

Front yard landscaping ideas traditionally focused on achieving two main aims: Enhancing a home’s entrance zone and creating street appeal.Today, space poor homeowners are asking a lot more from their front yard landscaping. Ideas to create street appeal and an attractive, functional entrance zone are still expected but typically this is combined with ideas for landscaping and planting that will also provide security, privacy and screening as outdoor play and living moves into the front yard s...

West Auckland Plant and Garden Design

Garden design companies and plant filled nurseries and garden centres are humming in West Auckland, as smart buyers continue to look west for affordable housing. This ‘West is Best’ thinking has seen a new lease of life for many run-down properties, and let's face it, no home renovation project is complete until the garden has been tackled and conquered. ...

Planting Plan or Planting Concept - What's The Difference?

Planting concepts for gardens often begin as a collection of elusive ideas in our heads, and many people head to the local garden centre or nursery without a clear planting plan in mind. It seems a logical place to start after all - brimming with colour, texture, fragrance and all that helpful, free planting advice! Without a planting plan to guide you, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and find yourself with a boot full of horticultural booty but a garden created from a selection of im...

Backyard Landscaping Ideas

Backyards are not what they used to be! Long gone are the days of newly built homes sitting adrift on a large expanse of lawn, barren of landscaping bar the rotary clothesline and a lone citrus tree!   The size of the average backyard may have shrunk, however homeowners ideas and dreams for these rear garden spaces have grown and in a quest to maximise every square metre of your  expensive urban real estate, it's easy to end up with a jumbled and cluttered garden. You can transfor...

Choosing a Landscaper or Landscape Contractor

1 . Professionalism We’ve all heard about disastrous building projects and work paid for but not completed by the contractor, so choosing a landscaper who operates professionally at a business level is a good first step. Look for registered master landscapers or members of professional industry organisations such as Registered Master Landscapers member lists are a good place to begin searching for a local landscaper who can work to the high standard required to pass the accreditation testing a...

Gardening Gems For New or Novice Gardeners

With each garden I have owned, or had temporary guardianship over as the gardener, I have learnt valuable gardening lessons and landscaping tips that I wasn’t taught while studying to become a professional landscape designer.  Experience is a great teacher and these invaluable gems have stayed with me and influence the way I design, plant and garden.  ...

Gardening & Planting in Clay Soil - Conquer the Conditions

Squelching about in the muddy clay soil might be fun when five, but not fifty five, or at any age when you decide to get serious about planting and gardening. Discovering your bit of paradise is covered in soggy, boggy clay is a moment for many New Zealand gardeners. But should it be?  Clay soil is actually packed full of beneficial nutrients that your plants will love, and it retains moisture, which plants also need to thrive. The problem lies with the fine texture and dense structure...

Week 4 - Daily Garden Advice & Tips for the DIY'er

Regardless of whether you are landscaping your property for resale or simply to enhance your own enjoyment of your garden, it’s a good idea to think about what adds value. Despite the differing garden styles, property types and lifestyles of my clients, there are certain elements that are repeatedly requested so if you are looking to invest your hard-earned cash into your garden, the top 7 most requested items might be a good place to start! ...

Week 3 - Daily Garden Advice & Tips for the DIY'er

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Week 2 - Daily Garden Advice & Tips for the DIY'er

When you are out and about you in your garden, you may notice yourself wearing a beaten track across the lawn or through certain garden beds. These are the routes that we prefer to take, usually because they offer the most direct way to get from A-B.Designers refer to these as ‘desire lines’ and making these routes permanent is a great start in improving the functionality of your garden. Instead of a worn makeshift path, create proper paths on these routes. These can formal, continuous paths...

Week 1 - Daily Garden Advice & Tips for the DIY'er

This is likely to be one of the first key garden mistakes made when you dust off the garden tools and embark excitedly on your garden clean up. While a great start to tidying up your garden, hard pruning flowering shrubs at the wrong time of year can cheat you of a seasons flowering. Do your research first, but the general rule of thumb is: Shrubs that flower in autumn or in late summer (aka shrubs that flower on new wood) should be pruned in early spring before new growth emerges. Shrubs that f...

How do I measure up my property for landscape design?

 This blog is intended to show you how to measure your garden yourself to create a survey plan so that in the event you do not have a professional land survey or detailed property site plan, you can measure, draw and detail key features on your property yourself.  If you do it yourself, you can save the cost of having a someone visit your site to do it for you. DIY Designs online landscape services are happy to use information you gather yourself to create a scaled plan of yo...