Plan(t) Wise Garden & Landscape Design Services
A natural approach to garden and landscape design.
How Can We Help You?
Our natural garden and landscape design services and Garden Guidance Program, found listed below, offer solutions that increase your landscape’s ecological and sustainable function while fulfilling your needs and desires. Are you curious? Before jumping down to our services descriptions, keep reading and learn a bit more about how versatile natural gardens can be. Of course, if you already know you love natural gardens and just want to know how we can help you, scroll on down to the In-person and Online Programs or contact us!
Many people are under the misconception that natural gardens are always messy and weedy. In the gardening world, a weed is any plant that’s growing where it’s not wanted. It’s all about perception and a lot of that is based on tradition. It’s what we’ve become accustomed to and expect to see. While natural gardens often lack the structure of a formal garden, they don’t have to! Natural gardens can be any style you wish, from wild to cottage to minimalist, and, yes, even formal. You might be surprised to discover that a natural garden can complement the sleek lines of a modern home as easily as a 50s bungalow or a century home. It’s about using the right plants in the right numbers, to create the feeling you want to achieve.
It’s also about understanding that different styles of gardens require different levels of management. We include “cues to care” in our garden and landscape design services. What are they? They include things such as a mowed path or stepping stones in wilder gardens. Truthfully, any type of path in a garden shows that a space is intentional and cared for. Do you want to know another great thing about paths? They encourage exploration! Aside from paths, cues to care can be things like a sculpture, a freestanding water feature, or a bench or chair. Who doesn’t love to have a spot to relax and enjoy nature in their space? Massing and drifting of plants is another technique we incorporate to show design intention and can be used effectively in all types of gardens. These different elements give structure to a garden and show human intent.
We want you to love reconnecting with nature in your outdoor space! By matching plants to your existing site conditions and each other, the addition of soil amendments can be reduced or eliminated, allowing the plants to amend the soil over time. Exactly the way nature does it. These strategies help reduce the amount of time, effort, and money you spend managing your landscape, leaving you more time to enjoy it.
One more thing…
We realize it can be tough waiting to see your garden mature and a lot of people want instant impact. We feel that way too sometimes. A garden makeover with larger plants feels almost magical somehow. However, we suggest using smaller plants and more of them for our designs. This creates a lush, layered garden that is as full or fuller in the same amount of time – or sooner – than larger plants spaced farther apart for the same, or often less, expense. It will also reduce the cost and labour of using repeated mulch applications over time as the plants mass together, creating living green mulch.
Watching your new garden grow and mature is an incredibly gratifying experience, magical in its own right. But if you really can’t wait, we get it! Whether you want to start with small plants and impress your neighbours with your skills over the growing season or have an instant impact that makes your neighbours go “Wow!” right away, we can deliver.
Are you ready to discover how we can help you be the envy of the neighbourhood and give back to the environment at the same time?
In-Person Programs
On Site Consultation
This is the first step in the process, whether you wish to use our garden and landscape design services or the Garden Guidance program. We visit your site, where you are encouraged to share your ideas, challenges, and end goals and ask questions while we focus on the area(s) to be addressed. It allows the designer or garden mentor to do an initial site assessment and take measurements if you’re going the design route. After we’ve walked the site, we’ll fill out a questionnaire together, ensuring we fully understand the vision for your space. Call us or fill out the form on the Contact page to set a date and time for your consultation.
Consultation fee is $275. With the purchase of select design packages, the Consultation fee will be deducted from the design cost.
*Please note there is an additional charge for travel per km beyond 30km, specified in advance and based on Google Maps.
Design and Additional Services
A Consultation is required before booking any of the options below.
Natural Garden Design
Whether you’re a newbie with no idea how to get started or a green thumb looking to go in a new direction, together, we will create a native plantscape that welcomes nature into your life. Leave the design and plant selection to us. We can provide you with a thoughtful low-maintenance garden design that complements your home and existing landscaping, your vision, and site conditions. Your plant list will include Ontario native plants* that support the wildlife species you wish to encourage with blooms from spring to fall and create a diversity of texture and colour all year long.
Garden design service starts at $425. Does not include materials, delivery, or installation.
*Ornamental (non-native) species can be included upon request, but we will never include species considered invasive.
Landscape Design
Does your space need a refresh? Is it functioning to its full potential based on your lifestyle? Whether you’d like to create a private garden room or be the envy of the neighbours, our ecologically based design solutions address your lifestyle needs and desires. Landscape designs incorporate native plant-focused gardens and locally, sustainably sourced, and upcycled materials. We encourage the inclusion of environmental support systems such as rain gardens, rainwater harvesting, wildlife habitat, and composting areas. Together, we can create an outdoor haven that will grow with you for years to come.
Landscape design service starts at $1750. Does not include materials, delivery, or installation. *Please note we are a design and consulting firm and do not perform full builds/installations
Garden Guidance
Interested in an eco-friendly garden care plan? We can guide you whether you purchase our garden or landscape design or have existing traditional gardens. Garden Guidance sessions outline management programs, providing insight into plant care and soil health, season by season. The sessions explore all-natural soil amendments for optimal plant health and the best plant pruning/upkeep practices, giving you the means to easily take care of your outdoor space with less effort and time than expected. With existing gardens, we may make recommendations for including native species to help reduce the time and effort required to manage your gardens. We may also advise you to consider removing invasive species.
Cost is $115 per hour. The length of time required will be determined at the Consultation.
You are encouraged to take notes at the session, but we offer a custom care manual for an additional fee. Price depends on the manual’s complexity and starts at $74.99 for a pdf file.
Plant Material Layout
Afraid you won’t get the spacing quite right? We can lay out plant materials from your design purchase in their correct placements to remove the stress of you having to sort through plant materials and determine the correct spacing.
Fees start at $250. Does not include the design, materials, or delivery.
*Please note: Plants should not be left in the hot sun in their containers for extended periods. They get stressed out too!
Project Oversight
Have you used our garden or landscape design services? Whether it’s a hands-on approach requiring daily communication with contractors and their trades or a weekly visit to recap questions or issues as needed, this service acts as a single contact for clients and contractors. It benefits both the client and contractors, ensuring everyone is working towards the same goal and that the client’s vision is realized in every detail as designed.
This service is also available to DIY garden clients who would like guidance in proper plant installation to give plants their best start.
Available as per-hour rates or project rates. Hourly rates are $115.
Online Programs
Container Design Combo for Balconies or Patio
Want to have butterfly visitors to your balcony or patio? This package is ideal for clients with balconies or small patios that want pollinator container gardens. This includes a twenty-five-minute online consultation, basic planting plans for three 18” containers (or equivalent), a detailed plant list with horticultural and wildlife support information, and a how-to planting guide.
Once you’ve purchased a consultation, a questionnaire (pdf) will be sent to you. Seven to ten days after we’ve received your completed questionnaire, you’ll receive your custom portfolio and a request to set up an online meeting to discuss any questions you have. All documents are delivered electronically.
Package Cost is $150. Additional container designs are available for an additional fee.
Garden Design Combo
Do you live outside the Niagara Region and are interested in a natural garden design? This is a forty-minute online consultation and design for gardens up to 150 square feet for homeowners outside the Niagara Region. It includes a rough hand-drawn planting plan (measurements supplied by you), a detailed plant list with horticultural information, including wildlife support, plant counts and sourcing suggestions, and a customized prep, installation, and management guide.
Once a consultation is purchased, a pdf format questionnaire will be sent to you. Fourteen to twenty days after we’ve received your completed questionnaire, you will receive a custom portfolio and a request to set up an online meeting to discuss any questions you have. All documents are delivered electronically. There is no limit to the number of times the Combo can be purchased.
Package Cost is $875. An additional one-hour online meeting can be arranged for $115.