One of my favorite parts of my job at Ahimsa Gardens is meeting with new clients to envision and design their outdoor living spaces. I love envisioning the possibilities and potential with clients.
During the design process, we learn the ways in which you use your yard and the elements that are essential for you and your family to include in the design. We have two landscape designers that we work with to create and draw professional plans for your yard or commercial space.
During the initial walk through of your yard, we get a sense of your flow in and out of the buildings and gardens. We uncover what is working and what is not working. We pay attention to how you access the outdoor spaces, the views of your landscape through windows, where the kitchen is in relation to outdoor entertaining areas, cooking herbs and veggies, compost bins, backyard chickens, etc. We learn how children, grandchildren, or pets will be using the yard. When appropriate, we make sure that pathways and elevation changes are walker and wheelchair accessible.
When creating a landscape design, we typically create a series of outdoor ‘rooms’ in which you are drawn from one part of the landscape to another by a hint of something special in the next ‘room.’
In addition to designing beautiful and functional gardens for people, we always keep native birds, insects, and other native fauna in mind when selecting plants and designing the layout. Pollinators like large drifts of the same types of flowers. Certain species of native shrubs and trees provide maximum habitat for native birds and insects. We design for year round interest, for a succession of blooms, for drought tolerance and fire resiliency. Whenever appropriate, we strive to include a balance of at least 60% native plants in our designs. This is the minimum needed to support native bird and insect populations.
The design process may take several months, and typically includes a few drafts before we arrive at the final site plan. It is helpful for us to have a sense of your project budget before we start the design so that we can produce a final design that fits your budget. Once the final design is completed, we will produce a bid for the installation of the design. Our installation team at Ahimsa Gardens is composed of skilled masons, carpenters, irrigation technicians, welders, and plant experts. We take pride in our work, guarantee our work, and love working with people to create the landscape of their dreams. Please check out our website at ahimsagardens.com and follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see recent posts of projects.
