Frequently Asked Questions

If you'd like me to plant your scheme, the price is the nursery cost of the plants multiplied by 2.5. That covers sourcing, delivery, setting out, planting labour and the plants themselves.

For example, if the plants on your plan cost $640 from the nursery, the installed price is $1,600.

Because you can check it. Pricing planting as a multiple of plant cost is a common method in the trade. By publishing the multiple and listing every plant's nursery price, you can see exactly what the margin is. There's no room for vague planting allowances or greedy markups hidden in a lump sum.

These depend on the size of the project, so I agree a fixed fee with you before I start. You pay contractors directly for their work.

Often, yes. If you're more than about 50 miles away I'll usually ask for photos first. Many initial surveys and measurements can be done online using Google Earth, a simple sketch and your photos, which is plenty for most planting designs.

A few wide photos of the garden from different corners, a rough sketch with approximate measurements, and a note of what you like and what isn't working. Your address lets me look at the garden on Google Earth too.

No. I ran a landscaping company with crews in the UK for years, and the overheads of vans, staff and equipment end up in the client's price. Now I focus on design, planning, contract management and planting, and help you choose and manage good contractors for the bigger construction work.

Not in North Carolina yet. I'm gaining supervised experience hours towards licensure through CLARB and the North Carolina Board of Landscape Architects. Until I'm licensed here, I offer planting design, garden planning, contract management and planting in North Carolina, not landscape architecture services. I also run PELA, a UK landscape design consultancy, working remotely on projects in England.

I ran The Cambridge Landscaper in Cambridge, England for a decade, delivering more than £3m of landscape work for homeowners, estates and organisations such as the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, NHS sites, schools and councils. I trained with Cambridge University Botanic Garden and I'm a dual US and UK citizen, now based in Durham.

For most perennials, shrubs and trees in the Piedmont, fall is the best time to plant. The soil is still warm, so roots grow through the winter before the summer heat. Spring is the next best choice. Summer planting is possible but needs much more watering.

Yes, at first. Every new plant needs regular watering through its first growing season while the roots establish. After that, well-chosen natives in the right spot usually need far less watering than typical bedding plants.

Many will. Plenty of North Carolina natives cope well with clay. The key is choosing plants that suit how wet or dry the spot is and improving drainage where water sits. I'll take your soil into account in the plant choices.

No plant is completely deer-proof, but some natives are much less appealing to deer than others. If deer visit your garden, tell me and I will favour less palatable plants and suggest protection for young plants.

Many local nurseries stock them, and the North Carolina Native Plant Society lists plant sales and local chapters. If your nursery does not sell natives, ask them to. My planting schedules give the botanical name, so you get the right plant.