What Questions Should I Ask a Landscape Designer Before Hiring Them?
- Stephen Coan
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
A more successful garden begins with better questions, not only about style and price, but about judgment, process, plants, site conditions, and how the landscape will mature over time.
A thoughtful garden is not simply chosen from a style. It is shaped through site reading, horticultural judgment, and a clear process from first conversation through long-term growth.
Many homeowners begin the design process by asking reasonable questions: How much will it cost? How long will it take? What will it look like? Those questions matter, but they are only the beginning.
A landscape is not a static object. It is a living composition shaped by soil, water, light, weather, plants, wildlife, maintenance, and time. The best questions help reveal whether a designer has the judgment to guide all of those moving parts into something beautiful, buildable, and enduring.
When a homeowner asks, “What questions should I ask a designer?”, I think they are really asking something deeper: How do I know whether this is the right person to trust with my property, my investment, and the long-term feeling of my home?
1. Ask how they read the site before design begins
A strong landscape designer should not begin with a style board or a favorite plant list. They should begin by reading the land.
Ask:
How do you evaluate the property before you design?
The answer should include more than measurements and photographs. A thoughtful designer should be looking at sun and shade, drainage, soil, grade changes, existing trees, neighboring views, deer pressure, invasive plants, utilities, access, circulation, and how the house connects to the land around it.
In my own process, this is one of the reasons the paid on-site consultation matters. I walk the property with the client and begin interpreting the landscape in real time. I am looking at what already has strength, what feels unresolved, what is causing problems, and what the site seems to be asking for.
A garden that ignores the site may look good briefly, but it often struggles later. Plants fail. Drainage problems return. Spaces feel disconnected. Maintenance becomes harder than it should be.
A garden that begins with observation has a much better chance of feeling natural, refined, and inevitable.
2. Ask how they think about plants over time
One of the most important questions is:
How do you design for maturity, not just first-year appearance?
This is where many landscapes fall short.
A newly installed garden is only the beginning. Perennials expand. Shrubs grow into their natural shape. Trees cast more shade. Plant communities shift. Some plants become dominant. Others recede. A beautiful garden must be designed with that future in mind.
I often think of time as one of the main design materials. A garden has a first season, a third season, a fifth season, and a tenth season. The design should anticipate that evolution rather than fight it.
This is especially important in plant-forward, naturalistic, and ecologically rich gardens. These landscapes are not simply decorative arrangements. They are living systems. Plants must be chosen not only for flower color, but for behavior, structure, seasonal rhythm, adaptability, and how they interact with one another.
Ask:
What will this garden look like in three to five years?
If a designer cannot speak clearly about that, they may be designing only for the installation photo.
3. Ask what their process actually includes
A good design process should be clear before the project begins.
Ask:
What is included in your process, and what is not included?
This protects both the homeowner and the designer.
Some designers provide a concept plan. Some provide detailed construction documents. Some select plants but do not place them. Some help coordinate contractors. Some hand over drawings and step away. Others remain involved through layout, installation, and long-term refinement. This is why understanding the designer’s process matters before you hire them.
None of these models are automatically wrong, but they are very different.
The important thing is clarity. A homeowner should understand what they are paying for, what decisions happen when, who is responsible for each step, and how the project moves from idea to installation.
In my work, the process is intentionally layered. Consultation comes first. Design and planning follow when the project is aligned. Planting design is shaped through horticultural judgment, and on-site plant layout is often one of the most important artistic steps.
That field adjustment cannot always be fully captured on paper.
The question is not simply:
Will I receive a plan?
The better question is:
How will the plan become a real garden?
In Practice
Before hiring a landscape or garden designer, listen carefully to how they answer practical questions.
Ask:
How do you read the site?
How do you handle drainage, soil, shade, deer, and existing plants?
How do you design for long-term maturity?
What happens after the design is complete?
Who is responsible for construction coordination, planting, and follow-through?
What kind of care will the garden need after installation?
The answers will tell you more than a portfolio alone.
A beautiful image can show taste. A thoughtful answer reveals experience.
4. Ask how they handle constraints and problems
Every real landscape has constraints.
There may be drainage issues, compacted soil, heavy shade, poor access, invasive plants, awkward grades, existing walls, utilities, deer pressure, budget limits, or construction details that need to be coordinated carefully.
Ask:
How do you handle unexpected site conditions?
This question reveals whether the designer has practical experience or is working mostly from ideal images.
A strong designer should be able to explain how decisions are adjusted when reality appears. Sometimes that means phasing a project. Sometimes it means improving soil before planting. Sometimes it means solving water movement before selecting plants. Sometimes it means simplifying the scope so the most important areas are done well.
I have seen many properties where the first need was not more plants. It was better sequencing, better drainage thinking, better bed preparation, or a clearer understanding of what the site could realistically support.
The best landscapes are not created by ignoring constraints. They are created by working intelligently with them.
5. Ask how they balance beauty, ecology, and maintenance
Many homeowners want a garden that feels alive, layered, and supportive of pollinators, but they do not want it to look abandoned or chaotic.
Ask:
How do you create a garden that supports life without looking messy?
This is one of the central questions in my own work.
A habitat-supportive garden does not need to look wild in a careless way. It can be refined, intentional, immersive, and beautiful. The key is structure. Strong edges, paths, masses, seasonal rhythm, repeated forms, and clear transitions can allow a planting to be lush and ecologically valuable without feeling visually unresolved.
Maintenance should also be part of the conversation from the beginning. A garden that requires a level of care the homeowner cannot provide will eventually become frustrating, no matter how beautiful it was at installation.
Ask:
What kind of care will this garden need in the first year and over time?
The first year is especially important. New plantings need careful watering, monitoring, and adjustment. Trees and shrubs may need support for several years while they establish. Meadows, rain gardens, and layered perennial plantings each require their own kind of stewardship.
A good designer should not pretend that a living garden is maintenance-free. The better goal is appropriate maintenance, with the right expectations from the start.
6. Ask what makes their work distinct
One of the most revealing questions is also one of the simplest.
Ask:
What is your point of view as a designer?
A designer should be able to answer this clearly.
Not every designer should sound the same. Some are strongest in outdoor rooms and entertaining spaces. Some are construction-focused. Some are highly architectural. Some are planting specialists. Some are ecological designers. Some are best suited to large estate planning. Some are best for small, practical improvements.
The right designer for one homeowner may not be the right designer for another.
For my own work, the point of view is plant-forward, nature-inspired, and rooted in horticulture, ecology, craft, and long-term garden evolution. I am interested in landscapes that feel deeply connected to their place, rich with life, quietly structured, and more beautiful as they mature.
That does not come from simply choosing attractive plants. It comes from reading the site, understanding plant behavior, shaping space, and composing a garden that can live well beyond its first season.
The bottom line
The best questions to ask a landscape designer are not only about price, style, and timeline.
They are questions about judgment.
How does the designer read the site? How do they think about plants over time? How do they handle drainage, soil, shade, constraints, and maintenance? How does their process work? What happens after the plan is complete? What makes their work distinct?
A successful garden is not simply installed. It is understood, composed, planted, adjusted, and guided.
When you ask better questions, you are more likely to find a designer who can create something that does more than look good at the beginning. You are more likely to create a garden that belongs to the place, supports life, and grows more beautiful with time.
Continue Exploring
If you are thinking about a garden or landscape project, these may be useful next.
Explore: The Coan Method™
Download the guide: The Landscape Planning Packet
Considering a garden or landscape project?
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Stephen Coan
NJHIC# 13VH08688500
About the Author
Stephen Coan is a garden and landscape designer and horticulturist behind Stephen Coan Garden Design, creating plant-forward, nature-inspired landscapes with quietly integrated hardscaping across Southern New Jersey, Philadelphia, the Main Line, and the Delaware Valley.
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