Find an outdoor designer for the garden or landscape

Amanda Oliver, horticulturalist and outdoor designer from Amanda Oliver Gardens shares her wisdom on choosing a landscaper for your home project.

What should someone look for in choosing an outdoor designer?

Qualifications, recommendations from other people, previous work, and whether you get along with them.

Do you provide guarantees for your work?

It's hard to give a guarantee on plants, as you can't be responsible for follow-up care. Many horticulturalists replace plants that die within the first month or so. If you design something and someone else constructs it, then their insurance and public indemnity contracts cover the work.

So you design gardens too?

I'm a landscape designer as well as a horticulturalist, so I design and consult with the client initially, and then organise quotes from contractors regarding the construction. I usually try to do the planting and the soft landscaping myself.

Which plants work best in Australian gardens?

Well since we're in the grip of a drought, any good garden landscaping designer will recommend water-miser plants. Maybe natives, but even more importantly, indigenous plants, that is, plants natural to your own local area. Plants with grey, felty leaves from a Mediterranean climate work well too.

What do you enjoy least about your job?

I love it all! Except weeding.

What does it take to be a horticulturalist?

Formal qualifications are important when it comes to hiring a landscape designer, or an apprentice. A very strong knowledge of plants and everything associated with plants, like soil, plant likes and dislikes, even pests and diseases. An eye for detail and a love of the outdoors.

A flair for design and creativity is key to being a good outdoor designer, so talk to a landscaper in your area today: