Landscaping Before and After

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what can be possible for a landscape.

You look through magazines or see photos of completed landscape design projects and they are beautiful and perfectly manicured. You might think you could never achieve that in your own garden. But what a different picture it would give you if you saw the before images. What is missing from these articles with the glossy photos of the finished gardens are these before photos: the photos of what it looked like prior to the article and the perfect manicuring.

That is why I really like to show landscaping before and after photos.

I think it is so helpful to see what was and what could be. Of course, there is an element of trust between the homeowner and the designer, which is extremely important and there is also the passing of time. Time to allow things to grow and fill in and occupy their space in the landscape.

This house was one of my favorite projects: A complete transformation. Looking at the photos below, it is hard to even remember what it once looked like.

Here is the before from the street.

The Right of Way was a mix of concrete, asphalt, ground out tree stumps and weedy grass. All in all, not a very good first impression of a very pretty house. There was a rather large disconnect between the entry and the house itself. Suffice to say, not a lot of curb appeal.

And then there was the view from the front door to the street. That was yet another story.

This shot was taken at the front door looking out to the street. There was a flat area with a concrete walkway and then a small slope up to the top of the property accessed by steps to the street. The hill was engulfed with ivy and vinca. There was so much of it that it strangled anything that had ever tried to grow there including the existing dogwood tree. At the top of the hill, there was a hedge of old, overgrown taxus bushes, which were held in place by rotting rail road ties.

So this is where the process begins.

First, the chat between the designer and the client. Then the rough sketches and drawings, the plant lists, the possible landscape materials.

As I said earlier, the process really is somewhat about trust. Can the client really understand what the lines on the plan mean, what the circles in many different sizes will look like in reality? Probably not, but that is where the trust comes into play and maybe even a small spirit of adventure.

And now for the after.

And with the passing of a season or two, things start to fill and grow in. Bulbs are added in the fall and it all becomes a continuing palate of colors and blooms.

Landscaping Before and After: