Suja

I know the Meadow's Farms nursery in our area will do the planning for free provided you get the plants from them.

I'm not over-fond of Meadows, but what you might do is scout the nurseries looking both at the variety and quality of plants, and at their policies on design work and pricing. If I found a nursery that had the sort of plants I liked, and took good care of them, then I'd consider having their people do the planning.

In some ways, the fact that the lot is totally flat makes design harder rather than easier, as you haven't any terrain to help make your decisions for you!

Scott

In this price range, a certain firm in Columbia produced something so banal for my mother's house that it was a joke, as much cookie cutter as a tract house. "Free" services from the nurseries are not much better.

A GOOD designer will have a portfolio and be able to show examples.

Also, the design should clearly indicate costs:
for plants
for LABOR, at $30 to $50 per hour
for hardscaping
Good landscaping can run easily into $50,000 from a professional service
Things like having electical lines or plumbing for a fishpond should be thought out before any dirt gets moved or concrete laid.

Your brother may think that he can have landscaping completed by this spring, but he really should get a good designer, figure out how to do as much work as possible himself, do the hardscaping over the summer and fall, and install plants next spring.

In our neighborhood, the fabulous garden designer who is on the board of a very well-known local garden, might charge $6,000 to $16,000 for a design. His yards look like something out of Horticulture or Fine Gardening, only better -- fabulous. In fact, his work has been featured in numerous magazines. Another garden designer, who has only been doing it for a year, charges more in the several-hundered-dollars range. That's about $500 or $600 per yard: $1000 for both front and back. Considering the amount of time spent making a design, that's in fact quite reasonable. It can take 30 or 40 hours to develop and draw a gorgeous design that works for a yard's sun/shade, moisture levels, and soil composition. Plus, there's time involved in writing up the plant list, deciding how many perennials in each part of the bed (based on height and spread of each), selecting stone, redrawing based on any comments from the homeowner... if you're not careful, the designer gets paid less than minimum wage, on an hourly basis.

Then the installation cost thousands of dollars, no matter what. The installer has to pay for laborers' time, dirt, mulch, trees, shrubs, perennials, stone or brick, etc. It's quite a big undertaking.

The tree and shrub choices were mostly good, but the perennials were too many / too close together (this became apparent after 3-4 years), several perennial varieties were too "spready" for a small garden, and perennial "color range" was poor, too many white and yellow. I insisted on using mostly regional native species and cultivars, which did limit her choice. But the point is, if I had used an independent designer who really knew native perennials, and wasn't limited to one supplier, we would have had a much wider choice of plants and would probably have avoided those mistakes.

My next comment is that, if you are interested in native plants, a bird & butterfly friendly garden, or similar "theme", you might want to check the landscape designers who are members of the Maryland Native Plant Society (MNPS). When I started my garden 5.5 years ago, very few designers were listed as MNPS members, but now there are more. I will post the web page that lists "organizational members" of the MNPS at the end of this message.

Landscapers listed as members of MNPS who are in, or might serve, the Baltimore area:
Cityscapes Landscaping, Inc., Silver Spring;
Dreamscape Associates, Inc., Montpelier (next to Laurel); Enviro-Art Horticultural Services, Inc., Baltimore;
Gardens That Work!, Columbia;
Landscapes by Design, Baltimore;
Watershed Landscapes, Inc., Silver Spring.

And, if you are not familiar with native plants and want to preview some of the choices you might make when working with a designer who belongs to the MNPS, here is your starting point: landscaping with native plants of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, courtesy of the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/toc.htm

Let's say hello to a Monarch: http://www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/plant/1354.htm

Now, here is that MNPS "organizational member" page:

http://www.mdflora.org/orgmembers.html

Last spring I had a beautiful landscaping design done by a young mom who does this part time now that she is a new mother.

She provided so much information - it was done in a most professional manner. In addition to the plan, I have a binder filled with color pictures of the flowers, shrubs.... complete with all the information about each one selected... How to take care of them etc.

She charged us $300. She's in the Severa Park area - but did travel to us in Baltimore County.... I thought it was well worth the $300. (In Severna Park - she works with a landscaper who will deducted the $300 from his estimate if he is referred by Lisa)

BTW, I have had some bad experiences with MNPS. Just because something is "native" doesn't mean it's not invasive, ugly, or not right for your landscape. But that doesn't mean jrobins isn't right too, just don't leap to conclusions, ok?

The primary goals of native plant societies are conservation, education, and community service. But MNPS does list landscaping and gardening businesses that specialize in native plants and related areas such as habitat restoration, and have chosen to join them. When I asked MNPS for designer recommendations 5 1/2 years ago, the choice was very limited. Now they show more on their web site.

"Just because something is "native" doesn't mean it's not invasive [in your garden], ugly, or not right for your landscape."
True as far as it goes, but because there are thousands of native plant species of the Chesapeake Bay region (including large numbers in every gardening category: trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, grasses, ferns ...), most of which are practically unknown to most gardeners, it is not difficult to select native plants that are beautiful, right for your landscape, well-behaved, and further, "unique" in the sense that few other gardens in your neighorhood contain them (even though they are regional natives).

By the way, here is a link to another thread on this forum (request for "bird garden landscapers" in Washington DC). Someone (March 22 post) recommended still another landscaper/designer, Nature By Design of Alexandria VA, that works with native plants exclusively.

http://www.nature-by-design.com/index2.html

"We offer an outstanding range of native trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals, including many unavailable elsewhere in the Washington area. We also offer a carefully chosen selection of well-behaved non-natives, including tropicals hardy enough for Washington winters."

(I like my posts to be as accurate as I can make them)

A good design will create unity and flow through landscape, the designer will focus on color and interest all year long. A good designer will style the landscape to compliment the home. A professional design provides homeowners with the ability to work in phases within budget constraints (without yard looking choppy and not well thought out).

A good design will reduce irrigation expenses by choosing and grouping plants with similar water requirements, they will avoid placing plants with minimal water requuirements next to those with high water requirements. A design allows one to compare different landscape contractor prices and bids based on one plan, not what each different contractor may have in mind. A design acts in a way as a contract between the contractor and the homeowner protecting both. A good designer will not only focus on function and color but also on low maintenance. He or she will choose plants that do not create messes or become in itself a weed. Above all a design will help avoid big problems later.