A Garden of Possibilities

The first step when designing your landscape is to perform a site analysis. A site analysis is basically a plan or map of your property; drawn from the perspective of looking down from the sky (called a plan view).  Think of a site analysis as an inventory of what already exists on your property.  When you are done with your site analysis you’ll have a record of all the pros & cons, limitations and possibilities for your property.  Don’t be tempted to think that you know everything there is to know about your garden because you’ve lived in your home for 5 years, 10 years or even longer.  A site analysis can seem like a lot of unneccessary work but, believe me, the rewards will be great. 

Even if you are simply re-designing one area of your garden, it is extremely helpful to start with a site analysis.  Here are a few photos of a front entry garden that will be re-designed to look more like a courtyard – widening the existing walkway, eliminating all the grass and adding layers of plants and focal points such as benches and statues.   You’ll find the corresponding site analysis at the end of this post. 

Standing in the driveway, looking north

Standing in the yard, looking south

Begin your site analysis by drawing a base map of your property. The easiest way to do this is with graph paper since every item should be drawn to scale.   If you have a copy of your plot plan from when you purchased your house, you can begin with that.  If not, sketch out your house and any existing structural features such as decks, pergolas, swimming pools, walkways and fences.   The outline, or footprint, of your house should include the location of doors and windows (record the height of the window from ground level too), heating and/or air conditioning units, spigots and downspouts. 

Your base map should also include the location of your property lines and any adjacent streets.  You can include the location of meters, power lines and poles, utility boxes, etc.   Basically, you should record and note anything that may affect  your desired design. 

The next step is to add existing plants.  If it’s a tree with a high canopy, measure and record the diameter of the trunk.  For shrubs or groups of plants, measure or estimate the space the grouping currently occupies.  This is the ideal time to start a list of plants you want to keep, remove, relocate or that are too big to be moved and therefore you need to design around them. 

Other things to consider when performing a site analysis: 

• Indicate which direction is North. You will need this when you determine the amount of sunlight and shade in different areas and also the directions of prevailing winds.
• Note the functional areas of your property, such as vegetable gardens, recreational areas, etc.
• Record foot traffic patterns since not everyone uses the designated walkways.  By noting the informal traffic patterns you can see where new walkways should be located.
• Record any relevant environmental factors such as wet areas, poor soil, slopes and rock outcroppings that will impact plant selection.
• Observe and record the views in to and off of your property, both good and bad, and where you need privacy screening and also where you can accentuate a view.  For example, you might want to screen out your neighbor’s driveway or open up the view of your front door from the street. 
• And finally, get a soil test.  Knowing what kind of soil you have will be an important factor in determining the kinds of plants you should use.

Here’s a quick and simple site analysis for the front entry garden shown above: 

Future posts will discuss other important steps in landscape design.  The next step…a concept plan.

© Deborah Roberts and A Garden of Possibilities, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.