"Runyan" wrote in message
om...
I just bought my first home last November. It's old and needs lots of
work. I have just moved to the lawn and garden area of the home. I
have many questions regarding drainage, runoff, retaining walls, grass
type, shrubs, plants (basically everything). I am also a compulsive
do-it-yourselfer. I have been considering two options for a path
forward. 1) Landscape designer or 2) landscape software. I
definitely believe in proper planning before action. Has anyone had
greate success with either of the two above prior to taken action in
their own? If so, how did you select the designer, or the software?

Thanks,
Brian

The software will be unable to consider site conditions and determine what
plants would do best in a particular location. It will allow you to draw a
depiction. You must have the general layout in your mind before you start.

You might be better off to get a Designer to do a master plan for you. They
will visit the site and the come up with a plan that can be implemented in
stages as time and money permit. Many of the local nursery places (here)
charge a minimal fee of which all or a portion is applied to any purchases
you make. Once you have a master bed layout you can spend days or weeks
figuring out which plant you want to plant where and to what effect. Once
you see it done by a pro, you should grasp the basic concepts. We paid
once, spent a lot of time chatting, bought enough plants from that company
to make it a fair transaction for all and then did the next stages with
plants from a cheaper source.

When we moved to a new house we did our own site plan based on the previous
experience.

Colbyt