Design Services

The Garden Design Group DC LLC

The Garden Design Group DC LLC is owned by landscape designer Jane Berger, a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), and a graduate of the landscape design program at George Washington University.

Since 1997, The Garden Design Group has been designing gardens of all types throughout the DC metropolitan area:  Asian-inspired and English-style gardens, wildlife and shade gardens, formal gardens, natural style gardens and more.

Design Services:

1) Initial Consultation.  A meeting with you on site to look at the property, discuss your goals for the garden and your projected budget, either to be completed all at once or phased in over a period of months or years.  You'll be asked to complete a landscape questionnaire about what you want: garden styles you prefer; your favorite colors and plants; whether you want a rose garden, an herb garden, a lawn, a play area for children, a pet-friendly space, etc.  My goal is always to give every client a four-season show of blooms and color and a feature or two that will make your garden very unique.

During the consultation, we'll walk around your site, I'll identify potential problems, give you my initial impressions about possibilities for design, along with some planting suggestions.  Consultation fee: $ 95/hour.   If you decide to continue with a formal design, there is no charge for the initial consultation.  Design services are charged at the same rate.

2) Site Analysis.  I'll ask you for a copy of the plat of the property -- a document that comes with your mortgage papers showing the property lines and the location of the house within those lines. Using that document as a base, I'll measure the property for accuracy and take an inventory of existing plants and site conditions.  Depending on the size of the property, this process usually takes from one to three hours.

3) Design development.  Based on our initial conversation, I'll come up with concept drawings to show you at the next consultation.  Those plans will then be modified as you desire before final plans are drawn up.  This process may take one or several meetings, depending on property size and the complexity of the project.

4) Installation.  At this point, you may either install the project yourself, hire your own contractors to do the installation, or retain the Garden Design Group to recommend contractors  and oversee the project.  If you decide to retain The Garden Design Group, the charge will be 20% of the total project cost.

Garden Coaching/Consulting

Some clients just need a little guidance to get their gardens looking good - or better.  If you like, I'd be happy to work along with you on new plantings, transplants, pruning, good combinations for color and texture, containers, trips to the nursery or stone yard to select materials, or other issues.  Fee is as above for design.

If you'd like to schedule an appointment, please e-mail:
info@gardendesignonline.com  Or call 202-723-3605

If you live outside the DC Metropolitan Area or (in summer) the Cape Cod - Boston area, I'd be happy to discuss a visit to your region for design -- or to explore the possibilities of designing long-distance with photos and measurements supplied by you.

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