ouch. So what did you do?

melanie

Ever have a roommate, spouse or relative rearrange the furniture in your house while you're away, only for you to come home at night and trip over a newly-placed chair in the dark? That's what this project sounds like.

If that happens to me (the law of averages will turn this up eventually, of course), I will sit down with the client and discuss alterations based on the new setup. And, I will charge for the time and re-design, in a matter-of-fact but friendly sorta way.

So, to echo Melanie, what did you do?

Today I went and sat down and looked at it as is. I want to do as little as possible and still make it work. Luckily, one of the shrubs we moved into the upper terrace was a fairly large Pieris japonica that helps with some of the volume issues. I think I'll take the 3 Enkianthus that I have triangulated throughout the bed and group them as a mass on the other side--that will help except during the winter. I need to ruminate on it for a while.

Two thoughts to consider for winter interest....

Blueberries

Stephanandra incisa- excellent winter branching pattern.

Several times lately people have said that that what matters most is that the customer is happy (which probably means they pay the bill on time). So what are you sweating over? He is happy you have the money to feed your dog......

Ah, but Miss Rumphius has her "name" on this. I can see where she would want to make it reflect a bit more of her skill than it does with the missing elements.

Patty
BTW, Miss Rumphius is one of my children's favorite books.

Not much traffic over here susan, which is probably alright since you were only sounding off some frustration anyway so I am going to hijack. Prepare to accept boarders, sorry girls no Johnny Depp.
A while back I suggested that we designers set ourselves a higher standard than most of the people we work for. At the time I was shot down because someone thought that I was saying that we should lower our standard to meet the criterion "The client was happy so everything is hunky dory" (see cady's view on this elsewhere) when in fact I was touting the opposite.
I have come up against laag on this issue too but I think that we should work to a standard, period (as you say). And this includes Miss Rumphius's complaint about aesthetics as well as any issue of what works.
In this last week the resident of a posh new development, who had recently paid enough money to feed the dog and me for the next 500 years for her landscaping, called me to understand why water was running through her wall with the French drain behind it and the decorative river stone above the geotextile thingy. It is easy to exploit the ignorance of ignorant people but this is not the standard I am talking about. There was a perforated pipe behind the wall six inches from the top and fancy river rock above that. This is a business where it is easy to show only the surface and no end of people who can only see the superficial and are prepared/happy to pay for that. Personally I don't regard this as a reason to wake up in the morning. What you do is design to the best of your expanding ability and plant stuff you believe in and attend to functionality. A lot of people that call me can't handle it, which is OK, this is my life and I am not about to compromise it for someone elses instant gratification.

I think what you say is true, but and it's a big but...often those clients with buckets of money want to believe (since they will eventually own it) that they know and understand the problems. If they believe that's the case then the contractor building the project only needs to explain things once (if at all) to an "I know, I understand" when they don't really. I had a client tell me this spring that his best friend, an industrial engineer, questioned my planting plan. I very politely held my ground (or his) and finished the job and now they are very pleased. (I didn't add the suggested groundcover to the planting beds to supress the weeds and improve the drainage...)

There is always more to the surface than first appears. I want to be able to wake up in the morning and live in my own skin knowing that each project is the best I could do with what I was given.

So, INK, I believe we are a two person chorus.

Susan--does your tounge still have teethmarks in it?

When I hire a professional, I hire a professional. Physician, plumber, paint color consultant--doesn't matter the area of expertise. I might ask them to explain their choices--but that is so I can learn something from them. (My grandmother always said that a day when one didn't learn at least one new thing was a wasted day.) If I felt fully competent to deal with a problem, I'd JUST DO IT. Otherwise, why hire someone?

I've put off dealing with my side and backyards--in part because we have a landscape plan that I adore, that we can't afford to implement...and will proabably NEVER be able to implement. (Note to self--never plan a landscape design around stock option money...) ;~)

I was about over that--and was looking for a new designer that could help me achieve my Richard Darke (if I'm rememebring thename correctly) inspired woodland garden when my thyroid went wacko. I think I've found a local designer who can see the forest AND the trees. When I'm back to work and have had time to sock some money away I'm planning on hiring him. And I may make modifications to a plan...but never without discussing it with the designer FIRST. So that I understand what he was trying to achieve...and he can understand why I might want to shift things a bit. Once I've lived with my landscape awhile I can see shifting plantings about, but not structural things like trees and such.

melanie

Designing on the fly has in the past, forced me to stretch myself. Often with better than expected results. When I start with a new client, I always tell them "not to be married to the plan" Thats why I don't draw to scale bird's eye views of labeled circles anymore. I don't produce something that someone will read as "this tree is so many inches from that wall" and I like the flexibilty to change plants when I come across something that I think will look better when I'm sourcing.

I think the case in point is that you actually have to remake your concept instead of railing against the hitch someone threw at you. You would be more pleased with the result, not trying to make apples into oranges. Give up on oranges altogether and look at it with a different view. put the plan down and play with the apples!