
How to plan a perennial border that blooms from April to October
Groups of three or five, stepped heights, bloom times that hand off to one another and grasses for winter: a method for designing a perennial border.
Garden Design · 4 min read ·
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One-to-one mentoring · with Claire Donovan, garden designer
A scaled planting plan for your garden, drawn with Claire Donovan over three private calls
$1,450
3 sessions includedA planting plan drawn to scale for your garden, designed with you over three private calls with Claire Donovan. You receive the drawing, a plant list with quantities and sources, and a seasonal care calendar, so you or a landscaper can plant it without guesswork. It’s for people who want a designed garden and are ready to plant it themselves or hire the work out.
The first call is the brief: how you use the garden, what you want to see from the kitchen window, what stays, and how many hours a month you’ll give it. Claire then draws a layout and a plant palette for your zone, soil and light, and in the second call you go through it together and decide what changes. The third call walks through the finished plan: spacing, quantities, what to plant first and how to water it the first year. After that you get one round of revisions.
It’s a planting plan, not a construction set. Patios, walls, grading and irrigation appear as areas on the drawing, and a contractor will size, price and, where needed, permit them. With a plan in hand, landscapers’ quotes become comparable, because everyone is pricing the same thing. The plan covers one garden area, such as a backyard or a front yard; for a larger property, email us before buying.
3 × 60 min · private video calls
Book online right after purchase. Sessions can be used within 6 months and moved with 24 hours’ notice.
Book and send your site
Right after purchase you get an email with a booking link; choose the first call in your own time zone. Before it, send photos of the garden and the views from the house, measurements or a plot plan, your ZIP code, where the sun falls and a soil test if you have one.
First call: the brief
You talk through how you use the garden, the look you like, what stays and how much upkeep you want. Claire then draws a layout and a plant palette.
Second call: the draft
Claire takes you through the draft on screen and you decide together what changes. She then draws the scaled planting plan and writes the plant list.
Third call and final files
You go through the finished plan, the quantities, the planting sequence and the care calendar. After one round of revisions, you receive the final PDF files.
Claire Donovan
Garden designer
Designs low-maintenance gardens with perennials and grasses. Trained in England, practicing in California since 2011.

Groups of three or five, stepped heights, bloom times that hand off to one another and grasses for winter: a method for designing a perennial border.
Garden Design · 4 min read ·

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