Developing a Design Brief
A worksheet to clarify what you actually want.
The most common reason a garden fails is not bad plants or bad soil — it is that no one ever wrote down what the garden was for. A brief is one page of honest answers to seven uncomfortable questions.
Most landscape projects start with a vague feeling and end with a vague garden. A design brief is the discipline of turning that feeling into a one-page document you can show a designer, a contractor, or your future self in six months.
Question one: who actually uses this space, and when? A garden for two retirees who read on the porch is a different garden than one built around three kids and a dog. Be specific. List the people, the activities, and the times of day.
Question two: what feeling do you want? Not what style — what feeling. 'Calm,' 'wild,' 'cared-for,' 'private,' 'celebratory.' Style follows feeling, not the other way around.
Question three: what must stay? Existing trees, a beloved hydrangea, a path the grandkids run on. Naming these up front prevents heartbreak later.
Question four: what must go? Be honest. The lawn nobody plays on, the shrub line nobody loves, the deck rotting out in the back corner.
Question five: what is the budget — really? Including labor, plants, soil amendments, irrigation, hardscape, and a 20% contingency. Most owners underestimate by half.
Question six: what is the timeline? Some gardens are best installed in one season; others, like meadows and woodland understories, are built in three or four phases over a decade.
Question seven: what would make you regret this in year five? Pre-empting your future regrets is more useful than chasing your current enthusiasms.