Why do we maintain our own gardens?

Why do we maintain the gardens we have designed when many other designers hand this to a separate horticultural business?

I was recently interviewed by Modscape as they are doing profiles on professionals they work with. I was asked the question what is your favorite project and what are you proudest of? My answer was that the gardens I have designed are a bit like my children and I cannot pick favorites! The thing I’m the proudest of is that like children all my gardens are different and that I am proud of all of them for different reasons. (Note that I only have two actual children)

What I am getting at is that once a garden has been designed and built, this is when a garden is like a newborn baby. If you are handing over the care and nurturing of this newborn to someone else you are putting a great deal of what that baby will become into someone their hands. Garden care or garden ‘maintenance’ is not really ‘maintenance’ it is a series of design choices over time. Done well it is not static and stationary but ongoing and changing. Gardens are an embodiment of change.
Another major reason is that in a sense no one will care more than the designer or the ‘parent’ of this garden. We can guide the garden in keeping with the original vision because we inherently have a deeper connection with the garden. This is also what makes this process of designing gardens so satisfying over time.

We can not only foster long-term relationships with our gardens and our clients. We are lucky enough to stick around and see how the garden grows and develops over time true to the original intent. This is also an opportunity to gain a huge amount of knowledge, as learning is ongoing. We can also witness the joy that a garden brings to you (our clients) over time. There is a huge amount of joy there. The process of designing and building a garden takes a great deal of care care and effort. I personally can’t imagine walking away and never seeing how this all comes together!