March is here and we are experiencing some very unpredictable weather. Only in Wisconsin does March creep in like a kitten, and the next day bare the fangs of a lion. When we do get a serendipitous pre-spring melt, it is the perfect opportunity to get a head start on any landscape improvements you may have been dreaming about all winter. It’s time to get out those spring plant catalogs that have been arriving in your mailbox and put them into action! But before you start making your wish list, it’s a good idea to get it all down on paper to determine whether or not you have the right plants in the right spot before you plant.
The first stage of any good landscape design is compiling all of the information you’ll need for the drawing. Since we have this reprieve from snow, get outside and take some photos of the area you want to plant. Take shots from several different angles to remind you of what it looked like, in case we see snow again. If you are redoing an existing area, make sure you photograph any plants located there, regardless of whether they are perennials, trees, or shrubs. Our memories are never quite as good as we think (at least mine isn’t). New landscaping doesn’t always mean ripping everything out. Spring is a great time to divide and redistribute perennials and to dig up shrubs.
Even more important than photographs is proper measurement. The more accurate the measurements, the more accurate the design will be from paper to planting bed. Improper measuring can cost you money because you might overestimate on mulch and plant material. Underestimating is just as bad, if not worse, because you may have to make another trip for more mulch (or pay a second delivery fee), or there aren’t enough plants to fill in properly after all that hard work.
So where do you start taking measurements? There can be a lot of factors that you need to consider and include in your design. Here are some examples to keep in mind if you are doing a foundation planting:
House
Exposure of House (does it face North, South, East, West?)
Window Spacing
Height of Windows from Ground
Doors
Sidewalks and/or Driveway (length & width)
Downspouts
Electrical/Cable Boxes
Gas/Electric Meters
Underground Wires and Utilities (It's a good idea to call Diggers Hotline before you start drawing a design.)
Landscape Lighting
Any existing bed lines
Old stumps
Tree locations
Any existing shrubs and perennials
Air Conditioner Units
I know it seems like a lot to include, but when I’m measuring a site, I’d rather have too much information than have to go back because I forgot something. If you’re doing a berm or island bed in the yard, there may be even more obstacles to consider, but we’re just going to stick with foundation beds today. To make things even easier, here are some step by step photos to help you out:
Step One: Get the measurements of your house, including window widths and space in-between.
Step Two: Measure the distance from the ground to the bottom of the windows. This will prevent planting a shrub that gets 5 feet tall in front of a window that is only 3 feet high. If your roof has on overhang, measure how far out it juts over the ground. Overhangs often don’t allow rainfall to reach directly under them, so you would want to space your plants to accommodate accordingly. Locate anything else along the house like downspouts, air conditioners, electrical boxes, etc.
Step Three: Find any existing plants. For shrubs, be sure to include width measurements. For trees, measure the width of the canopy and the diameter of the trunk.
Step Four: Measure any existing bed lines, sidewalks, and driveways. Sometimes it’s very difficult to measure these, especially if they curve. I like to use one corner of the house as a reference point or “benchmark”. Houses are also straight lines to which you can measure perpendicularly. So, to plot an existing curved bed along the house, I like to mark points every 2-4 feet, and then measure the distance from each point out to the bed line. Then you just connect the dots. 
Now that you have the proper measurements, you can start plotting them out on paper. Depending on the size of the project I use either 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch scale. If the area is smaller, like a perennial bed, I prefer drawing in 1/4 inch scale for more detail. Just stay consistent and don’t switch between the two scales. Graph paper is a great tool for this.
There are so many factors to consider when planning your landscape that it can be quite intimidating. If you would like to learn more about landscape design (Attention! Shameless-Self-Promotion-Alert!) I am offering a free class this spring called “Landscape Design 101”. There are two opportunities to attend: 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 28th at the Butler Public Library in Butler, WI; and 6:00 p.m. Monday, April 6th at our nursery in Menomonee Falls, WI. If you are interested (or know someone who might be) we ask that you pre-register by emailing register@johnsonsnursery.com or call our offices at (262) 252- 4988. Please indicate which session you would like to attend.