I feel that I should introduce myself, so a bit about me and this web site...I am not a professional garden designer myself, but a very keen...some would say obsessive and fanatical gardener. I have no formal training in horticulture or design, except for some training in the art of bonsai at a very young age. I am hoping to enroll in a garden design course soon and become a professional garden designer.
I have worked in Information Technology for more than two decades. Most recently I have worked in the City of London developing bespoke systems for trading various types of financial derivatives. I worked hard at it and it was all very interesting, but never stirred any passion in me. So I've decided to take a very different tack. This web site is the beginning of this journey.
The intention of this web site is to provide a conduit via which garden designers can reach a large section of the public. All the garden designs are owned by the designers who submit them. This site simply provides a mechanism to match potential customers to designs. Designs on this site consists of two parts; a "cover" and a "detailed" plan. The "cover" is visible to anyone who registers on to this site and is intended to give the customer an idea of what they are buying. The detailed design is available for users to download only when they purchase the design. Prices are set by designers at their discretion. I suggest pricing designs much lower than bespoke work to encourage more sales, but this is purely at the designers discretion. Designers have the option to update their prices as they wish. They may also submit a few free designs to give customers an idea of what to expect from them.
If a customer can't find a design they like, they can leave more information (freeform text) in the hope that a designer may decide to submit a design that matches their requirements. Alternatively, they may elect to request a bespoke design from a specific designer who offers design by correspondence. If customers opt for a bespoke service, the site will forward what the customer has supplied in the form of an e-mail to the designer. From then on customers correspond and conduct business directly with the designer.
I have consciously tried to make the first version of this web site simple. I have only catered for simple garden shapes and assumed a blank canvas to work with. More sophisticated options may be added later. Please feel free to send an e-mail to andy@bloomingstyle.co.uk with any suggestions. Various metrics of customer search criteria will be collated and be made available to all designers as feedback. This will hopefully help designers decide which section of the market they may wish to target.
Finally, an image of my own ever changing garden under construction last year. I blew my hard earned bonus a couple of years ago on some beautiful tree ferns (Dicksonia fibrosa). I decided late last year that they deserved to be staged in raised beds and planted "forest style" for maximum effect in my small garden. This is the latest picture I have of my garden, as all my tree ferns are recovering from their winter slumber. I am looking forward to a beautiful summer in my garden.
With the support of Garden Designers, I hope that more people can enjoy their garden as much as I do!
Be well and Prosper