Rethinking Outcomes for Success

For my own interest and a bit of clarity, I’ve tallied up the time spent creating and planting up a recent garden from scratch and it’s the equivalent of 2 months straight. That doesn’t include the weeks spent envisioning, analysing, producing and modifying the design. And it doesn’t include the time of an additional landscaper and sometimes an extra labourer working on the fencing, wall and paving. Or the week to week input from the client, adding the living in touches.

And now, nearly two years on from the initial consultation sitting around the kitchen table overlooking a muddy quagmire, I feel I can say we’re moving into what could be called the ‘maintenance’ phase. Which maybe just better describes my changing role rather than the garden itself, which of course continues to be the living, breathing, ever-evolving changing landscape and experience.

Prompting me to wonder when is the time to evaluate or feel a sense of success? When can we say ‘I’ve made it’, or ‘I will know I’ve made it when…’ How do we define outcomes for success? And how does this shape what we do?

Yes, it’s the actual garden, rising out of mud and rubble. But what does this mean?!

Is it just the existence of plants, soil, wildlife habitats…or is it partly us? By definition, the idea of a garden is where people and nature meet. It’s a system in flux, made up of a community of elements and the relationships between them. 

Design processes are understandably outcome driven. But what happens if we are slightly less prescriptive and consider the experiences of the process as outcomes too? As human, feeling beings, ultimately we are designing spaces and systems because we want to feel a certain way. But often we are distracted, hurriedly trying to recreate something we’ve seen, something we want or someone we want to be. Focusing solely on a preconceived, final image, misses an opportunity to connect to how we feel in the present and to the full experience we wish to create along the way.     

When we identify with wanting something, we tend to want it ‘now’, an urgency perpetuated through advertising and the media. In the context of garden design, this is echoed through TV programmes, condensing a garden makeover into 30 minutes, feeding our unconscious mind the idea that our garden could be transformed in the time it takes to eat our dinner! However, when we work to include feelings-based outcomes: to feel connected, at peace or understood, it gives greater flexibility for how we get there to be opened up. There’s an opportunity for the pathway between cause and effect to relax a bit and it encourages us to work more towards enrichment and expansion.

So if we assume we are beginning with an outdoor space, but asking for a ‘garden’, then we want to ensure outcomes both for people and the environment. Asking questions like: 

‘What do you want your relationship with your outdoor space to be like?’

‘How would you like your experience to feel?’

‘What are your past associations with nature and the outdoors?’

‘What do gardens mean to you?’

Creating a garden is an evolutionary process. A journey in its own right. It’s a summary of observations, imaginings, creations, successes, hiccups, learnings, challenges, creative insights, quiet satisfactions and joyful surprises. It’s a journey that continues long after the designer and landscapers have left. And starts even before they have arrived. The role of designer is to provide a linking point or signpost- drawing on your interests, experiences and passions and directing your garden journey towards a place of empowerment. A place where you can confidently nurture your own garden and it will continue to nurture you for many years to come.

Over the next month, I’ll be conducting some exploratory research into how people connect to their outdoor spaces and any challenges present.

This begins with a preliminary phone call, around 30 minutes, and then you’ll receive a follow up call a few weeks later outlining possible solutions.

Although there’s usually a charge for consultation work, for research purposes this is free for you- and an opportunity to troubleshoot an issue personal to you and your garden, as well as gain insight into some of the common garden challenges other people are facing!

If you’d like to be involved, please send me a direct message and I’ll be in touch to arrange a call.

Nicola