Personalized Planting Guide

Personalized plant choices that guide you on your journey to create a beautiful, eco-friendly, low-maintenance garden

  • Custom Plant Guide

  • Eco-friendly Garden Tips

  • Confidence & Clarity

  • Expert Recommendations

If you don't have a plan--you don't have a garden that lasts.

Our Planting Guide provides a custom plant list for your garden so you can skip the trial and error and go straight to the joy.

Designed for DIY gardeners, flower lovers, and people who want to create a space that they truly adore.

Building a garden plant by plant leaves a hodgepodge of colors and textures.

Worse, without understanding your space, plants limp along without ever truly thriving. At best, the space feels sparse and disconnected. At worst, it's a wild jungle in some seasons and a muddy mess in others.

When I started gardening, I practiced the shop-and-pray method.
The one where you pick whatever bloom catches your eye at the nursery and hope it does well.

The problem is that plant tags lied to you.

Wait. Really?

YES! You read that right.

Major growers are in the business of selling plants, and the more broad the conditions, like sun and soil, the better the plant sells.

So, a 'full sun' tag could mean that the plant requires partial shade in dry soil. And, there goes your expensive shrub.

Plants are living, breathing organisms. They have specific needs and cannot grow in a space that doesn't meet those needs.

NOT TO MENTION, WE'VE ALL LEARNED THAT A 'DEER-RESISTANT' TAG JUST MEANS THAT HOPEFULLY THE DEER AREN'T HUNGRY THAT DAY.

You need more.

Welcome to your Custom Plant Guide

You know your desired look and style.

Together, we'll dig into understanding your unique site and make a plan to achieve a look you love.

Buying the plant is the easy part…getting it to look good and live year after year, even past the first month, is the hard part.

Our planting guide ensures you find perfect plants for your environment.

Our design process is personalized to you and your space to inform our design decisions.

Custom Plant Guide

Our steps look like this:

  • Access to our design & site questionnaire that we use to design plant communities

  • Review of your site's specific conditions

  • Outline your design theme including inspiration images that serve an on-ongoing guide

  • Choose specific plant species that work beautifully together and perfectly for your site

  • Create a final plant list with latin names, size, and site conditions and a seasonal bloom color guide

  • Introductory discovery call; personal, on-site consultation; and plant guide presentation meeting

  • 3 meetings in 3 weeks to go from planning to a planting PLAN

  • One payment of $475

Before & Afters

  • Before and after 3

  • before after 4

Our garden guides are...

Wildlife Havens

Our backyards have the opportunity to create crucial habitats for wildlife that desperately needs it. We know that insects face extinction, birds are declining, and wildlife everywhere suffers from pollution, climate change, and habitat loss. We have the power to help.

Unique

Your space should look and feel like it's made for you. There is no one-size-fits-all or boring border with the same five plants you see everywhere. Your garden should reflect you and your style.

Low-Maintenance

Mimicking natural systems means less work for you. Planning and planting tips can help your garden retain water in the soil, suppress weeds, and encourage plant roots to "speak to" and support each other.

I'm Lindsey and I've been playing in gardens for as long as I can remember.

I'm an expert in ecological landscaping, a nerd about nature, and my passion is helping gardeners craft a space that they love.

I'm a certified Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional, an environmental columnist for Lynchburg Living, and my garden was featured in Fine Gardening Magazine. I'm also a girl who loves to get her hands in the dirt and grow everything from special spring ephemerals to simple backyard irises.

You CAN build a garden that you love.

You just need the personalized guidance to show you how the experts do it, and that’s where we come in.

As an expert gardener and landscaper, I work with you to provide tailored advice and knowledge.

We unpack elements that most people don’t consider like:

  • Plants that provide color in each season, so there is something to enjoy (and something for pollinators) in spring, summer, and fall.

  • Plants that work well together, creating interest with contrasting size, leaf shapes and textures.

  • Plants that love your site, including the soil (even if it's clay), the shade under your trees, or a baking hot sun.

Our Three Meetings & Three Weeks Process Includes:

Design Questionnaire

Our simple questionnaire will capture your design wishes, colors, style, and more. We'll gain an understanding of where you're going and why. The questionnaire will help you confirm your style choices and evaluate your site.

Three Personal Meetings

In our three consultations (discovery call, on site meeting, and final design meeting), we'll discuss your planting needs and how to make them a reality. We will review your site's conditions (the pros and cons) and discuss possible plant options. We'll delve into how to incorporate your style into your space.

Custom Plant Guide

You'll receive a custom plant list created for your site including common and scientific names, soil and sun conditions, and bloom season. We'll use our plant knowledge to curate the best plants for your site. Then, we'll create an online design board to show you why certain plants work together.

What our planting guide does NOT include:

  • Plant installation

  • An overhead drawing with the exact plant layout

  • A measured drawing with plant quantities

Custom Plant Guide

Custom Planting Guide 

Our Plant Guide service is a custom plant design, created for your specific site conditions and your personal taste and home style. It includes:

  • A 30-minute discovery call

  • Questionnaire (to be completed by client)

  • A 45- minute on-site consultation

  • Plant and site research

  • Custom Plant List for your site (with latin names, sizes, and seasonal color guide)

  • Digital Plant Design Board (via Milanote) that remains accessible to you

  • A 45-minute Plant Design meeting (via Zoom) to talk through the plant design and answer questions

$475

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes, the package is ideal for beginners who need help transforming their needs and ideas into a list of plants that will work for their space. Our planting and maintenance guide provides tips for garden care, but you will do your own purchasing, planting, and plant care.

  • In the questionnaire and during the consultation, we will discuss your preferences and help you choose a garden style. The questionnaire helps identify your desired look, colors, and garden style, making it easier to choose plants that suits your taste.

  • Absolutely! This DIY package includes personalized plant list that reflect your unique style preferences. If you want a fully custom garden design, please fill out the form on our website to schedule your consultation.

  • No, the package does not include a detailed overhead drawing or a measured layout with plant quantities. Instead, it provides a curated plant list and design board explaining how the plants work together and where to place them based on your garden's unique conditions.

  • While we do everything possible to ensure the success of your plants, not all plants may survive due to the many factors beyond human control. The joy of gardening lies in understanding and working with nature, and sometimes that means learning from challenges. If you encounter issues, we can provide follow-up consultations to diagnose the problem and suggest remedies. Factors like unusual weather, fungal or bacterial diseases, soil conditions, watering practices, and wildlife will be evaluated to improve plant health and increase their chances of thriving.

  • We offer garden installation and plant care guides for ongoing maintenance support. These guides include advice about invasive species, fertilizing, weed control, pruning, and monthly plant care tips. We do NOT offer in person maintenance at this time. (If you’d like to take care of our client gardens, drop us an email at ShraderStone[at]gmail.)

  • Absolutely! If you have specific issues like pests or weeds, please include those details in the questionnaire. We will discuss these problems during our consultation and provide tailored recommendations. This can include pest-resistant plants, organic solutions, and effective weed management strategies to ensure your garden thrives.