CREATIVE LANDSCAPING

When you come to Blake Nursery for design services you’ll have one of the most worthwhile experiences of your life! Since 1977 Blake Nursery has been working with clients to make their landscaping dreams come true.

The process of you relating your ideas and our creatively turning them into reality is challenging and fun. Our aim is to stay within your budget while creating a custom landscape that is functional and beautiful. Some clients express interest in low maintenance yards. Others in creating lush Gardens of Eden, or practical matters such as shade, wind protection, and/or privacy. No matter what the focus, the results will be beautiful and original, while always keeping the green movement's reduce, reuse, and recycle in our sights.

Why not have us turn your home into a place where you love to be? Let our professional landscape designer help you define spaces for your outdoor living, such as patios, barbecues, pools, and vegetable or flower gardens. Let us connect your interior spaces with the out-of-doors, so one seamlessly flows into the other. The main point is simply this: get the results you want by signing on with the design company that knows how to listen! After 31 years of doing just that, Blake Nursery excels at it! Just give us a try.

DESIGN SERVICES

Here are three alternatives to choose from if you’re in the market for landscape ideas and plans. Prior to meeting with a representative of Blake Nursery we suggest you fill out the Landscape Questionnaire.

1. You come to Blake Nursery by appointment with measurements and photos of your home and yard. After discussing your needs with a landscape designer, we make creative suggestions for your project and provide you with a sketch and plant list. The charge for this service is $40/hour.
2. We come to your site, do measuring and a quick sketch on-site – a process that takes about one hour. For this service, there’s a $75 fee plus $75/hour for travel time. (No travel charges for Big Timber or Livingston.)
3. We come to your site, do detailed measuring, discuss your personal tastes and desires, then incorporate them into the plans. You are provided with a professional blueprint, with everything to scale so it’s easy to understand. Because more time and thought are spent here, the results are invariably worth the additional investment. Our initial visit plus travel time is $75/hour. Design time is billed at $75/hour. If you’re not in a big hurry, we’ll combine your visit with others in your area and pro-rate travel charges. (Again, no travel charges for Big Timber or Livingston.)

Once you have your plan, you can proceed at whatever pace you choose. If desired Blake Nursery will install your landscape, from a single tree to a total job for a new home or business.

THE DESIGN PROCESS

If you’re considering working with our nursery to create a landscape design for your property, read on. The following is a guideline to help you understand how the design process works at Blake Nursery. Having a grasp of this from the start will make it easier for you to decide if this is something you want to pursue, and if so, where we’re headed.

Step One: Site Visit

Usually we start the process by coming to your property and doing an analysis that will include the following: soil type, existing vegetation, sun and wind exposure, shade, access, drainage, traffic routes, and more. We take photographs and measurements, and it’s helpful if you can provide us with architectural site and building plans, including utilities and
any other buried lines.

We encourage you to spend time with our catalog or website familiarizing yourself with available plant material and other information we hope is useful. We encourage clients to dream while at the same time remembering you’re in Montana, which requires a certain amount of downright practicality!

Our designs are customized for individual clients — there’s no “one size fits all”. Since your design should reflect something about you, we get personal (see previous page). At this time it’s helpful if you can give us rough figures for your landscaping budget, to allow us to create a design that fits your circumstances.

Step Two: Preliminary Design

We go to the drawing board and produce a preliminary design. At this point we expect to make changes and welcome your comments. We prefer to review plant material with you at the nursery. This way you are able to see the plants for yourself – their leaf and flower color, texture, size, shape, and price.

Step Three: Final Design

We return to the drawing board to make agreed upon alterations to the plan and then work up an estimate. If changes are needed due to budget constraints this is the time to make them. Once the plan is approved, blueprints are made and a copy is sent to you. With your final approval the formal design process is finished and we can schedule the work for your landscape installation.