Gardens are always a beautiful addition to any home. Besides providing colour and life to your house, plants, flowers and trees can give you shade, minimise carbon dioxide in your home and even act as natural air fresheners.
But while you might think that it's easy to just pick out a few flowers and plant them in your backyard, it takes a lot more knowledge and expertise to figure out the right plants for your climate, soil and environment. Let a landscaped designer help you create your own little paradise. Here are just some important reasons why you should spend a little more on a landscape designer.

1. Different plants need different care. You can't just pick up a beautiful orchid from a flower shop and expect it to last for a year in your backyard. A landscape designer would be able to tell you what the orchid needs and where it should specifically be placed to get enough sun or shade. Some plants need only the morning sun, whilst others won't last if placed directly underneath the sun's rays. A professional landscape designer would know the details of each plant's needs.

2. A landscape designer can introduce you to rare or even hard-to-find plants. Most gardens tend to have the same kind of plants. When you hire a landscape designer to do your yard work for you, he or she can help you discover rare flowers or unusual plants, such as Arisaemas or Joy Perfume trees. With the help of a landscape designer or architect, you can have a garden that will be the envy of your neighbourhood.

3. You might be able to get discounts from your landscape designer. Chances are, the landscape designer you hire already has a long list of contacts--from garden contractors to nurseries. You will then be able to enjoy the special prices that he or she can get from these suppliers. He or she can also get you in touch with suppliers of other garden accessories and materials, such as stone or marble fountains, gazebos and flower pots or planter boxes.

4. Your garden will be completed faster. If you design and put together your garden on your own, you will have to take the time and effort to do so. This means long, tiring weekends and stressful days. If you get the services of a landscape architect, work can be completed faster, since the designer will have a team of builders, gardeners and contractors ready to do the work on your garden.

5. A landscape designer can envision what your garden will look like in ten years. You can pick out the plants you want on your own and place them as you wish in your garden. But if you do this haphazardly, your plants could grow out and block the paths of others. Some flowers could even grow taller than others. This, in effect, could lead to an unruly garden in the future. A landscape designer would know where to place plants, flowers and trees so that you have a beautiful and well-manicured yard as the years go by.

Professional landscape designers don't come cheap, but think about shelling out extra cash for a designer so that you don't end up with an unkempt, run-of-the-mill garden. The points above should convince you to spend the extra money for a landscape designer.