40 
House & Garden 
ENGAGING A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT 
ELSA REHMANN 
T HE very first thing to do in engaging a 
landscape architect is to arrange for a 
visit with him—or her—on the grounds. For 
this visit you pay a certain fixed fee. It is 
not possible to say just how much this charge 
will be, as it varies with the reputation of the 
landscape architect and with the kind of work 
he is engaged to do. As the work of the land¬ 
scape architect is extremely varied—ranging 
from the design of the smallest backyard gar¬ 
den to the development of whole estates and 
parks and university grounds, streets, residen¬ 
tial communities and whole towns and cities— 
let us suppose, purely for simplification, that 
you are only asking the landscape architect to 
design a garden for you. 
This first visit of the landscape architect 
is the most important one that he will pay— 
and if he is a very busy man he may not pay 
another until the work is far toward comple¬ 
tion, as his assistants will carry out his ideas. 
This first visit, then, is important because it 
is at this time that he will have to form a very 
definite idea of the problem at hand. You 
have no idea how many little things, and how 
many big ones, have to be noted on this visit. 
The lay of the land, the situation of the house, 
the kind and position of the trees, the style 
of the house, the arrangement of the rooms, 
the kind of views and vistas that are possible 
from the various windows, and many another 
matter like these must be noted, for they will 
determine in a large measure what kind of 
a garden it will be possible to design for you. 
In other words, if the landscape architect does 
not fit your garden into the spirit of the house 
{Continued on page 78) 
At the first visit the landscape architect 
studies the lay of the land, the situation of 
the house, the kind and position of trees, and 
evolves the outline scheme for the entire gar- 
• den. The example here is the work of Marian 
C, Coffin 
The landscape architect not alone visualizes 
the design and color of the new garden but 
studies the possible vistas and the approaches 
to them so that whatever way one looks, the 
garden makes a picture. This is a sedum 
planting by the gate 
This is one of 
the ends of the 
main path, as 
indicated in the 
first plan for 
the garden oi 
Mr. and Mrs. 
J. H. Alexan¬ 
dre, Glenhead, 
L. I. 
