As the 2026 growing season waves tantalizingly on the far horizon, we’d like to help you prepare for a disaster-free garden. To do that, we’re sharing a few key landscape design principles…along with a whole heap of stories about landscape design fails.

No garden is truly no-maintenance, but while ordinary weeding and pruning is one thing, fighting endlessly against the effects of a bad design decision is something else entirely. We’re talking about hardscaping installed in the wrong spot, poorly selected plants, ever-spreading invasive species…The list goes on. Sean shares some zingers from his history of managing client landscapes, and Erin gets vulnerable with some stories of her own past mistakes. Tune in to find out what not to do…and to journey with our hosts through the steps you should take when designing a garden or landscape of your own.

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00:15 Introduction
00:55 What’s Growing On? The End of Erin’s Winter Garden
04:27 What’s Growing On? Sean’s Winter Observations
07:56 Water Break
09:05 Myth Busting: The Low-Maintenance Garden
12:34 Landscape Design Step 1: Dream and Observe
15:44 Landscape Pre-Design: Know Your Needs
17:21 Designing for Accessibility and Maintenance
19:07 Considering Microclimates
20:16 Landscape Design Step 2: Hardscaping
22:25 Artificial Turf Legislation Fail
27:14 Decisions about Paths
28:00 Myth Busting: Permanence in Landscapes
29:36 Landscape Design Step 3: Plant Selection
31:00 Sean’s False Sorbaria sorbifolia Stories
34:36 Erin’s Invasive-Plants-in-Woodland-Garden Story
40:04 Landscape Design Step 4: Plan for Changes over Seasons and Years
46:32 Retaining Wall Fail
50:00 Maintenance Nightmare: Nothing But Stairs
54:30 Compromise and Education are Important
57:09 Staghorn Sumacs Always Win
58:55 Outro and Contact Us