How to Start a Custom Landscape Design for Your Main Line Home
Creating a Beautiful, Low-Maintenance Landscape
If you’ve ever looked out at your yard and thought, “I know this space could be beautiful… I just don’t know where to start,” you’re not alone.
Many homeowners are curious about creating a thoughtful, cohesive landscape around their home but feel unsure how the process actually begins. The good news is that designing your landscape doesn’t require doing everything at once. In fact, the best gardens are usually created through a clear, organized design plan that allows improvements to happen step by step.
At Union Landscape Design, we help homeowners throughout the Main Line and Philadelphia suburbs see their property as a complete landscape composition. Once the plan is in place, you can install it in phases or all at once — whatever works best for your timeline and budget.
The key is starting with a framework that makes the process approachable.
Step 1: Start with How You Actually Use Your Space
Before thinking about plants, colors, or garden styles, the most important question is surprisingly simple:
How do you move through and use your property every day?
Your landscape should make daily life easier and more enjoyable. Some of the most important design ideas come from observing everyday routines.
Think about questions like:
How do you move between your car and the house when carrying groceries?
Where do kids enter the house after school or sports practice?
Is there a clear path from the driveway to the front door?
Are there areas where people naturally cut across the lawn?
Where do guests tend to gather when they arrive?
These patterns of circulation help shape pathways, plantings, and outdoor spaces that feel intuitive and comfortable.
A well-designed landscape quietly supports daily life in ways you might not even notice at first — until everything simply feels easier.
Step 2: Consider How You Want to Use Your Outdoor Space
Once the day-to-day flow of the property is understood, we start thinking about how your landscape can support special moments and seasonal use.
Your yard may already have natural spaces that are perfect for gathering, relaxing, or entertaining.
Some questions we often explore with homeowners include:
Do you enjoy hosting summer dinners or outdoor parties?
Would you like a quiet place for morning coffee or reading?
Is there space for a small fire pit or patio gathering area?
Are there views from inside the house that could be enhanced with plantings?
How can the garden feel inviting in every season, not just summer?
A thoughtful landscape design helps your outdoor spaces support both everyday living and memorable moments.
Step 3: Work with the Character of Your Home
Great landscapes always feel connected to the architecture around them.
Whether you live in:
a historic stone home on the Main Line
a classic suburban property
a townhome in the Philadelphia area
or a coastal home near the shore
…the same design principles can help your landscape feel natural, balanced, and timeless.
Rather than forcing a style onto the property, we look closely at the lines, materials, and proportions of the house and let those guide the design.
The goal is a landscape that feels like it has always belonged there.
The Design Principles That Create a Cohesive Landscape
Once circulation, outdoor use, and architectural character are understood, we begin designing the planting framework that brings the garden to life.
Some of the key principles we use in custom landscape design include:
Evergreen Structure
Evergreen shrubs and trees provide the backbone of the garden, giving the landscape form and structure throughout the entire year. Even in winter, the garden still feels defined and intentional.
Winter Interest
A beautiful landscape should look interesting even in January. Plants with colorful stems, textured bark, berries, and seed heads create visual interest during the quieter months.
Layered Planting Design
Professional planting design often works in layers, which helps gardens feel full and natural.
Typically this includes:
Low edging plants along pathways and borders
Medium-height plants that fill the center of garden beds, providing groups of complimentary flowers
Taller shrubs and perennials that provide depth in the background and frame sapces and views.
This layering creates the lush, abundant feeling people associate with well-designed gardens.
Native Perennials with Multiple Seasons of Interest
Many of our favorite plant combinations include native perennials that offer:
varied bloom times from spring through fall
lush foliage throughout summer
fall foliage and seed heads that provide structure
winter interest as mature plant forms dry and persist through colder weather.
These plants not only provide long seasons of beauty, but also support pollinators, birds, and local ecosystems while keeping gardens relatively low maintenance.
A Landscape Plan Creates Clarity
One of the biggest benefits of a custom landscape design is that it allows you to see your property as one cohesive vision rather than a series of disconnected projects.
With a clear plan in place, you can:
install the entire landscape at once
complete the work in phases over time
or simply use the design as a guide for future improvements
Either way, the result is a landscape that feels intentional, organized, and uniquely suited to your home.
Your Landscape Can Be Beautiful and Functional
A well-designed landscape doesn’t just add plants around the edges of a yard. It improves how your property works every day while creating a garden that looks beautiful in every season.
At Union Landscape Design, we work with homeowners throughout the Main Line and Philadelphia suburbs, including Narberth, Merion Station, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and beyoned . Our custom landscape designs focus on creating gardens that feel natural, organized, and beautiful in every season while supporting pollinators and remaining practical and easy to maintain.
If you’ve been wondering where to start with your landscape, the first step is simply starting the conversation.
Explore our Pricing Packages to see real examples and find the right starting point for your project.
— Union Landscape Design
