The Designer Series: Jan McGowan Garden Design

We present our final in “The Designer Series” where we are showcasing four talented landscape designers that we work very closely with; their work and their passion for what they do.  

Paying for a landscape design is a great investment and gives our clients a perfect place to start. It also makes our quoting process a lot faster.

We are pleased to introduce you to Jan McGowan from Jan McGowan Garden Design.  Jan provides her clients with hand drawn landscape designs and planting plans, which in this age of technology is very special & unique.

Jan has been designing since 1999, originally urban residential sites in the central suburbs of Auckland.  During this time Jan contracted and was also involved in a couple of the Ellerslie Flower Shows.  

After moving to the Waikato in 2008 Jan established herself as an independent designer where her work has evolved more towards new builds, with a strong emphasis on lifestyle properties.  Jan says she also enjoys garden revamps of established gardens, small suburban gardens, and commercial landscaping.

As with our other designers, Jan’s clients are often young families undertaking new house builds or older couples whose children have left home, the house has been renovated and they are looking to refresh their gardens to reflect this new stage of their lives.  Jan acknowledges this is a common theme, people revamping their gardens at distinct stages as a way of moving forward and starting fresh.

Jan finds that commercial clients are much more about simplicity, but they understand that a beautiful garden has the power to entice customers and improve wellbeing for their staff.

Over the years Jan has worked on several school projects, hospital gardens and a passion project for Women’s Refuge.  She says even the smallest garden can have a hugely positive effect – a pop of green, a flash of colour and a quiet space to sit will work wonders for the soul.

Jan describes landscape design as the “best job in the world”. She enjoys the fact that people are in a happy place when they engage a designer so it’s a positive experience for everyone.  She aims to create a design beyond the client’s expectations; something practical, that suits their lifestyle but is also beautiful.  She loves the people side of her work and feels she’s been around long enough to “get” most people, understand where they are at in their lives and know how to work effectively with the space, no matter how big or small!

Alongside landscape design, Jan has worked as a gardener so what she doesn’t know about plants is probably not worth knowing.  She’s a practical person and has a good understanding of measuring sites, drawing up plans and liaising with clients.

If you would like to engage with Jan for a landscape design or a planting plan, you can contact her on: 0274 168 719 or janmcgowan@xtra.co.nz