Richard Allen, the owner of The Dreamscapes Design Build Maintain, has designed and built well over 1,000 gardens during decades of work in landscaping and garden design. Based in Acworth, Georgia, Richard and The Dreamscapes team have created gardens large and small throughout Acworth, Kennesaw, Marietta, Woodstock, Dallas, and surrounding communities, as well as larger landscape design projects throughout the Atlanta area.

Those years of designing, building, and maintaining gardens have shaped a very practical way of looking at landscape design. A garden is not simply a collection of attractive plants. It has to belong to the property, relate to the architecture of the home, work with the existing terrain, and continue to make sense as the plants mature and the family uses the space over time.

Garden Design Ideas and Inspiration

The Dreamscapes is known for gardens that feel connected to their surroundings rather than imposed on them. We look at the style and era of the home, existing trees and plantings, the shape of the land, views from inside the house, sun and shade, and the way people move through the property. These details help determine where a garden should begin, what it should contain, and how it should relate to lawns, patios, walkways, and other parts of the landscape.

Plant selection is only one part of the design. Richard pays particular attention to texture, scale, foliage, form, and the way plants relate to one another throughout the year. Color matters, but a garden should still have character when nothing is in peak bloom. Contrasting leaf shapes, evergreen structure, changes in height, and the careful placement of trees and shrubs can give a garden depth without making it feel crowded or overdesigned.

The homeowner's priorities matter just as much. A garden designed for someone who enjoys working outdoors may be very different from one intended to require less day-to-day attention. Some properties need privacy or screening, others need better transitions between outdoor areas, and some simply have an older landscape that no longer fits the home or the way the family lives. Good garden ideas begin with understanding those differences.

Richard Allen's Approach to Garden Design

Richard is a self-taught landscape designer, and much of his education has come from decades of working directly with landscapes. He has continued to study garden design, visit gardens, learn from other designers, and pay close attention to what happens to landscapes after they are installed. Maintaining properties over many years has been especially valuable because it shows which plants thrive, which combinations age well, and how a design changes as the garden matures.

Nature has always been one of Richard's strongest influences, but he has also sought out the work and ideas of accomplished garden designers. He met influential British garden designer John Brookes of West Sussex and attended several of his seminars, continuing a habit of learning from designers whose work approached gardens as complete spaces rather than simply collections of plants. John Brookes was widely known for relating gardens closely to the architecture and everyday use of the property, an approach that has clear parallels with the way Richard thinks about landscape design. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

That continuing curiosity is important to The Dreamscapes' design philosophy. Richard does not approach every property with a predetermined style or plant palette. The house, terrain, existing landscape, homeowner's preferences, maintenance expectations, and intended use of the property all help shape the design. The result should look like it was created for that particular home, not borrowed from another yard.

Designing the Garden With the Homeowner

The Dreamscapes involves the homeowner throughout the design process, from the first ideas through the development of the plan. We want to understand what you like about the property, what frustrates you, what you want to keep, and how you expect to use the landscape. As ideas develop, we explain the reasoning behind plant choices, layouts, materials, and other recommendations rather than simply presenting a finished design without context.

That back-and-forth is part of what makes a custom garden personal. The designer brings experience with plants, construction, scale, drainage, and landscape composition, while the homeowner brings knowledge of how the property is actually lived in. Bringing those two perspectives together produces a garden that is not only attractive, but appropriate for the people who will see and use it every day.

If you are planning a larger landscape project and want to learn more about how The Dreamscapes approaches the full property, visit our Landscape Design page.

Have ideas for your garden, or a property you are not quite sure what to do with? Call The Dreamscapes at 678-574-4008 or use our online form to schedule a landscape evaluation and talk through the possibilities for your property.