How long will it take?Every client wants to know the answer to this question, and most want the answer right up front. Some even want to know before the designer has been to the site. Understandable, but unrealistic.In all honesty, it takes as long as it takes. One factor is coordinating the clients', designer's, and contractor's schedules. Everyone is busy, that is a part of life. There is sometimes a lot of time wasted waiting for meetings - simple math.Deciding: Some clients need more time to ponder decisions than others. It can take a while to get responses to calls made to a variety of consultants, municipalities, etc - research of any kind requires a bit of patience. Never mind the time required for neighbor comment periods in some areas (eeek)! There is also the design work itself and the time it takes to produce the documents needed for each meeting.Scope! Not the mouthwash. If the list of things that the designer and the client are working on together is extensive, that can take some time. It is funny sometimes, how designing for a residence can be as time consuming as for a public park. Projects on such an intimate scale, especially because they are where someone lives, can hold a great deal of meaning and detailing. Details all the way down to the angle of a drain cover in a field of paving are important at this level.Seasons and availability: Oh, my. Availability is one of the biggest stumbling blocks of Landscape Architecture and garden design. Materials come with their own special problems. Finding the materials desired is one thing, making sure that they're available and will meet the specifications is quite another. Stone for paving, depending on where it comes from, can be just as difficult to obtain as an out-of season plant. For instance, bluestone from back east, if still in the quarry, can be hidden under feet of snow for a good part of the year. I once had occasion to reject stone samples coming to California from Oklahoma three times because the ability of the quarry to cut the stone accurately wasn't within accepted tolerances and they persisted in sending samples of the wrong color.Add in the availability of plant materials at different times of the year and the lead times necessary for ordering certain kinds of plants, and it can take a good amount of time to install a garden that has exactly what you wanted. When planning for year-round interest, this can be particularly important. Spring bulbs are ordered in the fall (much cheaper to get the bulbs in the fall than try to find them growing in the spring!), fall bulbs are ordered in the spring. Bare root Roses are ordered in November or December, then delivered in January (here in N. CA). Most nurseries carry plants that are in bloom NOW, whenever now is, so if you are sourcing something through the wholesale or retail nursery trade, that can be pretty limiting.The bottom line? Patience. The design process can happen as fast as the designer can work and the client can respond....the rest is a matter of strategy and patience.