Remote residential landscape design · New York, NY

We draw your yard’s landscape plan. Remotely. To scale.

1:48

Fig. 0 — ¼ inch on paper is one foot in your yard. That’s the scale every sheet we send is drawn to.

Send us phone photos and a few measurements. You get back a scaled planting plan, a hardscape layout and a plant list your landscaper or nursery can price from. One flat fee per package, billed by invoice.

We never visit. That saves you money and costs you a few things — we’ll say which, up front.

Get a flat-fee quote Call (929) 215-2912

Drawn for

  • Brownstone backyards
  • Rowhouse yards
  • Co-op terraces
  • Rooftop decks

How the work moves

Phone photos in, plan set out

  1. Day 0

    Photos

    Eight to twelve phone shots, rough measurements, which way is north. A survey helps. No survey? We’ll ask you to pace it out.

  2. Days 1–2

    Call

    Thirty minutes: how you use the yard, what the dog destroys, what you refuse to water.

  3. Days 3–10

    Draft

    Scaled beds, paths, paving, plant placement. Nothing pretty but unbuildable.

  4. Day 11

    Markup

    You redline it. We redraw it. One round is in the price.

  5. Days 14–18

    Final set

    PDF plan sheets, a plant list with sizes and counts, hardscape dimensions.

April and May run slower. Everyone discovers their yard at the same time. Booking in February gets you a plan before the nurseries sell out of what’s in it.

What you can buy

Flat fees, itemized

Risograph-style overhead plan of a narrow brownstone backyard with paths, beds and dimension lines

  • Planting Plan

    Up to 600 sq ft

    Scaled planting layout, plant list with botanical names, sizes and counts, tuned to New York’s zone 7b winters and your light. No paving.

    $685Quote this one

  • Yard Plan Most picked

    Up to 1,500 sq ft

    Planting plus hardscape: paving, edging, steps, fence and gate lines, all dimensioned. The one to choose if you’re starting from bare dirt or tearing up an old patio.

    $1,340Quote this one

  • Full Set

    Up to 2,500 sq ft

    Yard Plan plus construction details, a drainage and lighting sketch, sourcing notes with approved substitutions, and a 45-minute call to walk your contractor through it.

    $2,185Quote this one

  • Terrace & Roof Plan

    Containers and decks

    Container layout, plant list, and watering notes for wind and heat. We flag weight loads; your building’s engineer signs them off. We don’t.

    $795Quote this one

Extras: extra markup round $145 · plant list only $265. Billed by invoice — half to start, half when the files go out. Card or ACH.

Where we work

We never visit. Here’s what that means

Verte Clara works from 169 Madison Ave in New York, and our plans are for New York yards: shady courtyards, clay soil, 4-foot-wide side returns, roofs with a wind problem. We know the plant palette that survives here.

  • Manhattan
  • Brooklyn
  • Queens
  • The Bronx
  • Staten Island

Skipping the site visit is why a plan costs $685 instead of $2,000. What you give up is us noticing the things photos hide. So we ask about them.

Can you design a yard you’ve never stood in?

Yes, with trade-offs. Photos, a tape measure and a sun log get us most of the way. What we can’t see: rubble under the soil, a neighbor’s roots, the corner that floods in March. We ask about all three, and the plan flags what to check on site.

Do you build it?

No. We draw, someone else digs. The point is a plan any landscaper can price, so you can compare real quotes instead of guessing.

What if I don’t like the first draft?

One markup round is in every package. After that, extra rounds are $145. If we misread your brief, that round is on us.

Co-op board? Landmarked block?

We note what boards usually ask to see: heights, materials, drainage. We don’t file anything. Your board and your building’s engineer have the last word on rooftop loads.

04 · Request a quote

Send us the yard. We’ll send a number

A written, flat quote, no site visit and no sales call unless you want one. Email works as well as the form.

info@verteclara.com

Tell us about the yard

What to send

  • 8–12 phone photos
  • Rough measurements
  • North, roughly
  • Survey, if you have it
  • Your must-haves

Rather talk?

(929) 215-2912

Weekdays, or book an evening.

Desk hours

Mon–Fri
9:30am–7pm
Evenings
By appointment
Weekends
Email, we answer Monday

Sample briefs — the yards we usually get, not client work

Three yards, three plans

  1. The long, dark backyard

    Brownstone · 18 × 40 ft · north-facing

    Three hours of sun at noon, a shared fence on both sides. We draw a bluestone path, a shade-tolerant understory with hellebores and ferns, and one multi-stem serviceberry to take the eye up.

    Yard Plan · $1,340

  2. The windy roof

    Co-op terrace · 14 × 22 ft · full sun

    Tall grasses and thyme that tolerate wind and a dry August, in fiberglass planters sized to the load your engineer approves. We’ll tell you which pretty plants will die up there.

    Terrace & Roof Plan · $795

  3. Front and back, one budget

    Rowhouse · 1,100 sq ft total · mixed light

    A tidy street-facing bed that survives salt and strollers, a dining patio out back, drainage notes where the downspout dumps. Plus a sourcing list so your contractor doesn’t substitute boxwood for yew.

    Full Set · $2,185
Risograph illustration of a plan sheet, scale ruler and plant list on a drafting table
Fig. 3 — The deliverable: sheets, a scale, and a plant list. Not a mood board.

06 · Visit, call, or just ask

A plan is a promise. We draw it so your contractor can keep it — and so you can tell when they don’t. The Verte Clara drawing rule
Desk
169 Madison Ave Ste 2500
New York, NY 10016
Hours
Mon–Fri 9:30am–7pm · evenings by appointment
Billing
Invoice by email. Half to start, half on delivery. Card or ACH.
Walk-ins
Please don’t. The studio is a desk and a plotter. Book a slot and we’ll be there.