Landscape design that still looks good in year five
The prettiest bed on install day is often a mess by year three. Here's how we design plantings that mature instead of decline.
Most landscape disappointments trace back to the same mistake: designing for install day instead of year five. Plants grow. Shrubs that looked balanced at three gallons crowd each other out by year three, and the once-tidy bed becomes a maintenance headache.
The fix starts on paper. We size plantings for their mature footprint, not the nursery pot, and we leave gaps that look sparse for a season. Mulch fills the gap; time fills the design.
We also lean native. A native plant in the right climate zone needs less water, less feeding, and less babysitting than an ornamental import — and it holds up when you go on vacation in August.
Finally, we design for the crew that will maintain it. Straight edges, mowable transitions, and no fussy borders. A landscape that's easy to care for is a landscape that gets cared for.