Landscape services and prices

Lawn and planting beds trenched as separate zones: pressure-regulated pop-up rotors for the grass and low-evaporation drip line under the mulch in the beds, run by a Hydrawise or Rachio Wi-Fi controller that adjusts itself to the local rainfall forecast. EPA WaterSense controllers, matched-precipitation rotors and certified backflow testing are part of every system. Spring start-up or an autumn blow-out is $145.

Suits a lawn watered straight through rainstorms, or new trees that need steady water through a July dry spell.

Standing water kills lawns, breeds mosquitoes and pushes against basement walls. Positive pitch is checked with a rotary laser, downspouts are buried in solid Schedule-40 PVC out to pop-up emitters, fabric-wrapped washed-stone French drains and dry creek beds are laid along wet swales, negative slopes at the foundation are re-graded, and disturbed lawn is restored with topsoil and seed or sod.

Suits a lawn that stays soggy for days, an icy walk every winter or a damp basement wall.

Built to Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI) standards so Vermont freeze-thaw cycles never heave the stone: full sod and clay excavation, non-woven geotextile fabric, 6 to 9 inches of laser-graded dense-grade crushed stone compacted in 2-inch lifts, open-graded bedding stone, polymeric joints and concealed PVC sleeves for future lighting and irrigation. Covers cleft or thermal bluestone, pavers, steps, fire-pit seating walls and geogrid-reinforced retaining walls.

Suits a sloped or muddy back yard that should become a level place to sit, eat or gather round a fire.

Specimen shade trees, evergreen privacy hedging and drought-resilient native perennials sourced direct from regional wholesale growers, never from stressed big-box racks. Every bed is deep-tilled with aged leaf compost, root flares are set at the right grade and never volcano-mulched, edges are trenched or steel-lined, and the bed finishes under 2.5 inches of triple-shredded aged hardwood bark.

Suits a bare fence line, an overlooked back garden or a front border that should hold colour in every season.

Before any soil moves, the designer walks the property to map sun and shade, downspout runoff, neighbours' sightlines and the proportions of the house. Within two weeks you receive a scaled 2D planting and hardscape drawing, real stone and paver samples, mature-size plant images and a line-item budget you can build at once or phase over two seasons. The $395 fee is credited in full against any build over $4,500.

Suits a property where nothing is decided yet, a project to be built in phases, or a plan your HOA must approve.

Shearing everything into tight green balls ruins hydrangeas, lilacs and Japanese maples. The horticultural crew prunes by hand in the right bud window for each shrub, pulls perennial weeds by the root, cuts crisp 3-inch spade edges along the lawn, applies organic pre-emergent bed care and refreshes the aged bark mulch each spring. Priced per seasonal visit, or as monthly estate care.

Suits an established garden that needs careful hands rather than a new design.