Services Offered
- Consultation & Education
- Garden & Landscape Design
- Site Preparation
- Plant Installation & Maintenance
Areas of Expertise
- Native Plant Selection and Installation
- Pollinator Gardens
- Birdscaping
- Drought-tolerant & Irrigationless Gardens
What Does the Process for a KC Native Landscapes Project Look Like?
Have questions about the process? Wondering if native plants are a good fit? Let’s talk! In this free 30-minute call (phone or virtual meeting), I can help answer any questions you have, learn more about your project, and give you a rough estimate of what to expect for your project’s timeline and price.
In this 1-hour in-person visit, we’ll walk through your yard, discuss your specific goals and challenges with the area, and get measurements. Following this visit, you’ll get a written report with specific landscaping recommendations, maintenance schedule, and customized plant list for your site conditions.
Along with your consultation report, I’ll also send a quote for recommended work. The consultation fee is discounted from any quoted project work you decide to move forward with.
You’ll receive a contract and deposit invoice for any recommended work you decide to move forward with. Once the contract has been signed and invoice paid, work will begin! The exact timing depends on the nature of the work and the season, but you’ll receive regular updates on project status if weather or other factors affects the schedule..
I’ll collaborate with you to create a design that meets your project goals and style. The design process includes 2 rounds of revisions, so you’ll have a chance to provide feedback and fine-tune your design.
Prior to planting, we’ll coordinate work sessions to do any weeding, grading, edging, and mulching required by the project. Work sessions are booked in 4 hour increments.
This is what it’s all about! Plants can go in the ground as soon as the project site is prepared and inventory is ready from my suppliers. Forbs, grasses, sedges, and rushes are typically planted as 1-2″ plugs. Shrubs and trees are usually planted as quart and gallon-sized plants.
The first few weeks are crucial to the success of the project, and I’ll provide you with detailed maintenance instructions after planting. Clients are expected to water the plants as they establish themselves, usually for the first 4-6 weeks. Need help keeping up with the your newly planted project? I offer ongoing maintenance service plans for regular weeding and other preventative care.
Work I Don’t Do
While I love helping clients with their native plant landscaping needs, there are a few services I don’t provide, either because they conflict with ecological best practices, or because they’re outside of my current scope of work. These include:
- Traditional turf & lawn maintenance: I’m happy to help install grama grasses, bluestems, and buffalo grass, but leave the traditional turf to conventional lawn professionals.
- Mortared hardscaping: I build small retaining walls, stone edging, and small hardscape surfaces, but don’t currently do mortared installations and other large concrete jobs.
- Insecticides: These chemicals adversely affect beneficial insects and pollinators, as well as the birds and other predators that consume them. Rather than killing off pests with a blanket treatment, I recommend an integrated pest management approach. In this approach, we use plant and insect biodiversity, water management, and other natural tools to keep pest populations under control.
- Large tree trimming and removal: I am insured to work on shrubs & trees up to 8′ tall. For larger trees, please reach out to a licensed arborist.
- Landscaping Fabric & Weed Mats: This approach contributes to plastic pollution, prevents natural plant spread, and inhibits air flow and moisture. For ecologically-friendly weed prevention, I recommend checking out a seasonal maintenance plan, or working together to come up with a matrix planting design to grow a living mulch.
- Invasive Species: I always work with clients to find suitable native or non-invasive alternatives when an invasive species is requested.
- Fall Leaf Removal: Leaves provide crucial overwinter shelter to local insects, and the small creatures that feed on them. Rather than raking and hauling off this precious bio matter, I encourage clients to leave the leaves as garden bed mulch over the winter.