Landscaping Your Yard

Purchasing a new home is exciting. There are inspections to make, contracts to sign, and stuff to move. And we aren’t just talking about the real estate agent’s paperwork. Exterior landscaping is a big part of the aesthetic appeal of a home and often needs just as much attention as anything else in a new home. One of CLC Tree Services’ clients recently discovered that when they bought a new home. Initial inspections quickly uncovered a host of problems with their landscaping.

Making a Plan

After months of conversation, a plan was established. There was no flow between any of the garden beds and a decided lack of privacy for a yard that should have been the focal point in the stunning 5000-square foot home. Cursory landscaping had been done, but with little thought to how it worked with other pieces in the yard, including the saltwater pool and fire features. After much back and forth discussion, the final call was to pull almost everything out and start from scratch.

Deconstruction

A glance over the back fence shows the kind of soil hidden just below the topsoil – sand and rocky back-fill

Making it Right

The next step was to salvage a few of the healthier cedars to balance out the look around the pool shed. While the sandy soil meant that the cedars were reasonably easy to dig, their original placement so close to the fence and each other meant that their health was compromised. Little airflow around the trees meant for dead patches that won’t recover. While the house was only built 4-5 years ago, the original landscaping was already showing its wear.

White pines ready for planting

Undaunted, Pam and her crew set to replanting a few of the cedars and removing the others. Healthy white pines waited to replace the ill-chosen cedars. White pines are quick-growing, prefer sandy soils, and are Ontario’s native tree. They should offer good cover from prying eyes of new neighbours once surrounding homes are completed.

Despite heavy rains in the afternoon, the crew made good headway. Tearing out existing landscaping and replacing it is a big job, which requires more than one visit. The actual work is on top of the already several visits Pam made to inspect the property, do soil testing, and discuss replacement trees and plants with the homeowner.

Getting a start on the backyard was a big step, but there is still plenty more to do. Making an educated plan in the first place would have saved a lot of time and effort, but making it right is what CLC Tree Services does best. By the time the homeowners get all of their possessions moved in, their new landscaping will be a far cry better than how the previous homeowner left it.

And Pam’s word to the wise;

“Plan smarter before tackling any landscaping job and you won’t have to replace it any time soon.”

A well-deserved stand of pines; privacy in the making for these homeowners