Why new planting dies
Three reasons, nearly every time. The plant wanted more sun or less water than that spot gives it. It went in too deep, so the crown sits buried. Or the hole was dug into heavy clay and left as a bucket that holds water around the roots. We check the drainage in a bed before choosing for it, and improve the whole bed rather than the planting holes.
Spacing, and what year three looks like
A bed that looks full on planting day is a bed that will be crowded by its second summer, and then it's either pruning forever or pulling things out. We space to the size each plant is actually going to reach and mulch the gap in the meantime. It looks sparse at first. That's the part worth sitting through.
When planting should go in
Most things establish best going in during the cooler, damper part of the year, when roots can get going before they're asked to hold up a plant in dry heat. Planting in the middle of a dry spell can be done, but it lives or dies on watering, so we'd usually rather book it ahead of the dry season. We tell you which of your plants are fussy about timing and which honestly aren't.
How It Works
- 01
We Walk It With You
What you want it to look like, what you actually enjoy doing yourself, and what has never worked in that one wet corner.
- 02
A Written Price And A Day
For maintenance, the visit price and the day of the week you are on. For a project, a fixed price and a start date — not a range.
- 03
The Same Crew Every Time
People who learn your garden, know which shrub you are protective of, and notice when something has changed.
- 04
We Tell You When A Week Slips
Weather moves schedules and anyone who says otherwise is guessing. You get a message, not a mystery — and the visit gets made up.
- 05
Left Tidy, Every Visit
Edges cut, hard surfaces blown clean, gates shut and nothing on the drive. The last two minutes are the ones people remember.
Planting & Garden Design: common questions
Can you plant something I never have to look after?
Lower maintenance, yes. No maintenance, no — anything alive needs something. We can lean the plan toward tough, slow-growing plants that don't need constant cutting back, and tell you what each one will still ask of you.
Plants keep dying in the same spot. What's wrong with it?
Usually water or light rather than the plants. A corner that stays wet drowns roots, and a spot that's shadier than it looks starves anything sold as full sun. We check what that spot is really doing before putting anything else in it.
How long until it looks like the plan?
Beds fill in over a few seasons, not a few weeks, and shrubs take longer than perennials and grasses. We'll tell you what the first summer will look like so the sparse stage isn't a surprise.
Gardens throughout inner southeast Portland
We route by neighborhood rather than scattering across the metro, which is how the same crew reaches you on the same day every week. Most of our rounds are in inner southeast Portland; if you are just outside one, ask — sometimes a street is a short hop from an existing route and sometimes it honestly is not.