Index is a town of 153 people in the Skykomish valley, tucked under steep, rocky walls. Rain comes down those walls in a hurry. Yards are small clearings, and the mountain is the neighbor on every side. Foothill yards are designed by the slope and the runoff. Planting is what we do after the bank is held.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98256 · 2020 population 153
The design is the grade
Walls, steps, a flat bench for the actual living, drains at the top of the slope, and plants that can take thin soil and a long wet season. We do not draw a broad lawn down a fall line. Gravel and rock belong in the palette.
Access for the build is part of the design. A beautiful upper terrace we cannot reach with material is a sketch, and we will not sell it as a build.
The ground in Index
There is no subdivision playbook here. Access can be a single lane, the soil is thin over rock, and a “backyard” may be forty feet of level ground before the timber starts. Intense runoff is the design constraint. A wall has to be heavy enough to stay put, and a drain has to daylight somewhere that does not wash out the next switchback.
We keep planting short and native. Anything that needs summer water and a gardener will lose. Gravel and hardscape earn their place because they stay usable when the ground is soaked. Pruning and cleanup are how you keep the forest from taking the roof, the line of sight on the drive, and the ditch that is supposed to carry the runoff.
How we do the work
Design starts on the lot, not on a template. We look at the doors, the wet spots, the trees worth keeping, and the part of the yard you never use. The drawing, if you want one, comes after that. A plan that ignores January water is a picture.
We design what this crew can build: grade, drainage, patios, walls, planting that belongs in Snohomish County. We do not hand you a tropical planting plan and a hope. You can hire us to design only, or to design and build. The fee is clearer when those are separate.
What we look at first
- How you want to use the yard, in plain language
- The wet spots and the slopes
- Trees and structures that stay
- A budget range, so the plan is not a fantasy
Design without the build
You can take the plan elsewhere. We would rather build it, and the plan will say the details we know matter: base depth, drain outlets, plant sizes. A vague plan is hard for anyone to bid. We try not to write those.
Plants
Chosen for this rain, this soil, and the light on that side of the house. Natives where they do the job, ordinary tough shrubs where you want something you can buy again. We do not specify a plant we cannot get or cannot keep alive here.
Budget
Tell us the range. We design inside it, or we design a first phase that stands alone. A plan that costs four times what you will spend is a hobby. Phasing is drainage and structure first, plants after.
More from this crew
- Landscape design across Snohomish County
- Landscaping in Index
- Patio installation in Index
- Hardscaping in Index
- Beauty bark in Index
- Landscape design in Gold Bar
- Landscape design in Sultan
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
