The lake is the point of the town, and it is also the drainage problem. Shoreline lots shed water toward the water, banks erode where wakes and winter rain meet a soft edge, and inland yards stay damp because the water table and the clay do not let a storm leave quickly. Designs that pave and fertilize to the water are how banks fail and neighbors get angry. We design the terrace and a planted shore.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98258 · 2020 population 34,385
The upper yard is the project
Patio and lawn stop back from the edge. A wall or a bed is the break. Native shrubs hold the bank. Runoff is spread or piped to a safe place, and that path is on the drawing, not implied.
The view is protected by pruning notes, not by a note that says “clear the bank.” We write what stays.
The ground in Lake Stevens
On the water, the work is the bank and the view. A retaining edge, native shoreline plants such as red osier dogwood, and a rain garden or a drain that slows runoff before it hits the lake do more for the property than a strip of sod at the top of an eroding slope. Fertilizer and bare soil washing into the lake are how a nice lawn becomes a neighbor problem.
Off the water, in the newer neighborhoods, the soils were compacted during construction and the lawns were rolled out on top. They look fine in July and sour in February. Aeration, a real topdressing, and getting the downspouts away from the foundation are the unglamorous jobs that keep those yards from turning to moss. Patios here are for the view. We build the base as if it will be wet half the year, because it will.
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
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.
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.
More from this crew
- Landscape design across Snohomish County
- Landscaping in Lake Stevens
- Patio installation in Lake Stevens
- Hardscaping in Lake Stevens
- Beauty bark in Lake Stevens
- Landscape design in Everett
- Landscape design in Marysville
- Landscape design in Snohomish
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.
