Mercer Island sits in the middle of Lake Washington, so almost every street runs downhill to the water. Lots are steep, the tree canopy is old and tall, and the shoreline lots have banks that move when runoff from the street above has nowhere else to go. Designs that pave and fertilize to the water are how banks fail and neighbors get angry. We design the terrace and a planted shore.
King County · ZIP 98040
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 Mercer Island
Most of our work here is on slopes. A patio or terrace has to be cut into the hill with a real base and a drain behind any wall, or the first wet winter shows where the water wants to go. On the lakefront lots we keep native shrubs on the bank, because they hold the soil better than lawn, and we take runoff to a drain or a rain garden instead of letting it sheet over the edge.
The city is strict about removing large trees and about work near the shoreline. We check what needs a permit before we cut or dig, and we plan around the trees you have to keep. Under those firs and cedars the ground is shady and mossy, so we often turn worn-out lawn into planting beds and stone paths that stay clean year-round.
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 the Puget Sound climate. 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.
What you leave with
A marked plan you can build from: surfaces, walls, drains, and a plant list that names real plants. Not a watercolor with no scale. If you only need us to lay it out on the ground and build, we do not force a drawing set on you.
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 the region
- Landscaping in Mercer Island
- Patio installation in Mercer Island
- Hardscaping in Mercer Island
- Beauty bark in Mercer Island
- Landscape design in Sammamish
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a King 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.
