Marysville spreads across flat ground north of Everett, out toward Tulalip. The lots are bigger than the city lots to the south, and the ground is slow to drain. Water does not run off a slope because there often is not a slope. A landscaping project on flat clay that does not start with water becomes a pretty yard that is soft until May. We dig the drains and set the grade before we plant or sod.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98270 · 2020 population 70,714
Drainage, then lawn, then beds
Raised beds, a lawn only where it will drain, a path that is not mud, and plants that can take heavy soil. Fruit trees get sited where you will pick them, not as a decoration in the wet corner. Bark finishes the beds after the soil is shaped, not before.
We keep the look open. These are valley lots. A crowded, over-planted design is more weeding than you want.
The ground in Marysville
Flat ground sounds easy until a winter storm sits on it. French drains and permeable surfaces matter here more than tall walls. Yards are family yards: room for a lawn, a play set, fruit trees that people already have and want kept, and a patio that can take a barbecue without turning into a pond.
The soil is the kind that grows a decent lawn if it can breathe, and moss if it cannot. We mow, aerate, and seed the open lawns, and we bark the beds so the weed cycle slows down. Drainage is the job we would rather do first. A new sod lawn laid over undrained flat clay is a replacement lawn in two years. Fruit trees get pruned for light and for the fruit, not sheared into balls.
How we do the work
Landscaping, the way we mean it, is building the yard: dirt moved, water handled, plants in the ground, bark and edges finished. It is not a mow, and it is not only a patio. When a project is really just a patio or just a drain, we call it that and we price that.
We plant what can live through a wet winter and a dry August without a full-time gardener. The sequence is always the same. Get the water right, set the hard surfaces, then plant. Plants first is how they get buried or stood in a puddle.
What we look at first
- What you want to be able to do in the yard
- The thing that is failing now: water, a slope, a dead lawn, an empty bed
- Trees that stay
- A budget, so we phase instead of half-building everything
Plants we will not specify
Anything that wants a dry summer and no rain in winter, unless you understand it is a gamble. We plant for zone and for the wet. A plant you loved in California can be attempted in a pot. It should not be the backbone of the yard.
Phasing
If the whole yard does not fit the budget, we finish a piece that works: the drainage and the door area, for example. An even layer of unfinished everything looks like we left. A finished half looks like a plan. We prefer the second.
Warranty, plainly
We stand behind the build: pitch, drainage, and plants installed correctly. We do not warranty a plant against no water in August, a deer, or a freeze that splits a species we told you was marginal. Establishment watering is your job unless we are contracted to do it.
More from this crew
- Landscaping across Snohomish County
- Landscape design in Marysville
- Yard cleanup in Marysville
- Paver installation in Marysville
- French drain installation in Marysville
- Landscaping in Everett
- Landscaping in Arlington
- Landscaping in Lake Stevens
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.
