Landscape design in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
A full-property design in Cape Elizabeth starts with three maps: the soil survey, the town's zoning overlays, and the watershed the lot drains to. The 2019 Comprehensive Plan describes about 11 drainage basins divided by a ridge, with the eastern side of town draining to the Casco Bay estuary and the western side to Saco Bay through the Spurwink Marsh, the largest basin in town.
Where a lot falls on those maps decides a great deal. Grading in the Great Pond watershed has stripping limits: no more than 30 percent of a lot within 500 feet of the pond, or 50 percent elsewhere in the watershed, may be bare at once until the first area is stabilized. Shoreland lots have their own clearing and coverage caps. A design has to fit inside those numbers before anything else is drawn.
Designing with ledge and marine silt
Soil survey data shows the Lyman-Tunbridge complexes over much of the town's rocky shore and upland neighborhoods, with bedrock often within two feet, and Scantic silt loam in flatter low ground. On ledge, the design works with the rock: outcrops become features, patios step with the grade, and planting pockets go where soil is deep enough to hold roots.
On Scantic ground, grading and drainage lead the plan. Its slowly permeable subsoil leaves water sitting exactly where a lawn or terrace is meant to be unless the surface is shaped to move it.
Scale changes by district, too. The zoning ordinance sets 80,000 square feet as the general minimum lot in the rural Residence A district, while a single-family lot outside a subdivision in Residence C, the compact sewered neighborhoods, needs 20,000 square feet. A plan for a half-acre lot in a built-up neighborhood and one for a two-acre rural parcel begin from very different canvases.
Trees the town recommends
The tree warden's approved native list includes serviceberry, American hornbeam, black gum, hackberry, American linden and shagbark hickory, with tamarack, balsam fir and eastern red or northern white cedar offered for consideration. The comprehensive plan notes that new oak and maple were dropped from the town's street tree list in 2016 to diversify a community forest dominated by those species, a sensible rule to carry onto private land too.
We walk the site, draw the plan and build it with our own crews, so hardscape, grading, drainage and plantings are sequenced as one project rather than three separate contracts.
Design · Planning · Full Installs
How we handle landscape design
We design landscapes that work as a whole — plantings, patios, walls, grading and drainage planned together before the first shovel breaks ground. Whether it is a full property redesign or a single outdoor living space, we walk the site, draw the plan and build it with our own crews.
See the full landscape design service page or everything we do in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
Landscape Design in nearby towns
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More services in Cape Elizabeth
- Hardscaping in Cape Elizabeth
- Retaining Walls in Cape Elizabeth
- Landscaping in Cape Elizabeth
- Planting & Garden Beds in Cape Elizabeth
- Hydroseeding, Sod & Turf in Cape Elizabeth
- Lawn Aeration & Overseeding in Cape Elizabeth
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Cape Elizabeth
- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in Cape Elizabeth
- Excavation & Land Clearing in Cape Elizabeth
- Septic Systems in Cape Elizabeth
- Tree & Shrub Services in Cape Elizabeth
- Tree Removal in Cape Elizabeth
Free Estimates
Landscape Design in Cape Elizabeth? Let's talk.
Tell us about your property and we will walk it with you — free estimates, straight answers, stonework guaranteed to hold its lines.
Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine