Landscape design in Scarborough, Maine.
A design for a Scarborough property usually has more lines on it than a design elsewhere. There may be a shoreland boundary 250 feet back from tidal marsh, a 75-foot setback and buffer strip inside it, a wetland buffer from a subdivision approval, a sewer lateral to the Scarborough Sanitary District, and a street tree now governed by the town's Tree Care Ordinance. Planning plantings, patios, walls, grading and drainage as one project is how those lines get respected before anything is built.
We walk the site, draw the plan and build it with our own crews, so the grading decisions made on paper are the ones carried out on the ground.
Setbacks and the shoreland clearing cap
Scarborough's residential districts set 15-foot side and rear setbacks and front setbacks that run from 30 feet on sewered R4 lots to 50 feet in the rural districts. The shoreland ordinance adds a cap that shapes whole properties: cleared openings in the shoreland zone, counting lawns, driveways, structures and septic areas together, may not exceed 25 percent of that part of the lot or 10,000 square feet, whichever is greater, including ground cleared in the past.
On a marsh-edge or riverfront parcel that cap decides how much lawn there can be, where a terrace fits, and which existing trees must stay, so it is worked out before the first planting is chosen.
Street trees, utilities and spacing
The town adopted Chapter 1106, its Tree Care Ordinance, in November 2025. Planting on public property needs the Town Arborist's approval, and the ordinance names Dig Safe, Public Works, the Scarborough Sanitary District, Maine Water, CMP and the Portland Water District as parties to consult first. It also sets spacing: large trees at least 10 feet from a curb or sidewalk and 25 feet from a building, nothing within 10 feet of a hydrant or buried utility, and only small trees under overhead wires.
Those standards govern public ground, but they are sound rules for a private front yard as well, and the Tree Care Advisory Board makes its list of desirable species available to residents for private planting.
Designing for wet springs and dry falls
The 2021 Comprehensive Plan expects flooding to grow worse in winter and spring and drought to grow worse in summer and fall. A plan that handles both uses swales and planted low areas to slow spring runoff, and puts drought-tolerant plantings on the high, fast-draining parts of a lot.
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 Scarborough, Maine.
Landscape Design in nearby towns
- Landscape Design in South Portland
- Landscape Design in Cape Elizabeth
- Landscape Design in Portland
- Landscape Design in Westbrook
- Landscape Design in Saco
More services in Scarborough
- Hardscaping in Scarborough
- Retaining Walls in Scarborough
- Landscaping in Scarborough
- Planting & Garden Beds in Scarborough
- Hydroseeding, Sod & Turf in Scarborough
- Lawn Aeration & Overseeding in Scarborough
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Scarborough
- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in Scarborough
- Excavation & Land Clearing in Scarborough
- Septic Systems in Scarborough
- Tree & Shrub Services in Scarborough
- Tree Removal in Scarborough
Sources for the local facts on this page
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Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine