Landscape design in Standish, Maine.
Designing a whole property in Standish starts with the pieces that cannot move. No part of the town is on public sewer, so nearly every house has a septic field, and a substantial share of households draw from private wells. Along the lakes and the Saco there is a buffer that stays vegetated. On a village lot there may be a Portland Water District main in the street. The design has to work around all of it before it gets to patios and plantings.
We walk the site, draw the plan and build it with our own crews, so grading, drainage, stonework and plantings are decided together rather than one contractor at a time.
Lots, wells and leach fields
The 2006 comprehensive plan listed a three-acre minimum lot in the Rural and Rural Residential districts and 80,000 square feet in the Residential district, dropping to 60,000 where public water is available. Those are big lots, and most of the land on them is usually wooded. A design here decides how much to open up and how much to leave, which matters for privacy, for summer shade and for how much lawn someone wants to keep.
The same plan says public water reaches Saint Joseph's College, the Route 35 corridor through Sebago Lake Village and Standish Corner, and part of Steep Falls through a separate well-fed system. Everywhere else, a well and a septic field fix two points on the plan that no patio, planting or driveway should crowd.
Designing inside a buffer
For waterfront lots, Maine's shoreland rules keep the 100 feet nearest a great pond as a buffer, where groundcover under three feet tall has to stay and clearing is limited to small openings. The DEP scores tree cover in 25-by-50-foot plots, and next to a great pond each plot must keep 24 points of trees. A good lake design treats that buffer as the planting plan for the shore, and puts the lawn, fire pit and patio farther up the slope.
On the Saco, the Saco River Corridor Commission adds its own review within 500 feet of the river. Knowing that early means the design can be drawn once rather than redrawn after a permit comes back.
The comprehensive plan also names steep slopes, wetlands and aquifer recharge areas as places to approach with caution. In a Standish design those usually become the parts of the lot left in woods or planted with native shrubs rather than graded flat, which is less work to build and less work to keep.
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 Standish, Maine.
Landscape Design in nearby towns
- Landscape Design in Gorham
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- Landscape Design in Westbrook
- Landscape Design in Gray
- Landscape Design in Cumberland
More services in Standish
- Hardscaping in Standish
- Retaining Walls in Standish
- Landscaping in Standish
- Planting & Garden Beds in Standish
- Hydroseeding, Sod & Turf in Standish
- Lawn Aeration & Overseeding in Standish
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Standish
- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in Standish
- Excavation & Land Clearing in Standish
- Septic Systems in Standish
- Tree & Shrub Services in Standish
- Tree Removal in Standish
Free Estimates
Landscape Design in Standish? 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