Planting and garden beds in Westbrook, Maine.
Westbrook's 04092 ZIP code sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b, where the average coldest winter night lands between minus 15 and minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. That rules in a long list of hardy shrubs and perennials and rules out anything that sulks below zero. The more useful filter for bed design here is what is already under pressure in the city's trees and shrubs.
The Maine Forest Service places Westbrook inside four plant-pest quarantines: emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, spongy moth, and white pine blister rust, the last of which restricts currants and gooseberries in the Ribes genus. A new foundation bed is a poor place to plant a host for any of them.
Beds for small lots and big ones
The city's compact Residential Growth Area 1 lots, starting at 5,000 square feet for existing parcels, leave a narrow strip between house and sidewalk. Foundation plantings there work best as a single layered bed: an evergreen or two for winter structure, flowering shrubs at mid-height, and a front edge of long-blooming perennials held back from the walk where plows push snow.
Out in Growth Area 3 and the Rural District, where lots start at 60,000 square feet, beds can be broad sweeps that tie the house to a woodland edge. Those are finished with a clean-cut mulch edge so the line between bed and lawn stays sharp without constant trimming.
Browntail moth and the timing of plantings
The Maine Forest Service tracks browntail moth in patches along the coast and up to about 60 miles inland, and its host list includes oak, apple, cherry and birch. The caterpillars' hairs cause a rash, and they can drift on the air or settle on surfaces. A flowering crabapple or cherry right beside a door or patio is a gamble in an affected area, so those trees are placed farther out in the design.
The Forest Service's window for clipping winter webs from small trees runs October through March. Beds are planted in spring or early fall, and mulch goes down at planting so the soil holds moisture through the first summer.
Along the Presumpscot and Stroudwater, beds inside the shoreland zone favor native shrubs and groundcovers that hold soil on the bank, and a fresh mulch layer is kept back from the water's edge so a heavy rain does not carry it into the river.
Plantings · Mulch · Garden Design
How we handle planting & garden beds
We build planting beds that look better every year — hardy perennials and shrubs matched to your site, finished with clean-edged mulch and stone accents. From single foundation beds to full hillside plantings.
See the full planting & garden beds service page or everything we do in Westbrook, Maine.
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Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine