Our Services: Garden Maintenance

We have often been asked to maintain gardens that we have installed. We do that happily. We don’t mow lawns or plow snow or climb trees or apply pesticides. We do most everything else outside to make a garden look great and thrive.

We usually visit clients on our list once a week, more as needed. We try to respond to the requests for help from clients on our list promptly, or immediately if needed.

We know how to prune! This is not so easy. Most plants do not like to be “cropped” across the top, or “headed,” as it is sometimes called (unless they are hedges and are in bright light). It takes an understanding of how the plant will look at old age to really know how to do this.

We care for structures and hard surfaces, equipment, and systems. We work to improve growing conditions for plants to minimize weeds and maximize the ecosystem services. When we can we try to reduce the area of lawn and increase the area of plants, especially under trees. We try to bring more wildlife and pollinators, more plants that fit our local ecosystems. We would rather see much less grass out there, much more restoration of Ann Arbor native communities.

See these books so you know how valuable this approach can be: Nature’s Best Hope, by Douglas W. Tallamy and The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy – both are published by Timber Press.