Type of Work
Landscape Design and Planting in Sandy Springs
A drawn plan for the whole property, then beds shaped, soil amended and plants set in the right season.
Most Sandy Springs yards were laid out once, by a builder, in whatever year the house went up, and then patched for decades. A design starts by reading what is already there: how the ground falls, where water crosses it, how many hours of real sun each area gets once the canopy leafs out in April, and which of the existing trees are worth building the plan around. From there the drawing sets bed lines, circulation, sight lines from inside the house, and a plant list keyed to the light each bed receives rather than to the tag on the pot. Planting itself is the part homeowners underestimate. Piedmont subsoil is a red clay weathered out of granite and gneiss, and a hole dug in it and backfilled with bagged mix behaves like a bucket. Beds get broad, shallow preparation instead, planting holes are cut wider than deep, and root balls sit slightly proud of grade so the crown never sits in water. UGA Extension recommends fall as the ideal season for planting most woody trees, shrubs, vines, groundcovers and herbaceous perennials in Georgia, because the top of the plant is shutting down while the roots keep growing, and that is when this work is best scheduled if the calendar allows it.
What the scope covers
- A site read first: slope, drainage path, canopy cover, existing tree health, and the hours of sun each area gets in leaf-on conditions
- A drawn plan with bed lines, circulation, and a plant schedule keyed to light levels rather than to a generic zone number
- Plant selection weighted to species that hold up in Georgia Piedmont clay and in the humidity of an Atlanta summer
- Bed preparation across the whole bed rather than hole by hole, so roots are not asked to leave an amended pocket for raw clay
- Root balls set slightly high with the root flare exposed, then mulched off the trunk rather than piled against it
- Fall scheduling where the calendar allows, following UGA Extension guidance for woody plants and perennials in Georgia
- A written establishment watering plan, including the 30-day window state law allows for newly installed plants and turf
To have this priced on your own property, call (404) 737-3568 or use the quote form. Someone walks the yard, takes measurements, and leaves a written scope with a price on it. No charge for any of that.
Read next
On design and planting, specifically
- How much sun does my yard really get?
- Less than you think, and the answer changes in April. A Sandy Springs lot under mature oaks, hickories and tulip poplars can read as full sun in February and as deep shade by the end of the month the canopy closes. That is why a plan drawn in winter from a winter walk goes wrong. The useful measure is hours of direct or filtered sun in leaf-on conditions, counted area by area, and it is worth the walk being scheduled when the trees are in leaf.
- Can a landscaper design the plan, or do I need a landscape architect?
- Georgia licenses landscape architects under state law, and the statute carves out an exemption at O.C.G.A. 43-23-17 for a contractor or landscape contractor who is the prime contractor installing his own design. In practice that means a landscaping company can design what it then builds, but it cannot sell you a design to hand to someone else, and it cannot call itself a landscape architect. Larger jobs involving structural grading changes across a site are where a licensed landscape architect or an engineer earns the fee.
- When is the best time of year to plant here?
- Fall, for almost everything woody. UGA Extension guidance is direct about it: temperatures are moderate, plants need less frequent irrigation, and fall-planted ornamentals keep developing roots after the tops go dormant. October through early December is the window most Sandy Springs installations aim for. Spring planting works, but it hands the plant a July in Georgia before the root system is anywhere near ready, so it needs more water and more patience.
- Will the plan work around the trees I want to keep?
- It has to. Sandy Springs requires a tree removal permit for any tree at 18 inches diameter at breast height or larger, and for dogwoods and redbuds at 10 inches, so the mature trees on a lot are usually a fixed constraint rather than an option. That is not a bad thing for a design. It gives structure that no amount of new planting can buy, and it settles the plant palette immediately, because everything under that canopy has to be a shade plant.
- How long does a design and planting job take?
- The drawing is usually a week or two after the site walk, depending on how much survey information already exists. Installation runs from a couple of days for a single bed to two or three weeks for a full property, and that assumes no grading or wall work in the scope. Adding earthwork adds a permit step, and that is measured in weeks rather than days.
From the Yard Notes
More on this, written for north Fulton
Why the Best Month to Plant a Tree Here Is October
UGA Extension calls fall the ideal time to plant most woody trees, shrubs, vines, groundcovers and perennials in Georgia. The reasoning is about roots, not weather.
Most Sandy Springs Landscapes Were Designed for a Smaller Tree
A quarter of the city's housing was built in the 1980s and the median year of construction is 1988. Those yards are now forty years into a canopy that has doubled.
Usually Booked Together
Work that tends to arrive in the same scope
Landscape projects here group themselves around water and grade. A new patio changes where runoff goes, a wall changes the grade above it, and planting into a slope only holds if the water crossing it has somewhere else to be. Pricing the pieces together is usually cheaper than pricing them one at a time.
Drainage and Erosion Control
Water intercepted, carried and released somewhere legal, so it stops moving soil and standing against the house
Retaining Walls and Grading
Slope turned into usable ground, with drainage behind the wall rather than pressure
Patios, Walkways and Steps
Stone laid on a base that will not move, with the water taken somewhere rather than trapped
Shade Planting Under the Canopy
Beds that work in four hours of filtered light, planted without wrecking the roots holding the trees up
Find out what the yard would cost
Call (404) 737-3568 or use the quote form, and a Sandy Springs landscaping company prices the work at no charge.