Clayton, NC & greater Raleigh
Landscaping in Clayton, NC
Hardscape sets the bones of a yard. Planting, sod and lighting are what make it look finished — and doing both on one job means the two actually line up.
What it involves
Landscaping, done properly
A new patio or wall always disturbs the ground around it. Landscaping is how that ground gets put back: beds shaped and edged, soil amended, shrubs and perennials set at the right depth and spacing, mulch laid, and sod rolled where lawn belongs.
Doing the planting as part of the same project matters more than it sounds. Bed lines can be set against the finished wall instead of guessed at, irrigation and lighting can be sleeved under the hardscape before it goes down, and the grade around the new work can be cut to drain properly rather than patched afterward.
Low-voltage lighting is the upgrade people are most consistently glad they made. A few well-placed path lights and a wash along a wall or a planting bed changes the yard after dark from a dark rectangle into somewhere you would sit — and it makes steps and edges visible enough to be safe.
Beds, plants and mulch
Beds shaped and edged against the finished hardscape, planted at the right depth and spacing, and mulched.
Fresh sod
Sod laid over prepared, graded soil so the seams knit rather than sit in a rut.
Grade and drainage
The ground around new hardscape is cut to move water away from the house instead of leaving a low spot beside the patio.
Low-voltage lighting
Path lights, wall washes and hardscape lights recessed under caps — sleeved in before the paving goes down.
Our work
Landscaping we have built
Photographs of this crew’s own projects. Captions describe only what is in the picture.
Questions
Landscaping: the questions we get asked
Do you do landscaping on its own, or only with hardscape?
We do both, though the majority of our landscaping work happens alongside a patio, wall or concrete project — that is where it adds the most, because the beds, grading and lighting can be planned with the hardscape rather than worked around it afterward.
When is the best time of year to plant here?
Fall and spring are the easier windows in central North Carolina — the soil is workable and new plants get established before summer heat or hard cold. Planting is possible outside those windows, it just puts more of the burden on watering. We will tell you if we think waiting a few weeks would give a planting a materially better start.
Will you fix the grade so water stops sitting in the yard?
That is often the first thing that needs doing, and it may be a landscaping job, a drainage job, or both. Regrading solves surface water that just needs somewhere to go. Water coming off a roof, out of a downspout or off a neighboring lot usually needs a drainage system as well — see our drainage page.
Do you maintain landscaping after it is installed?
Our work is design and installation rather than ongoing maintenance. We will leave you with clear guidance on watering a new planting or new sod through its first season, since that is the period where most of the risk sits.
Landscaping across the greater Raleigh area
We build landscaping in Clayton, Raleigh, Garner, Wendell, Knightdale, Zebulon, Wake Forest, Smithfield, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Angier, Chapel Hill and Wilson, NC. See what we do in each town.
Often built together
Other services
Next step
Thinking about landscaping?
Tell us roughly what you have in mind and where you are. We will come out, look at the grade and the access, and give you a straight answer about what it takes.