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Low Maintenance, High Impact
Low-Maintenance, High Impact
For this dream home in Watermark, the owners wanted a show-stopping landscape design that would provide outdoor spaces for them and future generations of their family to enjoy for years to come. The only catch was, they wanted to be able to spend all their time enjoying the landscape and as little as possible maintaining it. We worked with the client from the initial meeting and conception to the creation of the building plans, straight through to construction to achieve this goal.
Shop The Products
- Black Bark Mulch
- Screened Loam
- Artificial Turf
- Premium Garden Mix
- 20mm Washed Rock
- 40mm Rundle Rock
- 20mm Road Crush
- 5mm Washed Sand
Creating a Low-maintenance Landscape
To start the landscape construction work, the wide lot required extensive grading to allow proper drainage on the property. We had to create a nearly 3-foot elevation in the backyard to maintain a 2% grade to ensure all water drained towards the front street drainage point. To accomplish this, over 200 loads of fill (Screened Loam, 20mm Washed Rock, 20mm Road Crush, and 5mm Washed Sand) were brought in to create the berms and contour the landscape around the house. Throughout this process, a full drainage system was installed underneath the landscape. To help with this drainage plan and provide some privacy, natural stone rock retaining walls were installed at the back of the yard.
Screened Loam
Screened Loam is a dirt/topsoil for your landscaping and is used to build up your base layer.
20mm Washed Rock
40mm Montana Rainbow Rock is an excellent decorative rock and can be used to add texture, colour and contrast.
20mm Road Crush
20mm Road Crush is an effective and affordable way to ensure a solid foundation for building projects.
5mm Washed Sand
5mm Washed Sand is an ideal choice for filling in spaces between paving stones or other pavers.
Low-maintenance Garden Beds
Once the property was graded, and all the fill was placed we began the process of planting the foliage on the lot. All garden beds were started with a base of Premium Garden Mix. In the front yard, we planted 25 trees of varying species to provide year-round privacy and visual interest. The garden beds in the front yard are delineated by concrete curbing and are lined with landscape fabric to prevent weed growth. On top of that, surrounding the trees, are a variety of plants that will flower throughout the year, surrounded by landscape rock. Between the two driveways in the front of the house, we installed 24 X 24 slate stepping stones and accent lighting to create a welcoming, meandering path. To finish off the landscape design of the front yard we placed a custom engraved address rock.
Premium Garden Mix
A blend of sandy black loam, compost, peat moss, and perlite. Perfect for gardens, planter boxes, and under sod or turf.
40mm Rundle Rock
40mm Rundle Rock is dark charcoal in colour, used for decorative purpose. It is unique to Alberta.
Black Bark Mulch
A bark mulch dyed black using natural dyes. Colour lasts about 3 years, depending on sun exposure.
Artificial Turf
A great option for low-maintenance yards and outdoor spaces, as it doesn't require cutting and stays green year-round.
Custom Wi-Fi Enabled Landscape Lighting
Along the left side of the property, we created more Premium Garden Mix filled garden beds with charcoal colour concrete curbing. To finish the curbing we used a slate stamp on them to blend into the complimentary tone 20mm Rundle Rock surrounding the columnar aspens. The already substantial aspen trees create an estate-like feel and mature quickly — growing rapidly at just over a foot per year. The garden beds feature custom landscape lighting, positioned to highlight the height of the trees. The lighting is powered by a photocell transformer, which was discretely installed on the side of the house. This configuration is wifi enabled and can be controlled via the app, or manually on the dial on the unit itself. The garden beds surrounding the house also feature coniferous and deciduous shrubs that provide visual interest and ground cover.
Unique Outdoor Living Spaces
In the backyard, we planted 35 mature larch and spruce trees to provide year-round privacy. All of the trees selected for the project are relatively native to the area and blend well with the surrounding landscape. The backyard includes three custom areas:
- First, a half-court sport court with a curved stub wall. Under the surface of the sport court, we installed a poured concrete base. The sport court is surrounded by garden beds with varying low-maintenance trees, shrubs, and flowering plants with feature boulders interspersed throughout to create visual depth.
- The second unique outdoor living space in the backyard is an enclosed outdoor kitchen, facing the natural stone retaining wall, with feature lighting, varying mature trees, and shrubs that mark the edge of the property.
- Finally, on the opposite side of the house, we build a chain link fenced artificial turf dog run, using Bella Turf. Artificial turf is ideal for low-maintenance dog runs for the ease of cleanup, and the resistance to colour fading.
The yard outside of the garden beds and hardscape areas was completed with fresh sod, over a base of Screened Loam to promote lush growth.
This yard was ready for the homeowners to enjoy as soon as they moved into their new home. It is a large, fully landscaped yard, with multiple features the family can enjoy for years to come — without having to worry about maintenance.
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Ready for the next step?
Start Your Order
If want to learn more about our products or how much to order - get in touch with our team, we’re always happy to help!
Call 403-239-0900 or email [email protected] to order!
Book With Our Construction Team
Get in touch with our Construction Division to price your landscape construction project.
Call 825 205 9557 or email [email protected] to get started.