Landscaping · Nashville, TN
The Nashville homeowner's guide to landscaping
What the work involves, what drives the price, what your options are, and what a bad job looks like — written so you can judge any landscaper in Middle Tennessee, including us.
Estimate request
What does the yard look like now, and what should it become?
Straight to us, and a reply the same day.
By Michael Blair, owner, Nashville's Landscapers · who we are
Warning signs
How to know you need us
Recognize one? Have it looked at before it grows.
- Beds that have outgrown their shape and lost their edge
- Water standing in the yard, or running toward the house after rain
- A slope too steep to mow or use for anything
- Foundation plantings grown up over the windows
- A new build handed over with turf and nothing else
- Outdoor space you never actually sit in
Your options
More than one right answer.
Pavers or poured concrete, a wall or a regraded slope, mature shrubs or smaller ones that fill in: there is usually a range, and we show all of it.
Design first, build in phases
A full plan drawn once, installed over two or three seasons. Spreads the cost without ending up with a yard assembled from unrelated decisions.
Planting and beds only
Reshaping, soil preparation and planting, with no hardscape. The largest visual change per dollar in most yards.
Hardscape led
Patio, walls, steps and lighting first, planted afterwards. Right where the aim is usable outdoor space rather than a view.
Drainage and grading first
Where water is the actual problem, everything else is decoration. Sometimes the honest recommendation is the least exciting one.
What it costs
What actually drives the price.
A landscape price turns on the slope, the drainage, the stone and the plants chosen, and none of that shows up on a phone call. Here is what pushes the number up or down.
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Hardscape versus planting
A planting plan is a fraction of what a patio or a retaining wall costs. Most landscape budgets are decided by how much of the project is built rather than grown.
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Base preparation
Excavation depth, gravel type and compaction under a patio or wall is invisible the day after it is finished and is what decides whether it is flat in ten years.
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Access for equipment
A back yard reachable only through a gate means everything is barrowed by hand, and that changes the labor on a hardscape job substantially.
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Grade and drainage
Sloped sites need retaining, steps and drainage before anything decorative happens, and clay soil makes drainage a structural cost rather than an optional one.
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Plant size at install
The same design planted in three-gallon shrubs or in mature specimens is two very different numbers. One looks finished immediately; the other looks finished in three years.
Estimates are free, written and without obligation. Anything found only after starting is priced up front.
What happens
From your call to the finished job.
Site visit and design
One to three weeks. We look at light, drainage and how you use the space before drawing anything.
Plant sourcing and scheduling
Specimen material and stone can carry lead time, and planting is scheduled for when things actually establish here rather than when it suits the calendar.
Hardscape build
Excavation, base, then the build. The base days look like nothing is happening and they are the days that matter.
Planting and establishment
Beds prepared, planted and mulched, with watering guidance for the first season — which is when most new planting is won or lost.
Done badly
What goes wrong, and why it matters.
Shortcuts that cheapen the quote and cost you later. Ask anyone you are considering about them.
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Planting into unamended clay
A hole the size of the root ball backfilled with the same clay is a container with no drainage.
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Volcano mulching
Mulch piled against a trunk holds moisture on the bark and rots it. It should be pulled back from the stem.
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Building a wall without drainage
Wet clay behind a wall exerts far more pressure than the soil alone. It will lean whatever it is built from.
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Choosing plants at the nursery in spring
Everything looks good in April. The test is what survives a Tennessee August in the position you are putting it.
Before you hire anyone
Six questions worth asking any landscaper.
Including us. If a landscaper cannot answer these easily, that is the answer.
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Where does the water go once the patio is in?
A landscaper who starts with drainage is the one whose patio is still level in ten years; one who starts with plants is not.
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Are the plants chosen for clay and August heat?
The honest answer names species that live here. A catalog plan full of things that die in Middle Tennessee is a plan to replace them.
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What base goes under the pavers, and how deep?
Compacted stone to a stated depth, in the quote. “Sand and a plate compactor” is a patio that heaves the first winter.
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Does the retaining wall need an engineer?
Over the height the code sets, yes, and the drainage behind it is part of the price. A tall wall priced without either is a wall that leans.
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Is the design drawn before it is priced?
A drawing you can read, with the plant list, so the number and the yard match. A verbal plan changes when the crew arrives.
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Who maintains it, and what does the first year need?
New planting needs watering and a first-year check. A company that plants and vanishes has sold you the easy half.
FAQ
Choosing a landscaper in Nashville
How do I choose a landscaper in Nashville?
Our crews carry liability insurance we hold on file, and any crew building retaining walls or drainage has done it here, in this clay, on jobs we can name. Ask the six questions below of anyone, including us.
Should I get more than one quote for landscaping?
Yes — and compare the scope, not the total. The price of a Nashville landscape is set by the hardscape — walls, patios and drainage are most of any budget — and by what the ground is doing under the lawn before a single plant goes in.
Is the cheapest landscaping quote usually a bad idea?
Not automatically; a low number is information. A plant that will not survive a Middle Tennessee August is not a bargain at any price.
Do I need a permit for landscaping in Nashville?
Metro Nashville and the surrounding counties permits retaining walls over a set height and anything touching a drainage easement; a landscaper who has never pulled a wall permit here has never built a serious wall here.
How far in advance should I book landscaping?
A design consultation in Nashville is usually booked within a week or two; build slots run a few weeks out in spring and sooner in the off season, and the schedule is written into the quote.
Free estimate
Have a yard that needs a plan?
Walk Nashville's Landscapers through the yard you have and the one you want, and we will return a written estimate that costs you nothing and carries no pressure to go ahead.