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Plenty of Johnston homes sit on a walkout or a lot that falls off toward green space, and that grade decides what the yard can become. Handled well, the slope hands you terraces and a lower patio with a view. Left alone, it sends water the wrong way. Ted Lare plans for that from the first sketch. Our designers studied landscape architecture at Iowa State, and the company has worked Central Iowa lots for more than 40 years. We draw and build as one landscape design build team, so our landscape design services solve the grade before the first bed goes in. From a planting refresh to a full rebuild, the landscaping services Johnston IA homeowners rely on all come off one plan.
No two Johnston lots drain the same, so we never hand you a plan off the shelf. Your landscape designer starts by reading the grade and tracing where water goes after a storm, since a lot of yards here tilt toward the creek or a pond.
Sun and shade come next, then the soil, then the way you actually move through the yard. For lots that back a trail, privacy goes on the drawing early.
Custom landscape design works around your walkout and the lines of your house. Good residential landscape design answers the site first, so the landscape planning still holds up years after the crew packs out.
One team designs and builds the whole yard here, so the pieces fit together instead of arriving one trade at a time. See the full range on our landscape services page.
On a walkout lot the best outdoor living spaces step down with the grade. We set the patio and the outdoor kitchen so each level opens toward the view and holds its privacy from the trail behind you, with a fire feature anchoring the lower step. A pergola can shade the upper level. Good outdoor living design and backyard design start from the slope you actually have. See finished work on our outdoor living page.
Hardscape design sets the shape of a sloped Johnston yard. Our patio installation builds paver and natural stone surfaces, and stone stairways connect the grade changes between them. As an experienced hardscape contractor, we terrace a steep lot into level ground you can actually use. Retaining walls hold the higher soil and carry runoff off the lot, so water leaves where the plan intends. See surfaces on our paver patio design and installation page.
Our landscape installation runs from the planting beds to the lighting. The planting design sets moisture-loving plants low where water gathers and tougher, drought-tolerant ones up top. Privacy screens close off the view from a shared trail, and lighting picks out the terrace steps after dark. As your pool contractor we set the pool into the grade, so the deck and the plantings around it sit level. On the larger lots here, luxury landscaping ties every one of these into a single plan.
Local ground drives every plan we draw for Iowa homes. The frost line here runs close to 42 inches, and anything set shallower than that lifts and drops with each freeze. On a slope that movement pulls a patio or a wall out of line, so we dig deep and build below it.
Lots near Beaver Creek and Saylorville also handle real runoff after a storm, so the design sends that water off the lot. Plant choices follow the slope. The species that last in Iowa landscapes take the cold and hold the soil. Iowa State University Extension covers gardening on a slope and the roots that hold it through a hard Central Iowa winter.
You get one team from the first meeting to the final walk. We draw the plan and price it, with room to adjust before any work starts.
Build order matters on a sloped lot, and our own crews follow it. The drainage and the walls go in first, then the patio, then the plantings. Because one team owns that sequence, each stage matches the plan the last one was built on. Read the full steps on our Des Moines landscape design and build process.
A Johnston yard on a grade asks a lot of one plan. The retaining wall has to agree with the patio above it and the beds below, and one team keeps those pieces from fighting each other.
Every designer holds a landscape architecture degree from Iowa State. We have built across Central Iowa for more than 40 years. And we grow many of the plants in your design at our own garden center. That mix is why homeowners pick us as the landscaping company Johnston IA trusts for real curb appeal. Questions about your lot? Contact our team.
A landscape designer plans how your whole property works before anyone builds it. In Johnston that starts with the grade and the drainage, since the slope decides what the yard can hold.
Cost tracks the size of your lot and how much grade work it needs. A sloped lot with structural walls runs more than a flat refresh. We price it after a designer sees the property.
Yes. One team designs your plan and our own crews build it. On a slope that matters, because the grading and the walls have to match the drawing the beds are planted to.
Yes, full backyards are a lot of what we build here. One plan brings the terrace and the patio together with the planting around them. Lighting and a pool fold in where they fit as backyard landscaping that works with the grade.
Yes. Patios and outdoor kitchens belong in the plan from the start, along with fire features and shade. On a walkout lot we place them level and tie them to the drainage.
Every Ted Lare project starts with your goals and a good look at your lot. From there a designer builds a custom landscape design around the grade and the way you live outside, with your budget setting the pace.
That might be a new patio and outdoor living space. It might be a retaining wall that opens up the slope, or a full backyard rebuilt from the ground up. Schedule a landscape consultation and put our landscape design services in Johnston to work.
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