Sustainable Landscape Design
Sugarbush Nursery is proud to offer professional Sustainable Landscape Design services to customers in southeastern PA. While our focus is on homeowners, our designers are also available to consult with schools, businesses, or other entities who wish to move towards more sustainable landscapes.
Our services can include any of the following:
- Identify existing plants in your landscape, and assess whether they are the “right plants for the right place”.
- Identify invasive plants, and advise on control measures.
- Offer ideas for how and where to incorporate more natives on your property, and which native plants would work best at specific locations.
- Offer consultations or formal landscape designs for specialized installations, such as rain gardens, wildflower meadows, butterfly gardens, “no-mow” lawns and lawn alternatives, xeriscaping (or dry gardens), green roofs, green or "living" walls, bioswales, designs for heating & cooling efficiency, riparian buffers, vegetable, herb, or kitchen gardens, container gardens, foundation plantings, and more.
- Advise on correct planting, watering, fertilizing, mulching and pruning techniques.
The above services would start with an on-site consultation at your property to evaluate the conditions of the site, explore your wishes or concerns in more detail, and offer suggestions. Depending on the scope of the project, the on-site consultation could comprise the extent of the designer’s involvement, or a number of other steps could follow (with your prior approval):
- The designer provides a written summary of plants or practices discussed during the consultation.
- The designer provides an informal landscape sketch, with suggestions for new or renovated garden areas or specialized installations, and a plant list.
- The designer provides a formal landscape design, to scale.
For those homeowners who would like to consult with a landscape designer at Sugarbush, we offer several days throughout the season when you can schedule a 1-2 hour consultation at the nursery. This can be combined with a walk through the nursery to show you the plants that the designer suggests for new or renovated installations.
Fees
Our fee for these services is $65 per hour, with a minimum of one hour per client; thereafter, time is billed in 15-minute increments. Travel time is not billed for travel within a 15-minute radius of Sugarbush Nursery; travel time over 15 minutes is billed at the design rate. Payment for landscape consultation services is due at the time the service is rendered. For those customers who request a formal landscape design following the initial consultation, one third of the approximate cost is due before work commences, one third upon delivery of concepts (to ensure you are satisfied with where the project is headed), and the remaining balance is due upon delivery of master plan documents.
Installation
We offer installation and maintenance services on a limited basis at this time. Please inquire, and we will advise you if your project meets our criteria.
About Our Designers
Our designers, Denise Wood and Cory Nocera, bring the highest standards of professionalism and horticultural expertise to their work.
Denise holds a BS in Landscape Architecture degree from Temple University. She is the recipient of 8 design awards, and was the prestigious Temple University Olmsted Scholar. As a Sustainable Landscape Designer, her mission is to create beautiful, artistic and ecologically sensitive landscapes that perform specific functions (see designs this page).
Cory holds a BS in Landscape Architecture from Temple University, as well as an Associate of Science degree in Horticulture from Penn State University. Cory has spent the last decade working in garden centers and nurseries, greenhouse and plant production, grounds maintenance, and landscape design/installation.
Get Started
To set up a consultation with one of our landscape designers, please fill out our Landscape Design Consultation form. We will be in touch with you shortly to set up a consultation.