Kenmore sits where the Sammamish River runs into the north end of Lake Washington, and that geography does most of the work in deciding what a landscape here needs. The low ground near the river and the lake is river delta: soft, water-holding and slow to drain. The land rising north toward Saint Edward and the Inglewood ridge is a different proposition altogether.
Getting that wrong is the single most common reason a landscape here disappoints. A planting plan that works on the ridge will drown on the flat.
Wet ground on the valley floor
Properties on the low land carry a high water table through the wet half of the year. That shows up as a lawn that is soft underfoot from November to April, beds where roots rot out over a winter and nobody quite knows why, and a patio that heaves after its second season because the base was built on ground that never dried.
The answers are unglamorous and they work. Raise the planting rather than fighting the water table. Choose species that tolerate wet feet instead of replacing the same shrub every other year. Get roof water into a buried line and away from the house. Build hardscape on a base depth that suits soft ground rather than the depth a catalogue assumes.
The uplands, and what the builder left
The newer subdivisions north of the highway have a different problem. Lots were graded flat, the topsoil went somewhere else, and a thin skin of soil went back over compacted fill. Grass on that struggles, beds stay stunted, and water sits on the surface because it has nowhere to go.
Soil correction first, planting second. That order is not optional on a property like this, and it is the difference between a garden that fills in and one that limps along for three years.
Shoreline and the river
Anything near the Sammamish River or the lake shore runs into setbacks and critical area rules. We will tell you where a project sits relative to those thresholds before quoting it, rather than after somebody has already bought the stone.
What we do here
Drainage and regrading on the wet lots, soil correction and replanting on the newer subdivisions, patios and walls built for ground that moves, planting chosen for the water table it will actually sit in, and seasonal cleanups.
Our standing maintenance plans run in Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace, so a Kenmore property is design, build and scheduled one-off work rather than a recurring visit.