Landscaping in Lake Elmo, MN
Acreages, long entries and properties that need a plan before a shovel.
Big lots are a different problem
Lake Elmo properties tend to be larger than the metro average, and size changes what good landscaping means. On a quarter-acre lot the whole yard is one composition. On two or five acres it is not, and treating it as one is how people end up spending a lot of money on beds nobody ever stands next to.
The useful approach is to decide which parts of a big property are actually lived in. The entry, the ground around the house, the view from the windows you use. Those get the detail. The rest gets a lighter, cheaper treatment that holds the ground and looks deliberate.
Entries, drives and first impressions
On an acreage the driveway is usually the longest thing on the property and the first thing anyone sees. A long entry with nothing happening along it reads as unfinished no matter how good the yard behind the house is.
Massed planting, a boulder feature at the turn, or simply a defined edge does more for how a large property presents than another bed by the back door. It is also generally the cheapest square footage on the place to make look intentional.
Clearing, prairie and the parts you are not mowing
Most larger Lake Elmo lots have ground that is neither lawn nor woods. Left alone it fills with buckthorn, volunteer boxelder and whatever else got there first, and it creeps closer to the house every year.
Clearing that and putting something intentional back is usually the best value on a big property. Native and prairie planting suits open ground here, holds soil, feeds pollinators and does not need the water or the attention a lawn of the same size would.
What we do in Lake Elmo
Whole-property planning, the construction, and the clearing that comes first.
Lake Elmo questions
Do you serve Lake Elmo, MN?
Yes. Lake Elmo is in our east metro service area, worked from our Afton location along with Stillwater, Woodbury, Cottage Grove and Afton.
Do you take on acreages rather than just yards?
Yes. Larger properties are common here, and they are planned differently: detail where the property is actually used, and a lighter treatment across the rest.
What should we do with ground we are not mowing?
Clearing the volunteer growth and putting native or prairie planting back is usually the best value. It holds the soil, feeds pollinators, and does not need the water or attention a lawn of that size would.
Is a long driveway worth landscaping?
Usually, yes. On a large property the entry is the first thing anyone sees and often the cheapest area to make look intentional, whether that is massed planting, a boulder feature or simply a defined edge.
Tell us about your property
Send us the details and we will get back to you.
(952) 324-0481 · office@evergreenlawnmn.com
Where the water goes
Water behaves differently on two acres than it does on a quarter. It arrives from further away, it is moving faster by the time it reaches the house, and a shallow swale that looks like nothing on a plan ends up doing most of the work.
On a larger property this is the part worth getting right before anything decorative goes in, because it is the part that is expensive to revisit.