Landscaping
Landscape Design
Good design on a South Florida property is mostly decisions made early: where the shade will be, what screens the neighbours, which plants can take the sun on the west wall, and how much maintenance you actually want to sign up for.
Arbor designs with the mature size of plant material in mind, which is the single most common mistake we're called in to fix — beds planted at nursery spacing that become a wall of overgrown shrubs in three years.
What a design covers
Layout and circulation
How people move through the property, what should be seen from the drive, and what should be hidden.
Existing trees as structure
Using the canopy you already have, and planning beds for the light conditions it creates.
Plant selection
Species chosen for the soil, exposure, salt and irrigation reality of the specific site.
Screening and privacy
Hedges, palms and layered planting placed where they actually block the view in question.
Scale and mature size
Spacing and positions based on what plants become, not what they look like on delivery day.
Outdoor lighting design
Lighting planned with the planting: uplighting on specimen trees and palms, and light where paths and entries need it after dark.
Maintenance expectations
An honest picture of what the finished landscape needs to keep looking the way it does on day one.
Choosing the plants with you
Plant selection is part of the design, not an afterthought. Scott takes clients to the nursery to hand-select the trees and plants together, so you see the specimens that will go into your property. Selections weigh sunlight, soil and drainage, mature size, privacy, storm exposure, maintenance and how each plant sits in the wider plan.
Planning for privacy
Where a property needs screening, the plan starts from the view you want blocked and works back to the height, depth and species that will do it — layered hedges, clumping palms and trees positioned on the actual sightline. Our FAQ covers the privacy trees and hedges that perform best here, and privacy planting is installed as part of the landscaping work.
Personalized planning and renovations
Every plan is drawn for the property in front of us rather than adapted from a template. The consultation is done in person by the owner — the property is walked, your goals, budget and maintenance preferences are discussed, and recommendations follow from what the site actually allows.
Renovation planning works the same way on grounds that already have a landscape: what stays, what comes out, what gets replanted at correct spacing, and the order the work happens in so it can be phased if you'd rather not do everything at once.
From plan to installed landscape
Because Arbor installs and maintains as well as designs, the plan is drawn by people who will have to deliver it. That tends to keep proposals realistic — material we can source, access we can get equipment through, and planting we can keep alive.
Once the plan is agreed, the work runs through our landscaping services, with landscape maintenance available afterwards.
Design questions
What is involved in landscape design?
Walking the property, understanding how you use it and what bothers you about it now, then planning layout, planting, scale and sequence — what gets installed first and what can wait.
Do I need a design, or can you just plant?
For a single bed or a replacement hedge, planting straight away is fine. For a whole property, or anything involving mature trees and sightlines, planning first avoids expensive corrections later.
Can a design keep existing trees and palms?
That's usually the starting point. Mature trees are the hardest thing to replace, so the plan is built around them — or around moving them, where relocation is realistic.
Can the work be phased?
Yes. Plenty of properties are done in stages, and a plan makes phasing sensible instead of piecemeal.
Related services
- Landscaping
Installation of the designed plan.
- Landscape maintenance
Keeping a new landscape looking right.
- Tree relocation
Repositioning existing trees within a new plan.
- Hedge trimming
Maintaining designed privacy screens.
Design work is available in West Palm Beach and the wider service area.
We work throughout Palm Beach County. Explore the communities we serve most often: