What plant and tree installation covers
A planting plan is the part of a landscape that changes most, because it is the only part that is alive. We install shade trees, ornamentals, shrubs, and perennial beds chosen for how they behave in the Atlanta climate, which sits in USDA zones 7b and 8a and swings from humid summers to the occasional hard winter freeze. The goal is not a yard that looks finished on install day. It is a yard that looks right in five and ten years, once the canopy has filled in and the beds have knit together.
Species selection is where most of the value lives. For shade and structure we plant willow oak, red maple, and river birch; for flower and form we lean on southern magnolia, crape myrtle, Eastern redbud, flowering dogwood, and Japanese maple. Foundation beds get loropetalum, camellia, gardenia, boxwood, and holly, with hydrangea and azalea where a spot holds afternoon shade. We match every plant to its light, its soil, and the space it needs at maturity, so nothing is fighting the wall or the walk it was set next to.
Our process for this service
01 · Site and soil assessment. We read sun and shade through the day, check drainage, and test how the native red clay takes water. Clay is the defining fact of planting in Atlanta, and it dictates how we amend, how deep we plant, and what will actually thrive.
02 · Plant plan and sourcing. We lay out species, quantities, and spacing, then source healthy nursery stock with sound root balls. We would rather plant a smaller, well-rooted tree that establishes fast than a large one that sulks for three seasons.
03 · Planting and mulching. We dig wide, not deep, set each root flare slightly above grade so the plant does not settle and drown, backfill with amended native soil, and finish with a mulch ring that holds moisture without smothering the trunk.
04 · Establishment care. We water in, stake only the trees that truly need it, and set a watering rhythm for the first season, which is when new plantings live or die.
What’s included
An installation includes soil preparation, amendment, the plants themselves, mulch, and the initial watering-in that gets roots moving. We set trees at the correct depth, a detail that quietly kills more young trees than any pest, and we space shrubs for the size they will reach rather than the size they are in the pot. Where a bed needs edging or a light grade correction to drain, we handle it as part of the same visit.
Because we also maintain what we plant, the beds do not become someone else’s problem the moment they go in the ground. The same team returns to prune the crape myrtle correctly in late winter, feed the camellias, and thin a young tree’s canopy as it grows. Planting and upkeep are one continuous relationship rather than two disconnected transactions, which is how a landscape actually matures the way it was drawn.
Where we work
We plant across Atlanta, from the shaded lots of Druid Hills and Decatur to newer beds in Roswell and Alpharetta. Brookhaven, Dunwoody, and Sandy Springs keep us busy with tree work and foundation planting alike. If you are deciding what belongs in a bed or where a shade tree should go, we can walk the yard and tell you what will thrive in that exact spot.