Custom Landscape, Drainage, and Water Feature Designers

Foundation Plantings

Our foundation plantings accentuate and mimic the characteristics and style of the façade, soften hard edges, add color and textural variety, and screen negative architectural elements. Some of the elements we incorporate into foundation plantings are specimen plants, evergreen shrubs, flowering shrubs, perennials, boulders, sculptures, water features, edging, and small retaining walls.

Berms

We create berms, or areas of mounded soil, to add height and visual interest to the landscape, especially in flat areas. Berms can also be used as a focal point, to screen unsightly views, add privacy, redirect water flow, and even shape pathways. Some of the elements we incorporate into berms are boulders, large shrubs, evergreen trees, larger specimen plants, and bursts of color.

Accent and Outcropping Boulders

Ledge rock, or linearly shaped boulders, of all sizes, can be placed within the landscape to create the look of a natural "rock shelf." This also allows us to manage existing elevation changes, create elevation changes, and provide an overall interest to your planter beds. Accent boulders, or rounded boulders, of all sizes, can be placed within the landscape along with decorative cobblers to provide year-round interest and help break up large mulched areas.

Dry Creek Beds

Utilizing a variety of boulders, cobblers, decorative gravels, and vegetation, we design dry creek beds for both functional and aesthetic purposes. Functionally, dry creek beds are used to manage surface water runoff and erosion within the property by providing paths for water to safely flow and collect. Aesthetically, dry creek beds, or gravel accent areas, add another layer to the overall landscape by accentuating vegetation in the growing season and by providing color and interest in the winter.

Screens

We create screen plantings using a variety of large vegetation to block the view of unsightly elements and provide a sense of privacy. Screens can be combined with berms to provide more height and contain all of one variety, or a combination of deciduous trees, medium to large evergreen trees, large shrubs, tall ornamental grasses, and vining plants on trellises.

Bubbler Boulder Fountains

We install bubbling boulders for clients wanting a natural water feature in a small space. These low-maintenance and compact water features help create a relaxing and serene atmosphere by providing the calming sounds of water cascading over rocks.

Pondless Waterfalls

Pondless waterfalls transform a landscape into a dynamic space with movement and sound. Requiring low maintenance, these water features need only to have their basin kept full. Pondless waterfalls can be a small feature, where there is one fall with a rock basin, or it can be a large feature, where the rock basin is combined with a meandering stream and multiple falls.

Edging

We install natural and man-made edgers as landscape elements that more clearly define landscape spaces and keep the ground cover elements in place, such as mulch, gravel, and turf. They can also be used within landscape beds to frame undulating areas of contrasting groundcover materials.

Every Job Begins With Grading

At Shelton Landscape, every job starts with grading. Whether it’s a simple landscape planter bed or raising a backyard with a retaining wall and fill soil, water runoff and how it will interact with the new slope must be considered. Grading can also allow for added interest in the landscape by adding elevation changes, such as berms, to level areas.

Drainage Pipe

Not all drainage problems can be solved with grading soil so that surface water flows away from your structure to the desired runoff area. Therefore, installing corrugated and/or PVC drainage pipe to a home’s downspouts ensures large sources of water do not settle or disrupt surrounding landscapes against foundations and can be carried to a more desirable location.

EZ Flow Drainage Pipe

Water settling in low areas can be collected and carried to a properly graded area through a French drain or catch basin. Today’s French drains are made with EZ Flow drainage pipe and a sand-based soil backfill. The lawn can then be turned back into turfgrass using sod, or for a more decorative solution, can be turned into a dry creek bed. Catch basins are plastic boxes of various sizes that are buried in the ground where standing water occurs. Once water reaches a certain level in the basin, it is emitted through a solid pipe directing the water to a more desirable location.

Underground Storage Basins

Water wells, also known as underground storage basins, are used to capture groundwater, not surface water. They are simply holes dug in the ground and lined with geotextile fabric and filled with clean gravel. The ground water infiltrates the gravel area and is then emitted through a buried pipe, directing the water to a more desirable location.