We look at what is protected before we quote, not after
BC Landscape and Nursery Association certification
A narrow lot and a laneway run change the job, so we say so
Queensborough, Sapperton, Uptown and the Brow of the Hill
On flat Queensborough ground the water table does the choosing. Plenty of standard nursery stock sulks or rots in soil that stays saturated for weeks, and no amount of feeding fixes a plant that is drowning.
A bed built up with the right soil gives roots somewhere to be when the ground below is wet. It is the single most useful thing you can do on a flat lot, and it is cheaper than replanting twice.
Wet soil compacts under foot traffic and mowers, and compacted soil holds even more water. Aeration is the ordinary fix and it is worth doing on a schedule here rather than once.
| New Westminster area | What we usually find | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's Park and Uptown | Heritage houses, mature trees and the largest protected specimens in the city, on small lots | Bylaw first. Assume something in the garden is protected and quote after checking, not before |
| Sapperton | Steep, older, and a lot of properties working a bank between the street and the house | Beds cut to hold material, and lawn only where a mower can be turned safely |
| Brow of the Hill and Moody Park | Dense, narrow lots, frequently rental or multi unit, with lane access at the rear | Access decides the price. Materials usually come in by barrow |
| Queensborough | Flat, newer, on Lulu Island behind the dike, with a high water table | Plant selection and raised beds. Aeration on a schedule rather than once |
| Downtown and Quayside | Mid rise and townhouse frontage rather than detached gardens, close to the river | Mostly strata and shared frontage work, where the scope needs to be written down |
| Connaught Heights and the West End | Quieter detached streets on the western slope, gardens planted decades ago | Renovation work. Old planting that has outgrown its space is the usual brief |
Pruning itself is exempt, provided the work follows sound arboricultural practice. What constrains you is the bylaw’s own ceiling: topping is out, and a quarter of the crown is the most that may come off between one season and the next. Because tall hedges here are classed as trees, that ceiling applies to a cedar run just as it would to an oak.
At a trunk thickness of 20cm, gauged 1.3m up from the ground. Where a tree forks low, the city adds the two thickest stems together to get there. Height brings a hedge in at 5m regardless of trunk size, and any tree showing signs of nesting birds is covered whatever its dimensions.
Approval before the saw, and planting afterwards. The standard ratio is two new trees per protected one felled, dropping to one where the tree was already dead or dangerous. Hedges are replaced by length instead: one tree for every 4m taken out, which mounts up fast along a full boundary.
No. We are a planting, lawn and maintenance company: beds, mulch, hedges, pruning, lawns and cleanups. On a steep lot we will work with the structures you already have and tell you honestly when a slope needs something built rather than planted.
Usually three things: aeration on a schedule because wet soil compacts, raised beds so roots have somewhere dry to sit, and plant choices that tolerate saturated ground. If water is standing for weeks or sitting against the house, that is a drainage job and we will say so.
Usually, by barrow from the lane or the street. It is worth mentioning when you ask for a quote, because a lot with no side access genuinely takes longer and we would rather price it than find out on the day.
All of it, including Queensborough over the bridge. Queen’s Park, Uptown, Sapperton, the Brow of the Hill, Moody Park, Connaught Heights, Glenbrooke North, the West End, Downtown and Quayside.
It depends on the grade, the access and how much is protected. A flat Queensborough lot you can drive to and a Sapperton bank reached by barrow are different jobs on the same size of paper. We walk it, put the scope in writing, and the number holds.
