With all the landscaping emphasis we see regarding outdoor living spaces including: patio areas, water features, landscape lighting, etc., it is particularly important to stress the root of landscaping. That would be softscaping with plant material, turf and trees. In reality over 60% of all our work installed in a year is in the hardscape portion of our industry. It is softscaping however, that really does put the total landscape package together. After all, it’s all called landscaping. Right?

Since outdoor living and outdoor rooms have taken center stage. I thought it would be appropriate to note that without good softscaping most hardscaping looks sterile and without much interest. Note the photo below which shows a nice hardscaped water feature we installed. Now imagine all the plants gone. While the pond would still look good, without the planting the pond would loose it’s value as a meditative and sitting area. Nothing would be there to invite you to rest a spell.

We also love to install ponds and stream beds. Have you thought about what they may look without great trees and shrubbery? Below is water feature five years after planting.

If you want to landscape your back or front yard, please pay attention to the plant material and trees. You will probably be focussing on the cost of the hardscaping since that is the big ticket item. What makes your landscaping stand out are the plants and trees. Hire a qualified landscape designer and make sure the landscape you want installed will be a little bit of your paradise.

Serving the Vancouver Wa, Camas WA and Ridgefield WA areas for over twenty years with exceptional landscaping services.

For the past few years, it seems, everyone is worried about return on investment on what ever they decide to dabble their money in. Many have pulled their money out of stocks, bonds and even their money market accounts. I can’t say I blame them much since we are either losing money or making .01% interest. This is a landscaping blog, so you now can figure out that I am going to try to show you the return on investment on landscaping your home.

Let’s imagine you are planning to sell your home. Landscaping can return as much as 14% for the amount you put into it. The studies are not any older that 2 years, but for sake of argument, let’s say you only get a 7% return on investment. Not bad in these times. In fact, a inviting front entry and patio space in the back yard landscaping just may sell your home very quickly. That is almost worth it’s weight in gold.
Taking a step further. Let’s assume that you plan to stay in your home. Why have cash laying around doing no good at all. I’m talking about the return on investment of you enjoying, using and relaxing in your own personel paradise. I can’t say what value that may have to you, but the credit card companies call it priceless. Imagine enjoying yourself off after work or on weekends in your own outdoor living area, complete with water features, patio spaces, fire pits, and maybe even a outdoor kitchen. That seems to me to be money well spent.

So get a return on your investment and invest in landscaping and get years of enjoyment.
We have been producing quality landscapes for over twenty years in the Vancouver WA area. Don’t let your sour return on investments in stocks, bonds and money market accounts get you down. Enjoy yourself with a new landscape constructed by Woodys’ Custom Landscaping, Inc.
Check out our landscape services at www.woodyscustomlandscaping.com

While this may not be in the top ten of commandments, it truly holds the #11 spot since I am a landscape contractor. There really is no reason to covet your neighbors landscaping. It’s just a matter of receiving one of our quick but accurate landscape estimates and see for yourself what a little money can buy. With a simple landscape design and a few changes most yards truly can become a place where you can enjoy some outdoor living right in your own back yard. Many times a new paver or flagstone patio, a few trees and some landscape lighting is all you need to enjoy your own back yard versus looking over the fence at your neighbors and wishing you had some of that. You can. take a look at our web site at woodyscustomlandscaping.com and see for yourself the many quality and award winning landscape services we offer in the Vancouver Washington and Portland Oregon areas.

Some of our landscape services include:
Sod lawn installation
Irrigation
Planting
Landscape drainage
Landscape lighting
Hardscaping of all types including: Paver patios, flagstone patios, retaining walls, ponds and water features and landscape masonry.

Wouldn’t it be great go swimming and fishing in your own private lake, without ever leaving your backyard? The owners of this home, located in the Pacific Northwest along the Washougal River, have that luxury. Avid about the outdoors, they wanted their landscape to be a recreational retreat, while offering a hospitable environment for local wildlife. They also loved to fish and wanted to turn a natural depression in their backyard into a small lake that they could populate with native species of game fish. This man-made lake environment is a haven for many land animals as well. Local black-tailed deer, squirrels, and rabbits are frequent visitors, with wood ducks stopping by during their migration.

Key Design Features The lake is approximately 50 feet by 90 feet, and ranges in depth from 3 feet in an area intended for swimming to 12 feet. On one side of the lake, is a large patio with stone slabs steps that lead down to the swimming area. On the opposite shore is a suspended stone dock for fishing and a waterfall that flows over large natural-stone boulders. A small grotto was created so swimmers can sit beneath the cascading water.

Off to the side of the main waterfall runs a stream planted with Black-Eyed Susans, Echinacea, Shasta Daisies, vine maple trees, and Miscanthus. “This area will become a mass of color as the year progresses,” says Jason Sarvela of Woody’s Custom Landscaping, which excavated the lake and installed all the stonework and landscape plantings. “To add to the natural feel, the water in the stream runs over windswept moss boulders found at a nearby rock pit.”

At the front entry of the home is another fish-friendly water feature, a small pond inhabited by Japanese Koi fish. The entryway is paved with mortar-set Iron Mountain flagstone, a predominantly blue-black stone with rust-toned highlights. It extends over the Koi pond, forming a footbridge under which the fish can swim freely back and forth.

Another landscaping highlight in the front of the home is a serpentine retaining wall faced with cultured stone, which was used to frame the home’s terraced front lawn. Precast stone was also used to create raised garden beds that the homeowners use to grow herbs and vegetables. Paver walkways were installed around the raised beds to provide easy access.

“The landscape trend in our area has been going more and more towards incorporation of hardscaping into outdoor living spaces,” says Sarvela. Homeowner preferences were the main factors considered when deciding on the selection of hardscaping materials and plantings on this project. But in many cases, local materials were used, such as stone boulders from area quarries.

Project Challenges This project was installed in the late fall, winter, and early spring, during the coldest, wettest time of the year in the Pacific Northwest. “The schedule of events became a critical factor, depending on whether it was going to rain, freeze, or snow,” says Sarvela. Fortunately, excavation of the lake went fairly quickly, with the weather holding off during process, says Sarvella, who estimates that about 600 cubic yards of soil was removed using a combination of excavation equipment including track hoes, a front-end loader and a Ditch Witch multipurpose track machine. Track hoes were also used to place the large boulders that line the lake and form the water features.

After the project began, the homeowners decided to increase the size of the lake size by 20 feet so they could cast their fishing lines across the water. “This made for a significantly larger volume of water than originally planned,” says Sarvela. More than 300,000 gallons of water, to be exact, which came from a well on the site. Over 33,000 gallons per hour of water flows over the falls. “This required three separate pumps and vaults to pump all the water to a filter behind the main waterfall,” says Sarvela.

Multiple skimmers are located around the lake with intakes from the bottom. An aeration device along with the addition of an environmentally friendly microbial bacteria also aid in keeping the water healthy and clean, for both the fish and the daring skinny dipper. “At the deepest end of the lake, algae is a factor,” says Sarvela. “The addition of the microbial product encourages the growth of normal beneficial bacteria that feeds on the algae.”

We are serving the Portland Oregon and Vancouver Washington areas with certified and award winning services.

woodyscustomlandscaping.com

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There is a large amount of people that realize that for the last two decades much of what we used to produce in America is now produced in other countries. That is one reason for our huge deficits as well as some businesses suffering, not to mention unemployment. I am proud to say that the products we use and what we build in our landscaping projects in Vancouver WA., are American made if not locally produced.
Take for example paver patios. The interlocking concrete pavers we use for our paver patios are made in either Washington or Oregon. The gravel we use is quarried locally also. So is the sand. When you get a patio installed by us it is 100% American made. The same is true with Manor stone, Pisa II wall units, CMU block and brick. Where do the materials come from typically for flagstone patios? Most of the flagstone choices come from Western United States with blue stone flagstone coming from the east coast. Again another American made product. The gravel or concrete and mortar come from local sources.

How about soil mixes, bark top dressing, boulders, sod, grass seed and creek rock? That is another 100% local product. Made in America.
What about the plants we use in our landscaping projects. Since Oregon and Washington are the nursery capitals of the United States you can rest assured they are made in America and again are a local
product that has some of the best quality you will see nationally in any nursery stock.
Now on to sprinkler system products. The pipe, fittings and swing pipe and drain line are made in America. We use Rainbird products and unfortunately the valves and irrigation heads are made in Mexico.
At least it isn’t a distant country.

Many times we are asked to make a wood wall out of pressure treated material. Well you don’t have to go far since Washougal WA is the place that makes most of our pressure treated wood.
As you can see landscaping is local and American made. You can feel good that the money you spend for your outdoor living needs are indeed kept local and help our local economy.
We have served the local areas of Portland OR and Vancouver WA for over twenty years with services that are American made and we are proud of it.
Serving the Pacific Northwest with award winning landscape services for over twenty years.

Many people don’t know where to turn for a professional landscape contractor. I’m sure you would agree that service with quality is very important. At Woody’s Custom Landscaping, Inc., we want you to rest assured that you will be getting the best quality and service a landscape contractor can offer. Most of Woody’s employees are nationally certified in paver installation as well as retaining walls. We are represented also with national landscape certifications from Planet, a national landscape organization. We have a huge amount of personal references that are available on line and with each estimate our clients get a list of references to call. We have won numerous awards for our residential landscape construction as well as awards from the Portland Home and Garden Show and other landscape shows. We are well known for our hardscaping abilities and they do include custom masonry.
When it comes to outdoor living and a fantastic design build team, we should be on your list of must calls.

Check out our website and see for yourself.

This back yard was small and they needed a little more space for entertaining, which happens a lot in the summer for our clients. Thus the new outdoor room or outdoor living area.We constructed a large paver patio and also built a small circle kit for a bistro table with Old Dominion pavers. The old patio was aggregate stepping stones. Instead of throwing them away we decided to use them to install a pathway down a long narrow space. Add some low voltage lights, stepping stones, reposition a fountain, some new turf and a whole new look was achieved.

Serving the Portland Oregon for custom landscaping for over twenty years.

Finding a qualified landscape construction company to give you an estimate is really easy. First you go to www.woodyscustomlandscaping.com, click on the contact us and sure enough we will give a fast and accurate estimate. If clicking is not your thing our phone number is 360-687-1882. Our license number is #8732 in Oregon. We have been a landscape contractor in the Northwest for over 20 years. On our website we share many of the references we get from our clients. If it’s a landscape design we can help you. If outdoor living is what you are after, it has been our field of expertise for many years. Our awards for residential landscape construction will help prove that. We are just a few clicks away so start now with www.woodyscustomlandscaping.com and see for yourself the possibilities your home can have in a landscaped paradise. We specialize in quick but accurate landscape bids

Many people don’t know where to turn for a professional landscape contractor. I’m sure you would agree that service with quality is very important. At Woody’s Custom Landscaping, Inc., we want you to rest assured that you will be getting the best quality and service a landscape contractor can offer. Most of Woody’s employees are nationally certified in paver installation as well as retaining walls. We are represented also with national landscape certifications from Planet a national landscape organization. We have a huge amount of personal references that are available on line and with each estimate our clients get a list of references to call. We have won numerous awards for our residential landscape construction as well as awards from the Portland Home and Garden Show and other landscape shows. We are well known for our hardscaping abilities and they do include custom masonry.
When it comes to outdoor living we should be on your list of must calls.
Check out our website and see for yourself. www.woodyscustomlandscaping.com

Turn up the heat in your backyard
More and more people are choosing to expand their living space into their back yards. Outdoor living spaces have become a popular area for the remodel market. Besides a BBQ, one of the necessities of a functional outdoor living space is a source of heat. This is particularly true in the Northwest where chilly evenings are the norm.
Fireplaces and firepits are an excellent choice for adding both a source of heat and an aesthetic element to your yard.

Mutual Materials offers a wide array of outdoor fireplace and firepit choices. We sell all the necessary items to build your own fireplace whether it is a regular fireplace or a Rumford design fireplace. We have recently become a distributor of Firerock fireplaces, which are pre –engineered component fireplaces. These are manufactured masonry units that are designed for their easy of installation and cost savings. They are designed to burn wood, but can be hooked up to gas if you prefer.

Check out your options at any one of our nineteen branch locations and start enjoying your new backyard immediately!

Sincerely,

Craig Olsen
Branch Operations Manager

Woody’s Custom Landscaping is a preferred contractor with Mutual Materials and we have been providing our landscaping services for over twenty years in the Vancouver WA area.