Landscaping in Iowa is wind, open lawns, and water that must leave the foundation on a flat lot. Shelterbelts protect the house and then dump snow on the walk or shade the south side you wanted clear. Hail shreds leaves and wounds bark in one pass. Clay holds a puddle. Freeze and thaw heave walks by spring. The call is grading, broken limbs, and plants that the weather edited, not a magazine bed.
Downspouts that end at the footing fill a basement no matter how green the lawn looks. Keep soil sloping away. A swale or a dry well beats a pipe that moves the puddle to the neighbor. Say if their grade already sends water to you. Limbs over a bedroom or on the roof come before a replanting. Hail-flattened beds can wait a week. A hanging limb cannot.
Salt and plow piles kill the drive edge. Seed dies there again without a change of soil or edge. Shrubs in the gutter splash zone rot at the crown. A tree rubbing the roof is a roof problem and a tree problem. Deer and rabbits edit new plantings on the edge of town. Choose for wind and clay. A windbreak on the wrong side will fight the house all winter.
Summer humidity feeds fungus on a crowded lawn, then a hot week scorches a new planting with no water plan. Irrigation has to be blown out before a freeze or it becomes a plumbing call. Mulch on the trunk rots bark that wind finishes. If the work can wait until thaw, say whether you are planning or whether water is at the foundation now. Edging decides if the yard stays keepable.
Lead with drainage, a shredded tree, a heaved walk, or limbs overhead. Name the town and whether the lot is open to the west. Iowa wind does not give new plants a gentle week. Call the number on this page.