Landscaping in Massachusetts is ledge, stone walls, and water that has nowhere to go once the maples leaf out. Glacial rock sits a few inches under many yards west of Boston and through the Worcester hills. Shore lots take salt spray that burns ordinary shrubs and lawns. A spring thaw turns clay and silt into mud that ruts if you drive it too early. Say what the yard is doing, not just how you want it to look.
Downspouts that dump at the foundation, a grade that slopes toward a bulkhead, and a patio that holds a puddle against the sill are landscape problems that become carpenter-ant problems. Stone walls that heave lose their cap and spill into the bed. A fence on a property line in a tight eastern town needs a conversation about whose shrub it is before anyone cuts. Mention the neighbor only if the work touches the line.
The growing season is real but not endless. Planting a tree into July heat on a sandy Cape lot is a different bet than planting the same tree into Berkshire soil in a cool May. Salt-tolerant plants belong on the immediate shore. Inland shade gardens under hemlock need less lawn and more thought about roots in the septic area. Do not dig a field you have not located. Say if the yard has a wellhead, a tank, or a leach field.
Walks heave where freeze and thaw work on a thin base. Brick patios without an edge slowly walk toward the grass. Retaining walls of old railroad tie rot and lean. Drainage that was solved with a trench full of stone can silt up and stop. Ask whether you need the water moved, the bed rebuilt, or the trees brought back off the roof. Those are three jobs that get blurred into one vague request.
Describe the town, the sun, the slope, and the thing that fails in a storm. A yard that floods from the street is not the same as a yard that stays wet from a spring. Mention dogs, stone walls, and any roof water you can see hitting the ground. Have a priority, drainage or planting or both. Call the number on this page.