Landscaping in Buffalo is a short growing season squeezed between lake snows. Shrubs spend months buried. Salt and slush chew the planting bed along the walk. When the melt comes, water runs at the foundation if the grade is lazy. Lawns are real here, unlike a city court, and so are trees that drop limbs on roofs after a heavy wet snow. The yard has to survive winter before it can be pretty in July.
Drainage is the project that protects the house. A low corner at the basement wall, a downspout that dumps on frozen ground, and a bed mounded against the siding will all show up as a wet cellar. Say where the melt goes. Regrading, extending leaders, and keeping soil and mulch off the siding do more for this climate than a new flower list. Irrigation, if you have it, has to be blown out or it becomes a burst line in the first hard freeze.
Plantings should expect wind off the water, snow load, and road salt. Foundation shrubs that trap ice against the wall are a maintenance problem. A tree over the roof is a roof problem. Spring cleanup here is broken wood, gravel in the lawn, and beds that disappeared. A weekly mow is a summer fact with a firm end date. Say whether you need that schedule, a one-time cleanup, or a change in grade.
Describe the lot plainly. Flat, a slight slope, or a house below the sidewalk. Fence, no fence. Trees over the roof or clear. Say if the basement takes water, because the yard work and the water are the same conversation. Skip a design speech until the melt path is clear. If all you have is a parking pad and a strip of grass, say that.
This is not a roof garden between brick walls. It is a lake-snow yard around a house with a basement. Landscaping in Buffalo starts with melt, salt, and the short green season. Call the number on this page.