Garden Beds & Planting

A planting bed is a small construction project: shape it, edge it, fix the soil, then plant. Skip the first three and you're just burying plants in builder's clay. We do all four, and we plant hardy varieties — zone 3, wind-tolerant, deer-resistant where it matters.

What's included

• Bed layout and shaping — curves that mow cleanly, depth for the plants going in
• Steel or aluminum edging to hold the line against the lawn
• Soil — remove the worst of the clay, blend in compost and quality garden soil
• Planting — trees staked, shrubs and perennials spaced for their mature size
• Mulch to finish, kept off the stems

Plants that work in the Calgary area

We plant proven zone-3 material: potentilla, dogwood, ninebark, spirea, juniper and mugo for structure; daylily, salvia, sedum, karl foerster grass and peony for the perennial layer; Swedish aspen, Amur maple, hardy crab and columnar species for trees. We'll build the plan around your sun, your soil and how much time you want to spend on it — including a near-zero-maintenance option.

Why builder's soil kills beds that look fine on day one

New-build lots get topped with a few centimetres of decent soil over compacted construction clay, and it's usually enough to get a plant through its first summer looking healthy. By year two the roots hit the clay layer, can't push through it, and the plant stalls or dies — which reads as bad luck or a bad plant choice when it's actually a soil problem from the start. We dig out and amend a real root zone (not just a surface layer) for every bed, which is the part of the job that doesn't show in a photo but is the difference between a bed that lasts and one you're replanting in three years.

Bed edging options

What holds the line between bed and lawn

Edging	Best for
Steel, pinned	Curved beds, the cleanest sightline, longest life
Aluminum	Lighter-duty beds, easier to reshape later
Cut spade edge (no material)	Budget option; needs re-cutting every year or two

How much do garden beds cost to build?

A single well-built, planted garden bed usually starts around $1,500; a full front-yard planting plan is quoted per project. Bed construction and planting is quoted by the bed and the plant list.

Common questions

Will you guarantee the plants?

Not survival — establishment depends mostly on watering once we've left. What we do warranty is the bed itself: edging, soil and grading, and we plant the right way and give you a care sheet to follow.

Can you do a low-maintenance plan?

Yes — wide spacing, drought-tolerant shrubs, rock or mulch groundcover, drip-ready layout. Tell us how much gardening you actually want to do.

Do I need a permit for a new garden bed?

No — planting beds within your own lot don't need a City of Calgary or Chestermere permit. If a bed sits near a property line or a shared fence, we'll confirm the line first so nobody's replanting it after a survey.

How deep do you amend the soil?

At least 30–40 cm for shrub and perennial beds, deeper for anything with a tree going in — enough to actually give roots somewhere to go, not just a top-dressing over the existing clay.