Pocono Landscaping Transformations
Landmasters is a design/build landscape company that specializes in transforming properties!!!
Enjoy the transformation photos in this section of our website; we are experts in achieving the WOW!!! factor for our clients, and have certainly set the bar extremely high in the industry.
Landmasters takes great pride in providing the maximum impact from our landscaping transformations.
We believe that a house without landscaping is like a painting without a frame, or a beautiful window without trim. We understand the premises of design, and how using the proper artistic interpretation makes all the difference in the world.
As the old saying goes, "you only get one chance to make a first impression"; let us utiize our 30 years of experience transforming homes and properties to give your home its best possible look.
We use soil, boulders, plants, and hardscaping like an artist or sculptor uses clay.
Call or email us today to visit any of our current, ongoing, or many other completed projects to see firsthand how we can be of service to you.
Speak to current or past customers about their experience with us, and learn what Landmasters can do to transform your property!
Twin Lakes: Landscaping
This beautiful home in Twin Lake Estates, East Stroudsburg PA, which is featured in many of RGB Custom Homebuilders advertisements and billboards, sat on a slightly sloping lot with several large existing trees remaining in front.
To add the necessary curb appeal, and add all the necessary elements to bring the house to life, we started by bringing in 5 loads of screened fill dirt and 5 loads of topsoil, and 1 load of boulders.
We used the soils to create a rolling contour to the land, with dramatic raised planting beds punctuated by large groupings of native boulders, and sweeping planting beds to "soften" the geometric lines of the house.
A gracefully curving paving stone walkway welcomes visitors from the driveway, and a colorful, vibrant selection of deer resistant plantings add beauty and texture year round.
Large evergreens and colorful shade trees provide screening and privacy from the roadfront and neighbors, and the rich bluegrass sod lawn adds a manicured feeling to this elegant but natural landscape.
Whispering Pines: Hardscaping
This dramatic transformation began as a gorgeous lodge-style home on the pristine point of Whispering Pines at Lake Wallenpaupack.
A 16000 square foot home with lots of open space around it needs the correct landscape design to enhance it; the scale has to be sufficiently large, and the home has to be "blended" or made to "fit" with the surrounding terrain.
We began by transferring huge quantities of soil from the accompanying mountainside (approximately 500 tons) to different parts of the property, creating the necessary sculpturing and shaping of the land.
Enormous boulders were taken from the existing boulder ledges to recreate natural outcroppings of rock in key places around the landscape; along with mass plantings of large, native evergreens and shade trees we were able to make the house appear less imposing.
We also used native pieces of bluestone from the property to create a unique set of boulder steps that provides access to the large lawn area and bluestone patio in back.
These steps curl dramatically down through the existing boulder ledges to present a unique feature of the landscape.
A large paving stone parking area (6500 square feet) provides ample space in front a gives the appearance of a rustic courtyard.
The centerpiece of the design is a magnificent dry-laid stone wall, made from locally quarried bluestone, that curves around the front planting bed and ties into the 2 massive stone pillars shown in the photo.
These pillars create an impressive entryway to this spectacular home, and the combination of stone walls, pillars, steps and pavers tying in with the stone on the house is a fantastic example of the awesome, timeless effect created with the proper landscaping. This job looked as though it had been there for a hundred years, which was the intention.
For our work on this project we were rewarded with the 2005 Pocono Builders Association Award of Excellence in Landscaping .
We also received the 2005 award from Anchor Concrete Products, one of the largest manufacturers of paving stones in the eastern US, for Residential Paving Stone installation and design.
Boulder Slope
To handle the extremely difficult conditions of this site, we relied on both our technical knowlege and our ability to "think outside the box".
The homeowner was faced with a steep embankment approxately 10 feet from the back of his house.
He had almost no back yard space for his family, the soils kept eroding away the bank and the heavy run-off from the road above his property poured down through the embankment and flooded his house.
He initially wanted an engineered block retaining wall, but the price was quite high and this wall needed to be approximately 12-14' high, which required a site alteration plan, a building permit and a zoning permit.
I came up with a design that would handle all his concerns without the hassles of the municipal permitting process, and lower his cost tremendously.
We regraded the slope to move the bottom of the slope back about 12 feet; we retained the slope by installling boulders into the grade, partially exposed, to resemble a natural stone outcropping.
We created a swale/berm system up above the slope to keep water from being a problem, diverting it into a nearby drainage culvert.
Boulders are considered landscaping and do not require permits in many municipalities, and we were able to find native beige sandstone boulders that matched the colors and style of his home.
Low spreading junipers were added to spread in between the boulders to eventually form a living mat of color and texture, and also help hold the soil.
Finally, a sandstone walkway provides access to different areas of the property, and a bluegrass sod lawn was installed to finish his backyard property.
Stone Steps
This extreme transformation took place at the Armitage residence in the beautiful Estates at Great Bear in Marshalls Creek PA.
The homeowner wanted a stone patio, rather than a deck, outside his sliding French doors that lead to his kitchen and dining area.
The challenge was that the door was approximately 12' off the existing ground level!!!
To overcome this, and create the correct elevation factors to install a flagstone patio, we imported 30 triaxle loads (approximately 500 tons of #3 stone).
This stone was compacted in 12" lifts and fitted with a pvc drainage system and engineered fabric and materials to relieve hydrostatic pressure and prevent future settling issues.
After the stone was installed, several loads of soil were brought in to act as a "diaphragm" around the stone and create planting pockets; large boulders were used to retain the slopes, and provide structural integrity to the raised patio.
Plantings of large native dogwood trees (Cornus Florida), Canaan Fir, and Burning Bush give the slope an established look.
After the red flagstone patio was installed up top, a unique bench seat built of dry laid bluestone with a cemented red flagstone cap provides a comfortable seating area around the patio.
Boulder steps made from native slabs of bluestone connect the various levels of patio, culminating in a lower patio with a jacuzzi and a middle patio with an outdoor kitchen.
For our work at the Armitage residence we were awarded with the Pocono Builders 2007 Award of Excellence for residential Landscaping.
Paving Stones and Walls
This impressive transformation at a magnificent stone and cedar lakefront mansion on Boulder Point at Lake Wallenpaupack shows how the proper hardscaping can provide texture and structure aesthetically, while solving many practical and functional problems.
The homeowners property featured sloping planting beds in front of the house that didn't drain properly, leaving the lower driveway filled with mud; the plantings were unhealthy due to their "wet feet" due to the poor drainage.
We removed all the plants from the planting beds, raised the soil level 3-4' in the beds, installed boulders to add structure and a natural, rustic feeling, and built dry-stacked stone walls using various sizes of native bluestone.
We capped the walls with huge pieces of irregular flagstone 3-6" thick which provides an immense and powerful feeling to the landscape.
Finally, we regraded the driveway, installed a surface and subsurface drainage system, and installed tumbled paving stones to give the look of an ancient, cobbled European street.
The transformation is impressive, and the landscape continues to improve with age!!!