Page 22 - Dockside Magazine Muskoka, Summer/Fall 2018

Set phases
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW FEARMAN
to stun
A multi-year landscaping approach brings amazing results
Designer Megan Swan and President Karen Tolton of Water’s Edge Landscaping
Planning a new landscape can be a delightful, leisurely process – some people spend years dreaming about the look they’d like to achieve. But when it comes
to digging up the ground and planting, the tendency is to want to get it done all at once and as quickly as possible.
That’s certainly a valid approach, says Karen Tolton, the owner of Water’s Edge Landscaping. But, she says, there’s sometimes a better way.
“Working in stages can be a tremendously useful way to
approach a project, if it’s done right,” she says.
“We have clients who have us come back every year for several seasons, tackling a different part of the property each time. It’s a very effective way to transform your landscape.”
If that has you shuddering as you picture a property that looks unfinished for years, rest assured. “Working in stages doesn’t mean that you’ll have a pile of dirt and an excavator parked on your property all summer every summer,” Karen explains.
“Every stage of the work is carefully planned, executed quickly, and thoroughly cleaned up.”
First things first
There are a host of reasons why someone would choose
to spread a project out over two or more years, Karen says. Budget is an obvious
one. Spreading out the work also means spreading out the expense, a particularly common concern for people who have just purchased a property.
For others, though, it has more to do with time