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Older housing, moving water
Landscaping & tree care in Silver Spring
Much of Silver Spring was built before anyone designed for stormwater, and the gardens still show it.
The older sections of Silver Spring have small lots, close neighbours and a lot of impermeable surface uphill of them. Water that used to soak away now arrives at the bottom of somebody's garden all at once. A surprising share of the work we do here is not decorative at all: swales, dry creek beds, regrading away from foundations, and river stone where grass was never going to hold.
Done properly that work does not have to look like engineering. A dry creek bed that handles a downpour can be the best-looking thing in the garden for the other fifty-one weeks of the year, and that is the standard we hold it to.
What we do in Silver Spring
Local rules worth knowing
What governs work in Silver Spring.
When a project triggers the Forest Conservation Law
Montgomery County's Forest Conservation Law is triggered by the permit, not the tree count. Montgomery Planning's own decision tree lists the triggers as needing a sediment control permit — which starts at 5,000 square feet of land disturbance — a special exception or mandatory referral on a lot of 40,000 square feet or more, or a development plan on a parcel of any size, with an exemption branch for properties under 1.5 acres. Most single-garden work sits well under that. Large regrading, a long driveway or a pool surround may not, and it is worth knowing before the design is finished rather than after.
Trees along the road are not yours to cut
Under Maryland's Roadside Tree Law (Natural Resources Article §§5-401–5-411) any planting, pruning or removal of a tree in the public road right-of-way needs a permit from the Maryland DNR Forest Service first — and the work has to be done under the direction of a Licensed Tree Expert. A permit is not permission from the tree's owner: that comes separately from the State Highway Administration, the county, or the municipality. We hold Maryland Tree Expert License #1798 and handle the permit as part of the job.
Ask any tree company for their licence number
Maryland requires commercial roadside tree work to be carried out under a Licensed Tree Expert, and a firm doing the physical work must have at least one on staff. The DNR Forest Service licenses LTEs on experience, education and an examination. Ours is #1798. It is a fair question to ask anyone quoting you tree work.
Regulations change. These notes summarise published guidance from the agencies named and are a starting point, not legal advice — we confirm the current position for your specific property before any permit-affecting work begins.
Questions we get asked in Silver Spring
Straight answers.
How do you stop water pooling in a Silver Spring back garden?
First by finding where it is coming from, which is often uphill and not on your property at all. The fix is usually a combination of regrading, an intercepting swale or drain, and a planted outfall that can take the volume. Installing a drain without correcting grade tends to move the puddle rather than remove it.
Is a dry creek bed just decoration?
Not if it is built correctly. It needs to be sized for the water it will carry, set on the right grade and bedded so the stone does not migrate. Built that way it is drainage that happens to look good.
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