Landscape Design & Installation — Built for Missouri Climate
Full-property design with native and adapted plantings. Beds, ground covers, trees, shrubs, mulch, and edging. Designed to age well, maintained simply.
Landscape Design that Actually Suits Missouri
A lot of landscape design in our area gets imported from elsewhere — plant palettes that work in coastal climates dropped into Missouri yards where they struggle. We design for what actually thrives here.
Missouri sits in USDA zones 6a-6b across our service area. Summers are hot and humid, winters dip below 0°F, and clay soils dominate. The plants that perform best are either Missouri natives or carefully adapted species — Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, Black-Eyed Susan, Coneflower, Switchgrass, Little Bluestem, Native Asters, and a long list of shade-tolerant woodland species for properties with mature trees.
Design starts with your property, your architecture, and your stated preferences. We can work in traditional, modern, naturalistic prairie, formal, or hybrid styles. What we don’t do is bring you a generic planting plan that ignores site conditions or your actual taste.
What’s Included in a Full Landscape Project
Site Assessment
Soil evaluation, drainage analysis, sun/shade mapping, existing tree inventory, microclimate identification. The starting point for any design that actually works.
Design Development
Hand-drawn layout sketches, plant selection with specific cultivars, bed shapes and edging, hardscape integration, and seasonal interest planning so the landscape looks good year-round.
Bed Preparation
Soil amendment with compost, edge installation (steel, stone, or natural edging), weed barrier where appropriate, and grade adjustments before any plantings go in.
Plant Installation
Trees, shrubs, perennials, and ground covers planted to spec with proper depth, root collar exposure, and initial watering. We source from regional nurseries that grow stock acclimated to Missouri conditions.
Mulch and Finish
3 inches of hardwood mulch in all beds. Final grading. Edging cleanup. Anything that needs to look intentional from the street gets photographed and reviewed at completion.
First-Year Guidance
Written care guide covering watering schedules through establishment, mulch refresh timing, and what to expect through the first growing season. We answer questions through year one at no charge.
Hardscape and Landscape Integration
The biggest mistake in landscape design is treating it as separate from hardscape. The patio gets designed by a hardscape contractor. The plantings get designed by a different landscape contractor. Two months later they don’t look like one project — they look like two separate projects that happen to occupy the same yard.
We design the patio and the plantings together. Bed lines flow from patio edges. Tree placement frames the patio without blocking views. Plant heights step up appropriately from low ground covers at patio edges to taller shrubs at property lines. Color palettes coordinate between paver tones and seasonal plant interest.
For larger projects this integrated approach is where Finishing Touch outperforms contractors who specialize in only one side. We don’t do everything — we don’t build pools or fences or decks — but we do both sides of the hardscape/landscape line, and we design them together from the start.
Landscape Design FAQs
Do you do landscape design separately from installation?
We typically pair design with installation since the projects we take on are mostly design-build engagements. For smaller scopes — refreshing existing beds, adding plantings around a new patio, mulching — we can work from a homeowner’s existing design or sketch. For full property redesigns we develop the design ourselves as part of the project.
What plants work best in Missouri's climate?
Missouri sits in USDA zones 6a-6b across our service area. Native and adapted plants do best — Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, Black-Eyed Susan, Coneflower, Switchgrass, and Little Bluestem are reliable performers. We avoid plants that struggle with summer humidity (most West Coast natives) or that can’t handle winter cold below 0°F. For shaded properties we focus on Hosta, Astilbe, Hellebores, and native woodland species.
Can you match my existing landscaping style?
Yes. We design to your existing style preference, your home’s architecture, and the established landscape character of the neighborhood. Traditional, modern, naturalistic prairie, English cottage, formal symmetrical — we work in any style. The design starts with what you already have and what you want to add to it.
How much maintenance do new landscapes require?
Year one requires the most attention — supplemental watering through the first growing season, occasional weeding, and a fall mulch top-up. After establishment (year 2+), maintenance drops significantly with the right plant selection. We design for low-to-moderate maintenance by default. If you want zero-maintenance, we can lean heavily on native species and ground covers that essentially manage themselves.
Redesign Your Yard
Free property walk and written estimate. We'll talk through plant palette options, design styles, and hardscape integration.