Garden Maintenance

Ongoing care from someone who gets to know your garden

A garden changes constantly. Plants spread, shrubs mature, weeds appear, perennials need dividing, and some plants simply stop working where they were originally placed.

Good garden maintenance is more than keeping things tidy. It is paying attention to how the garden is developing and making thoughtful adjustments along the way.

Depending on the property and season, garden maintenance may include:

• Weeding and bed cleanup

• Deadheading and seasonal grooming

• Selective pruning

• Perennial division and transplanting

• Editing crowded or declining plantings

• Garden edging

• Mulching

• Soil improvement

• Spring garden preparation

• Fall cutbacks and seasonal cleanup

• Identifying plants that may need to be moved, replaced, or removed

For ongoing clients, the advantage is continuity. I become familiar with the garden, how individual plants perform, and what needs attention from one visit to the next.

Ideal for: homeowners who enjoy having a beautiful garden but no longer want to do all of the maintenance themselves.

[Ask About Garden Maintenance]

Garden Restoration

Bringing an established garden back to life

An overgrown garden does not always need to be removed and started over.

Many mature gardens contain valuable plants hidden among weeds, invasive growth, overcrowded perennials, and shrubs that have become too large for their space.

Garden restoration begins by figuring out what is worth keeping.

I can help identify and preserve established plants, remove unwanted growth, divide and relocate perennials, reshape beds, and introduce new plants where the garden needs stronger structure or seasonal interest.

Restoration work may include:

• Reclaiming neglected or overgrown beds

• Removing unwanted or declining plants

• Dividing crowded perennials

• Transplanting plants worth saving

• Reshaping garden beds

• Improving soil

• Adding new shrubs and perennials

• Reworking portions of an existing garden

• Creating a plan for future maintenance

The goal is not simply to make the garden look clean again. It is to create a healthier, more intentional garden that is easier to live with.

[Restore Your Garden]

Garden Design

A plan that starts with the garden you actually have

Garden design does not always mean starting from an empty yard.

Often, the best design begins with what is already there—a mature shrub worth preserving, an established tree, a favorite perennial, a view from the house, or a planting that simply needs better structure.

I design gardens around the property, the conditions, and the way you want to experience the space.

Garden design may include:

• New garden beds

• Redesign of existing gardens

• Foundation plantings

• Privacy planting

• Perennial gardens

• Native-forward gardens

• Pollinator-friendly planting

• Woodland and shade gardens

• Four-season planting

• Lower-maintenance garden design

• Plant selection and placement

Plant choices are made with Southern Maine conditions in mind, including sun, shade, soil, moisture, exposure, mature plant size, and how different plants will work together over time.

[Explore Garden Design]

Garden Installation & Replanting

Thoughtful planting, not simply filling a bed

Once a design or planting direction has been established, I can take the garden from plan to installation.

That may mean creating a completely new planting or refreshing an established garden with new shrubs, perennials, grasses, groundcovers, or small trees.

Installation services can include:

• Bed preparation

• Plant sourcing

• Plant layout and placement

• Shrub and perennial installation

• Groundcover planting

• Small ornamental trees

• Transplanting existing plants

• Soil amendments

• Mulching

• Watering guidance and establishment care

I intentionally consider how plants will mature rather than designing only for how the garden looks on installation day.

A young garden should have room to grow into itself.

[Start a Garden Project]

Invasive Plant Removal

Remove what does not belong—and decide what should come next

Invasive plants can quickly overwhelm an existing garden or woodland edge.

Removing them is often only the first part of the solution.

I approach invasive removal as part of garden restoration: identifying unwanted plants, removing them as carefully as possible, preserving desirable plants nearby, and considering how the space should be replanted afterward.

Services may include:

• Hand removal of invasive plants

• Removal of aggressive vines and unwanted growth

• Clearing garden beds without unnecessarily disturbing desirable plants

• Follow-up visits for regrowth

• Replanting cleared areas

• Establishing groundcovers and desirable plants to reduce exposed soil

For woodland and shaded areas, mass plantings of spreading groundcovers can sometimes help create a more stable planted layer rather than continually leaving open soil available for weeds.

[Ask About Invasive Removal]

Woodland & Shade Gardens

Working with shade instead of fighting it

Woodland properties and shaded areas can become some of the most beautiful parts of a garden when the planting responds to the conditions already there.

Rather than trying to force traditional sun-loving plants into filtered light, I use combinations of shade-tolerant shrubs, sedges, ferns, and spreading perennials to create layered plantings that feel connected to the surrounding landscape.

Woodland garden work may include:

• Shade garden design

• Woodland groundcover planting

• Mass planting

• Native-forward planting

• Erosion-control planting

• Weed-suppressing groundcovers

• Fern and sedge planting

• Planting beneath mature trees

• Reclaiming disturbed woodland edges

These gardens are often designed to fill in, creating a living layer of plants rather than isolated specimens surrounded by mulch.

[Talk About a Woodland Garden]

Native & Pollinator-Friendly Planting

More life in the garden

Native plants can bring flowers, berries, movement, texture, and wildlife value into a garden while connecting the landscape more closely to the ecology of Maine.

I often incorporate native and pollinator-supporting plants where they make sense for the site and design.

That may include native shrubs, flowering perennials, grasses, sedges, milkweeds, berries, and other plants that offer food or habitat.

The goal is not necessarily to make every garden exclusively native.

It is to choose plants thoughtfully and create a garden that is beautiful, functional, and alive.

One Gardener. Thoughtful Care.

Mayflower Garden is intentionally small.

When you contact Mayflower, you are working directly with the person who will be in your garden.

I personally handle the walkthrough, planning, planting, and garden care. That allows me to understand the property over time and pay attention to the details that can easily be missed when a different crew arrives from visit to visit.

For some homeowners, that personal relationship is exactly what they are looking for.

You may not need a large landscaping company.

You may simply need a gardener who knows your garden.

Serving Southern Maine

Mayflower Garden provides garden design, installation, restoration, invasive removal, and ongoing garden maintenance in:

Saco • Biddeford • Biddeford Pool • Arundel • Kennebunk • and nearby Southern Maine communities

If you are outside these areas but nearby, feel free to get in touch.