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Large lots, long views
Landscaping & tree care in Potomac
Potomac properties are big enough that the landscape has to be composed as a whole, not decorated bed by bed.
An acre or more changes the problem. On a small lot a planting plan is really a set of edges; on a Potomac property you are making a sequence — what you see arriving, what you see from the kitchen window, where the ground falls away and what stops it. That is design work before it is installation work, and it is why we draw a plan for these properties rather than quoting a plant list.
Large lots also mean water has somewhere to travel and time to pick up speed. A good deal of what we are called about in Potomac starts as a planting question and turns out to be a grading question: a lawn that will not drain, a wall leaning because nothing was drained behind it, a basement wall that is wet because the ground falls the wrong way for fifty feet.
What we do in Potomac
Local rules worth knowing
What governs work in Potomac.
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 Potomac
Straight answers.
Does a large landscaping project in Potomac need a county permit?
Often, yes — but it is the amount of ground disturbed that decides it, not the size of the planting. Montgomery County ties its Forest Conservation Law to needing a sediment control permit, which Montgomery Planning's decision tree puts at 5,000 square feet of land disturbance. Significant regrading on a large lot can reach that. We flag it at the design stage.
Do you do drainage work as part of a landscape design in Potomac?
Yes, and on sloping Potomac lots we usually insist on it. Grades, swales and drains are set by the same crew that builds the walls and does the planting, so there is no argument later about whose part failed.
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