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City and county rules both
Landscaping & tree care in Rockville
Rockville is its own municipality inside Montgomery County, so a job here can answer to two sets of rules.
An address in Rockville does not automatically mean county permitting. Rockville is an incorporated city, and work in the public right-of-way may involve the city as the tree's owner even where the state permit still applies. The practical consequence for a homeowner is simple: confirm who owns the strip between the footpath and the kerb before anybody puts a saw in it.
The gardens themselves are a mix — post-war neighbourhoods with settled soil and big street trees, and newer infill where the topsoil was stripped and what is left will not drain. We dig a hole and look before we design a planting scheme, because those two situations need entirely different work.
What we do in Rockville
Local rules worth knowing
What governs work in Rockville.
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.
Construction near a county street tree needs a plan
Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services requires a roadside tree plan where construction is likely to affect a tree in the county right-of-way. It is filed alongside the right-of-way, sediment control or building permit, a Licensed Tree Expert has to be named at the pre-construction meeting, and any replacement planting in the right-of-way goes in between October and April.
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.
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 Rockville
Straight answers.
Who owns the tree between the pavement and the road in Rockville?
Usually not the homeowner. A roadside tree permit from the Maryland DNR Forest Service does not grant any authority over the tree — separate permission is needed from the owner, which may be the State Highway Administration, the county, or the city. We establish that before quoting.
Why does my new-build garden in Rockville not drain?
Frequently because the topsoil was removed during construction and the subsoil was compacted by machinery. Planting into that without fixing it produces the same failure twice. The fix is decompaction and grade work first.
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