Overgrown Foundation Planting
Shrubs against the windows and over the walk, planted too close to the house to begin with. The most common call I get in this area.
Chester County · Uwchlan Township
Lionville, PA
Subdivisions at the age where the planting has outgrown the plan.
Lionville sits in Uwchlan Township just north of Exton, and most of it went up as subdivisions between the 1980s and the 2000s. That gives the whole area a shared problem: the foundation planting that came with the house is now twenty or thirty years old, has reached full size, and was never spaced for it. Cutting it back properly — rather than shearing it flat — is the single biggest change most Lionville front yards can get.
- ZIP
- 19341
- Township
- Uwchlan
- Housing
- Subdivision, 1980s–2000s
- Estimates
- Free, in person
- Free
- Estimates
- Tom
- Does Every Job
- By Hand
- No Chemicals
The Area
Planting That Has Outgrown Its Spot
A builder plants a two-foot shrub eighteen inches from the wall because that is what fits the photograph. Twenty-five years later it is six feet across, pressed against the siding, bare underneath, and hiding half the front of the house. Lionville has streets of that. It is very fixable, and it is hand work: reduce the shrub over a season or two rather than all at once, clear what is underneath, re-edge the bed, mulch it. No machinery involved, and no reason it should cost a fortune.
- Consistent housing, predictable work
Because so much of Lionville was built within the same couple of decades, the yards need the same things at the same time. I usually know roughly what I am walking into before I get there.
- Cut back, not sheared
Shearing an overgrown shrub into a shape leaves it green on the outside and dead in the middle. Reducing it to a branch that will actually break new growth takes longer and looks better for years.
- Deer eat well around here
Chester County deer browse hard and year-round, which is why hostas vanish and arborvitae end up bare to shoulder height. I cannot fence a yard, but I can keep beds open enough that you can see what is being hit, and prune damaged shrubs back to growth that will fill in again.
Local Considerations
What I Plan For on Lionville Properties
The pattern across Uwchlan Township subdivisions.
Bed Lines Gone Vague
Twenty years of mulch and creeping turf turn a crisp bed edge into a suggestion. Re-cutting it by hand is quick and changes how the whole front reads.
Mulch Piled Too Deep
Topped up every spring without ever being turned or reduced, mulch builds into a mat that sheds water and sits against the trunks. Sometimes the right answer is less mulch, not more.
New Planting That Needs Watering
Anything put in this year wants a deep soak at the root through its first two summers. On a hot week that is the difference between establishing and dying, and it is easy to hand off.
Fall Leaves Off the Beds
Street trees planted with the developments are mature now. Leaves left matted on beds over winter hold damp against the crowns of perennials.
The Same Person Each Time
You are not getting whoever the company sent this week. I learn your yard, and the second visit is faster because of it.
Local FAQ
Lionville, Answered
Questions specific to working on properties here. General questions about each job are answered on the service pages.
Our shrubs are enormous. Can they be saved, or do they come out?
Usually saved, but not in one go. Most overgrown evergreens take a hard reduction better over two seasons than in a single cut, because cutting back past the green all at once can leave bare wood that never fills in. I will tell you which of yours will come back and which are genuinely finished.
When is the right time to prune?
It depends on the shrub. Anything that flowers in spring — forsythia, azalea, lilac — sets its buds the summer before, so cutting it in winter removes the flowers. Those get pruned right after they bloom. Most everything else is best cut in late winter before growth starts. If you are not sure what you have, I will look at it.
Do you do spring cleanup for the whole yard?
For the beds, yes — old growth cut back, leaves and winter debris pulled out, edges re-cut, mulch topped up. I do not mow, so a full spring service on the lawn itself is not something I can offer.
How much does it cost?
I do not publish prices, because a bed that has been kept up and a bed that has not are completely different jobs. Coming out to look is free and there is no obligation, and you will hear the number before I start anything.
Get Started
Book a Free Estimate in Lionville
Thomas Corrigan comes out, walks the yard with you, and gives you a price before any work starts. Free, and no obligation either way.