Swimpool 360 plans and plants gardens built for real GTA conditions: heavy clay, winter road salt, hot poolside microclimates and a season that ends in a hard freeze. Our garden design service covers the whole job, from mapping the sun and soil on your lot to building the beds, choosing every plant, laying drip lines and guiding you through the first season of watering.
In our experience, a struggling GTA garden usually has a soil or drainage problem rather than a plant problem. So the first visit records what your plants will actually face. We map sun and shade through the day (full sun means six or more hours of direct light, part shade three to six, shade under three) and note shadows cast by fences, the house and pool equipment. We trace where downspouts, sump outlets and surface runoff send water. A spade test tells us whether the ground is sticky clay till, the sandy loam common on the Oak Ridges Moraine, or builder's fill, and whether a filled test hole drains in hours or days.
We also confirm the hardiness zone, which runs roughly from 5b in the northern reaches of York Region and Durham to 6b near the Lake Ontario shore on the Natural Resources Canada hardiness map, and check for salt spray from roads and driveways. Much of the region's soil formed from limestone-rich glacial deposits and tests neutral to alkaline, which is why rhododendrons and blueberries often struggle without a specially built bed. Every garden landscaping job also gets Ontario One Call locates before digging, and where a large tree is close by we check the local tree by-law before working in its root zone.
A scaled drawing showing bed outlines and every plant with its quantity, mature size and spacing, plus a bloom calendar, soil and edging specs and an irrigation layout. Large yards can be phased.
Request a Design PlanSod removal, subsoil loosening, compost and triple mix blended into the native soil, steel or stone edging and a finished layer of shredded mulch.
Discuss a New BedBeds deep enough that mature shrubs clear the siding, soil kept below weep holes, salt-tolerant plants along the driveway and heights chosen so windows, porches and driveway sight lines stay open.
Refresh My Front YardLow-litter, splash-tolerant plants set back from the coping, with soil and mulch that stay in the bed during a storm. Beds are coordinated with the fence, equipment pad and lighting so nothing is dug up twice.
Plan Poolside BedsOntario natives such as wild bergamot, butterfly milkweed, New England aster and foxglove beardtongue, arranged for bloom from May to October, with seed heads left standing for birds and overwintering insects.
Plan a Native GardenInline drip tubing under the mulch with a filter, pressure regulator and backflow protection, run by a smart controller with a rain sensor. It waters roots instead of leaves and is blown out each fall before freeze-up.
Add Drip IrrigationLate fall and winter are the ideal time to draw up a planting plan, so stock can be reserved and your beds go in during the first spring planting window.
Good garden bed design depends as much on construction as on layout. On heavy clay, the common shortcut of spreading 10 cm of triple mix over compacted subsoil creates a hidden basin: rain soaks through the loose layer, stops at the clay and sits around the roots every wet spring. We avoid that by stripping the sod, loosening the subsoil with a spade or tiller wherever tree roots allow, and blending compost and screened triple mix into the native soil to roughly 30 cm for perennials and 45 cm for shrubs. When a spot truly will not drain, we raise the bed or pick plants that tolerate wet roots instead of fighting the site.
Edges are the detail people notice. We cut a clean spade edge for a natural look, or install steel edging that holds a crisp curve and does not heave the way thin plastic edging does after a few frost cycles. Beds that meet interlock walkways and patios are finished a little below the paver surface so soil and mulch stay put in a downpour. The top layer is 5 to 8 cm of shredded mulch, pulled back from stems and crowns to prevent rot and rodent chewing. Long raised planters, like those beside the deck in this photo, are built from cedar or segmental block with drainage at the base and filled with a lighter planting mix rather than dense garden soil.
We build each planting list around the conditions found during the site analysis, then layer in the look you want. Ontario natives lead wherever they fit.
Switchgrass, wild bergamot, New England aster, bluestar, black-eyed Susan, common ninebark and red osier dogwood all root happily into heavy, slow-draining soil once it has been loosened and enriched.
Butterfly milkweed, prairie smoke, little bluestem, anise hyssop and bush honeysuckle prefer lean, fast-draining ground and sulk in rich, wet beds, so we add compost sparingly here.
Pennsylvania sedge, wild ginger, foamflower, Christmas fern, Solomon's seal and pagoda dogwood cope with dry shade and root competition, planted in pockets rather than tilled across the root zone.
Switchgrass, little bluestem, daylilies, creeping juniper and northern bayberry handle salt spray. We keep them in the first metre or two from the curb and leave a clear strip for snow piles.
Swamp milkweed, blue flag iris, Joe Pye weed, turtlehead and winterberry thrive where downspouts discharge. Rain gardens sit at least 3 metres from the foundation and drain within a day or two.
Witch hazel flowers in late autumn, winterberry holds red fruit into January, red osier dogwood stems glow against snow, and grasses and seed heads stay standing until spring clean-up in April.
Our flower bed design work starts with a bloom calendar, so something is always flowering and no month goes flat. A typical sunny GTA border might open with wild columbine, prairie smoke and ornamental alliums in May, move to foxglove beardtongue and salvia in June, wild bergamot and milkweed in July, Joe Pye weed and black-eyed Susan in August, and finish with asters and goldenrod in September and October.
Spring bulbs are tucked between perennials so their fading foliage is hidden by June.
Some garden centre staples cause trouble here. Japanese barberry, burning bush, Norway maple, goutweed and periwinkle spread into ravines and woodlots, and the Ontario Invasive Plant Council publishes safer swaps for each. We also skip plants that need acidic soil on alkaline sites and anything rated colder than your zone can support.
Accent and container gardens follow the same logic. Planters on patios and by entrances use a free-draining potting mix, never garden soil, and pots that stay out all winter need frost-resistant material and plants rated at least two zones hardier than the yard, since roots in a pot freeze far harder than roots in the ground.
Planting beside a pool is a different brief from planting a front yard. Heat reflected off coping and decking, chlorine or salt splash and constant bare-foot traffic all narrow the choices. We reserve the first metre beside the coping for tidy, low-litter plants such as prairie dropseed, coral bells, Russian cypress as a soft evergreen ground cover, compact panicle hydrangeas whose flower heads stay on the plant, and Japanese forest grass in shadier corners. Fruiting and seeding plants go well back: serviceberry and crabapple fruit stains decking, birch catkins and willow fluff clog skimmers, and thorny shrubs have no place near bare feet.
Timing helps as well. Most deciduous shrubs drop their leaves in October, after the majority of GTA pools have been closed, so midsummer shedding of petals, seeds and fluff matters more than autumn leaf fall. We put heavily visited bee plants a few metres from the steps and lounge chairs so the pollinator border still works without bees crowding swimmers. For green walls like the ivy-covered one shown here, a trellis or cable system lets vines such as native Virginia creeper or climbing hydrangea cover the wall without tendrils working into mortar or siding. Beds never drain toward the pool, and filter backwash is never routed into them. Evening use is easy to plan at the same time with our landscape lighting service.
How we schedule installs across the GTA, and what new plantings need afterward.
Late April to mid-June
We start once a squeezed handful of soil crumbles instead of forming a sticky ribbon. Working wet clay smears its structure for years. Spring suits warm-season grasses such as switchgrass and little bluestem.
Mid-June to August
Container-grown stock can still go in, but only with daily watering at first and ideally drip already running.
Late August to mid-October
Warm soil and cool air push root growth, making this the best window for most shrubs and perennials. Evergreens go in by the end of September; tulips, daffodils and alliums follow in October.
November to March
Planning season. We measure, design and reserve plants while growers have the widest selection, then book your install for the first workable spring weeks.
| Plant Type | Weeks 1 to 2 | Weeks 3 to 8 | Rest of First Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perennials and grasses | Every 1 to 2 days | 2 to 3 times a week | Weekly in dry spells |
| Deciduous shrubs | 2 to 3 deep soaks a week | Twice a week | Weekly deep soak, about 2.5 cm of water |
| Evergreens | 2 to 3 deep soaks a week | Twice a week | Weekly, plus a deep soak in late October before freeze-up |
| Fall-planted bulbs | Once, at planting | Only if autumn is unusually dry | None until spring growth |
Before each watering, test the soil with a finger to the second knuckle, about 5 cm; damp means skip a day. On clay, waterlogged roots kill more new plants than dry spells do, and a drip zone set to this schedule is stepped back as the season goes on. Several York Region and Durham municipalities set odd and even outdoor watering days in summer, and a timer makes it easy to comply. If your quote includes plant replacement coverage, its terms are written into the quote and assume this schedule is followed.
Typical 2026 installed price ranges in Canadian dollars. Plant size has a big effect: a #1 perennial costs far less than a #3, and a #7 shrub looks finished on day one where a #2 takes a few seasons to fill in.
| Service | Typical Scope | 2026 Price Range |
|---|---|---|
| Site analysis and garden design plan | Site visit, scaled plan, plant list, bloom calendar | $400 to $1,800 |
| New planted garden bed | Soil preparation, edging, plants and mulch | $18 to $35 per sq ft |
| Foundation or front-yard bed makeover | 150 to 300 sq ft, old shrubs removed | $3,500 to $9,000 |
| Poolside planting beds | Low-litter palette, edging, mulch or stone | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| Planting restoration after a pool build | Grading, sod and planting beds | $3,000 to $15,000 |
| Raised planter bed | Cedar or block, drained and filled | $1,500 to $5,000 each |
| Steel landscape edging | Supplied and installed | $10 to $18 per linear ft |
| Drip irrigation for beds | 1 to 3 zones, controller, backflow protection | $1,500 to $4,500 |
| Container garden set | 3 to 5 planters with soil and plants | $600 to $2,500 |
| Mulch top-up | Shredded mulch supplied and spread | $110 to $160 per cubic yard |
Estimates only. Backyards with no side access, soil that must be hauled away, and large specimen plants push prices toward the top of each range. We price every bed line by line, so request a written estimate based on your own site.
In peak season, most projects move from the first visit to finished beds in three to six weeks. A single bed takes one to two days to install, a front-yard makeover two to four days and a full backyard one to two weeks.
1 visit
Sun, soil, drainage, salt exposure and protected trees, plus how you want to use the space.
1 to 3 weeks
Your scaled planting plan, plant list and construction specs, adjusted until it fits.
1 to 2 weeks
Utility locates are booked and plants reserved so the specified sizes arrive on install day.
Day 1 of the install
Sod stripped, subsoil loosened, amendments blended in, grades set and edging installed.
1 to 5 days
Plants placed, adjusted on site, watered in, mulched and hooked to drip lines.
Final day
The watering schedule, reading soil moisture and what normal transplant stress looks like.
Older streets in Leaside, the Beaches, Riverdale and around High Park often sit under mature maples and oaks, so shade gardens and root competition are the norm. The City's private tree rules cover trunks of 30 cm diameter and up, ravine-edge lots can fall under the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection By-law, and boulevard gardens must follow City rules. Confirm current rules with the City before work starts.
In newer parts of Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Whitby, Ajax and Oshawa, builders often leave a thin skim of topsoil over clay compacted by heavy equipment. Their engineered swales must keep working, so beds follow the approved drainage pattern rather than blocking it.
Around Aurora, King, Stouffville and Uxbridge, sandy moraine soil drains quickly and sits in a colder zone, so new plantings need extra compost and water. On larger lots near our Zephyr base and toward Port Perry, deer and rabbits browse heavily. Aromatic plants such as mountain mint, bergamot and catmint, plus ferns and ornamental onions, are bothered less, though no plant is fully deer-proof.
Swimpool 360 has built pools and landscapes since 2010, and planting is scheduled after the heavy machines leave so new beds are never re-compacted. On combined projects we lay sleeves under walkways before paving, so drip lines and lighting cable can reach the beds later. Sloped yards can be terraced with our retaining wall service, and if screening is the goal, our privacy screening page covers hedges and privacy trees.
Tell us about your yard and we will map the sun, soil and drainage, then design beds and plantings that suit the way you live outside.
The full landscaping and hardscaping service overview.
Cedar hedges, privacy trees, screens and pergolas.
Low-voltage lighting for beds, paths and pool areas.
Terraces and walls that turn slopes into planting space.
Patios, walkways and pool decks beside your beds.
Native buffer planting and erosion control on the water.
Choosing the surfaces your poolside beds will meet.
Sketch your pool, deck and garden layout online.
From the first soil test to the last layer of mulch, one Swimpool 360 crew handles your garden. Phone 647-239-7665 or send a few details about the yard.
Share a few details about your yard, such as its size, how much sun it gets and what is growing there now, and we will arrange a site visit to start your planting plan.