Lake Home
Woodland Garden
Sebago Lake, Windham Maine
An early retirement prompted the building of this lakefront home, where the owners were eager to enjoy the beautiful setting, and create a haven for their dual interests in plants and birds.
Built midway downhill from the road, on a wooded lot over a seasonally high water table, our first challenges were erosion-control, grading, and drainage - both to protect the house and to protect the valuable waters of Sebago Lake. 'LakeSmart' landscaping principles were used throughout the design-build process (more info on Links page).
To provide access and more level outdoor space around the house, we built a network of terraces, retaining walls, steps, cedar decking, stepping stone paths and a raised flagstone patio.
A dry streambed was built to capture surface water and divert it around back into the existing vegetative buffer.
The small amount of desired lawn space was sown with an extremely slow-growing blend of Fescues called 'No Mow', and the septic leach field was sown with wildflowers that are best suited for those conditions (shallow loam over sand).
The rest was planted with groundcovers, bulbs, perennials, flowering shrubs & trees (many berry-producing), and a small informally arranged orchard.
Decking installed by Shane Estes of R.S.E. Construction; Stone hardscaping (except streambed) & timber-framed steps installed by Peter Bloom & Josh Edlund (now with Three Stone Landscape).
