Landscape Design Services

Hiring a Professional Landscape Designer in Chicago

Work with Van Zelst to create a Chicago landscape design that’s healthy, beautiful, and complements your home and lifestyle.

Have you asked yourself, “What is the best landscape design service near me?” In the Chicago area, it’s Van Zelst.

The Van Zelst landscape design team offers the perfect balance of artistry and architecture, as well as the ability and skill to listen. Van Zelst begins every Chicago landscape design collaboration by understanding your vision and hopes for the space.

How will the area be used? For example, do you have young children? Pets? A spouse who is an avid gardener?
What is—and isn’t—working in the current landscape design? Is there an area of your lot you wish to highlight or a site you want to downplay?
What style do you want to convey? Does a clean, modern look appeal to you, or is an English garden more your style? Do you prefer a mixture of styles? And how does your selected style work with the style of your home?
What colors do you like best? What plants do you prefer?
What hardscape elements will contribute to the finished space? Are there specific elements (e.g., outdoor kitchen, play structure, bridge, fountain) that you know you want to include?

From offering ways to increase your curb appeal and addressing challenges to adding outdoor entertainment spaces or a backyard kitchen with an elaborate, built-in grill island, we create great outside spaces for our clients.

Residential Landscape Architects: Van Zelst

Every plan starts with a vision, and your landscape design is no exception. Let the landscape design professionals at Van Zelst help. We’ll talk with you about what you’re looking to accomplish with your new landscaping, including areas of your yard you want to highlight and the kinds of activities you and your family want to enjoy in your outdoor living space. Then we’ll create and present a plan that meets those needs, revising it based on your feedback.

Here are a few other considerations when it comes to landscape design:

Torn between hiring a landscape architect and a garden designer? Here’s why it makes sense (and is often more cost-effective!) to opt for a landscape architect.
From drought-tolerant gardens to vegetable gardens to pastoral English gardens, it’s important that your landscape design reflect your personal tastes.
There’s no denying that your yard’s hardscape elements—from patios and pavers to lighting and sculptures—are essential to your finished landscape.

Van Zelst’s goal in working with each of our clients is to not only bring your vision to life but to complement it in ways you may not have imagined. Learn more.

Landscape Installation: Some landscape companies create beautiful landscape design plans, then hand off the landscape installation to the lowest bidder—which means that the vision you signed off on may look radically different when it’s executed. Other companies cut corners when it comes to installation, neglecting to do the prep work necessary to ensure your landscape investment’s longevity. Van Zelst installs everything we design, using plants grown in our on-site nurseries. It’s this commitment to quality that sets us apart from other landscape installers.

Landscape Maintenance: Mowing is the task that comes to mind when most people think about landscape maintenance, but to keep your plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers in tip-top shape—not to mention your hardscape elements—it’s crucial that you perform additional maintenance activities. Van Zelst can help. Whether you need weeding services, help removing pests from your garden, or assistance maintaining the stonework that makes up your driveway and grill surrounds, our skilled maintenance technicians have the know-how to resolve any issues.

Chicago Landscape Design Examples: Van Zelst is delighted to serve homeowners throughout the Chicago area with a variety of landscape services.

Delivering on the Vision

Once we’ve discussed your goals in detail, our team of accredited landscape architects, horticulturists, foresters, and field managers get to work developing a design that achieves the desired effect while harmonizing with the existing environment. We’ll also consider the aspects of the landscape you might not, such as irrigation, drainage, and outdoor lighting plans.

The Van Zelst landscape design team is experienced in getting to know each client’s individual style and enhancing your vision to truly maximize your enjoyment of your environment. We will help you select a hardscape that harmonizes with your home’s exterior, incorporate a wide variety of plants that add long-blooming color and texture to the garden, and create a landscape that is uniquely your own.

Before and After: Chicago Landscape Designers

For many clients and prospective clients, nothing is more powerful than before and after photos that show how Van Zelst’s designers and architects are able to truly transform outdoor spaces. Let’s take a look at how Van Zelst was able to transform a Chicago city yard from ordinary to outstanding.

In an urban environment, space is at a premium—and outdoor green space is no exception. These Chicago homeowners wanted to make the most of their small city yard, but a naturally shady yard meant that even the simplest plantings were challenging to grow and maintain.

Van Zelst transformed the previously ordinary urban yard into an extraordinary urban oasis by bringing in shade-loving plants bursting with pops of color. By using plants of varying heights, Van Zelst was able to create visual interest and maximize the space available in the small yard. Planters and columns made different levels within the garden, and stone slabs provided a pathway that allowed for maintenance without damage to any of the plants.

Want to see even more amazing before and after transformations? Please check out some of our past projects here.

Chicago Landscape Design

We are fortunate to live in the Chicagoland area. We are experts in Chicago landscape design in the city and well as the North Shore suburbs and Lake Geneva area. Van Zelst is a member of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA). Our landscape architects are experienced in designing landscapes that provide year-round interest, treats for all the senses, and waves of color from the earliest days of spring through the last days of autumn. Contact Us to see how we can help you realize the ideal environment for your family or business.

Are you wondering, “Where are landscape companies near me?” Van Zelst is in your neighborhood. Learn more.

A Healthy Landscape Takes More than Mowing

That’s why, to ensure that your investment thrives, our skilled maintenance teams and licensed landscape architects go beyond the basics. Create a maintenance plan that manages plants and hardscape as well as pests, weeds, and disease. Call for a maintenance quote today.