Landscaping in Lake Orion, MI: Lake lots, sandy ground and two sets of rules.
Most people with a Lake Orion address live in Orion Township, not the village, and the two keep separate zoning. HD Landscape plans and plants for what the yards share: tight lake lots, rolling ground, sandy soil that dries out fast and deer that know the way in.
- Lake lots and slopes
- Planting for sandy ground
- Itemized estimates
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Services in Lake Orion
The work we take on in Lake Orion.
Pick a service to see how it works. Every one starts with a free, itemized estimate.
Design and build
Lawns and planting
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Yards in Lake Orion
One name, two governments and 42 lakes.
Lake Orion is two places at once. The Village of Lake Orion is a small home rule village of about 2,900 people in the northeast corner of Orion Township, with its own master plan and zoning. The township around it holds about 35,000 more people on roughly 35 square miles, and its offices use the same mailing name. So the first thing to know about a yard here is whose rules it sits under.
Water shaped the rest. The township counts 42 lakes over five acres, about 1,700 acres in all, and its parks plan says dense housing tends to gather around Lake Orion and Judah, Long and Voorheis lakes. Township zoning notes that many early lakefront lots were platted before modern rules, small and odd shaped, hemmed in by bluffs, wetlands or shoreline setbacks. Across the township, nearly 85 percent of single family lots are under an acre.
The houses have some age on them too. About 44 percent of township homes were built before 1980, and 54 percent of homes in the village, so many yards carry shrubs and trees that have had decades to outgrow their spots.
Sandy ground that dries out fast
The township's parks plan puts 36 percent of local soils in loamy sand, with sand and sandy loam at 15 percent each and muck at 16 percent. Sandy soil holds less water, so new shrubs and sod need steady watering while they root. Plant watering is a service we offer, and plants get picked for how wet or dry each spot stays.
Old lake lots, tight and sloped
Township elevations run from 896 to 1,158 feet. The steepest ground sits along the southern edges and east of M-24, with pockets near Clarkston and Baldwin Roads. On a narrow lot that drops toward the water, the slope decides where beds can go. Yard grading or a retaining wall can hold it, after a word with the village or township.
A planted edge at the shore
State law keeps lawn fertilizer 15 feet from a lake unless a natural planted buffer at least 10 feet wide stands between, or a spreader guard keeps it 3 feet back. The township plan backs native plants along shorelines, and EGLE favors plantings and natural stone over new walls. Sand, stone or fill below the water line needs a state permit, so our beds stay above it.
Deer on the plant list
Oakland County runs an archery deer hunt at Orion Oaks County Park to help control the deer there. Rutgers Extension rates yews, rhododendrons and evergreen azaleas among the plants deer damage most, and boxwood, ferns and catmint among the least. We plan around that list and protect what you cannot give up, though no plant is deer proof.
In Lake Orion
First the village or township question, then the slope and the shore.
Before anyone looks up a rule, check your tax bill to see whether you are in the village or the township. Then Jake walks the property with you, from the street side down to the shoreline, and gives his advice on what needs doing now and what can wait. The itemized estimate comes after.
Old lake lots can be tight, with steep drives, narrow side yards and little room to park, so truck and material spots get settled ahead of time. In the township, curbside yard waste pickup runs April 1 to December 15, and branches have to be under 3 inches thick and 4 feet long and tied in bundles. What we haul away and what can go to the curb is spelled out on the estimate.
- Lakes over five acres
- 42 in Orion Township
- Township wetland setback
- 25 feet for structures, 10 for decks, unless waived
- Estimate
- Free and itemized
- To talk now
- Call or text Jake
Very Happy with my landscaping. Great team to work with. Very kind & pleasant. Landscaping is clean & they did a great job cleaning up. Jake called right after the team was done asking how everything went & explained in detailed the importance of watering each plant. …
Meagan M.New landscaping
Jake and his team were awesome! I had my yard completely gutted, leveled, new sod, pea gravel behind the garage and new plants. I was impressed with how clean they left the job and how efficient they were. What would’ve taken me a week was done in one day. …
Rob E.Full yard redo with sod
HD Landscape did an outstanding job. They trimmed bushes, planted new shrubs, put down mulch, cut down a tree, grinded down the tree stump and had a company repair fence for me. They were so nice and did everything I asked. They showed up on time and gave me itemized costs beforehand.
Anne J.Trim, plant, mulch, tree and stump
Do you work in Lake Orion, MI?
Yes. HD Landscape works in Lake Orion, MI, in the village and across Orion Township, and in nearby Oakland Township and Rochester Hills. Here we do landscape design, plant installation, yard grading, hedge trimming, monthly maintenance, cleanups and more. Sprinklers and lawn aeration are not our work, and big tree removals go to a tree company.
Is Lake Orion a village or a township?
Both, and the difference matters for a yard. The Village of Lake Orion is a home rule village inside Orion Township with its own master plan and zoning, and village residents also vote in township elections. About 2,900 people live in the village and about 35,000 in the rest of the township, which shares the mailing name. Your tax bill tells you whose rules to check.
Can you landscape a lakefront lot in Lake Orion?
Yes, on the land side of the water line. Beds, plants, stone and grading above it are yard work. Sand, stone or fill placed below it, dredging and new shore protection need a permit from EGLE, the state's environmental agency. Township zoning lets either the street side or the lake side of a lake lot be named its front, so the side people see from the water deserves as much thought as the one they see from the road.
Can you get rid of phragmites on my shoreline?
Not with a shovel. Phragmites grows from underground rhizomes, and the township's master plan warns that the wrong removal method can make it grow faster. Orion Township runs a program that treats it with herbicide under a state permit: requests are due August 31, treatment comes before the first frost and treated stands are cut in winter. Call the township's parks department about that part, and we can plan and plant the yard around it.
How tall can a hedge be on a corner lot in Orion Township?
Near the corner, not very tall. Township zoning keeps fences, walls, structures and plantings no higher than 30 inches above the lowest point of the road inside a sight triangle that runs 30 feet along each road from the corner, or 10 feet where a driveway meets the road. Village lots follow village rules. Hedge trimming can bring an overgrown corner back down to size.
When can oak trees be trimmed?
Not from April 15 to July 15. Michigan's DNR says beetles carry oak wilt to fresh cuts in that window, the risk peaks in May and June, and oaks in the red oak family can die within weeks. Winter, when the trees are dormant, is the time to prune. We do pruning and smaller tree work, and a big removal goes to a tree company, so ask Jake early whether your oak is a job for us or for them.
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