A recent Ann Arbor project
Design, stone work, planting and a rain garden on a single front garden, built by Aaron and his crew.
Aaron Hammer has been designing and building gardens in Ann Arbor since 2008. Design-led, built by hand, and made for the way this city's yards actually behave.
Request a ConsultationAnn Arbor is an unusual place to garden. The lots run from tight city parcels in the Old West Side to wooded acreage out toward Barton Hills, the tree canopy is heavy enough to change what will grow from one side of a house to the other, and underneath most of it sits the same heavy clay that makes water sit where you don't want it.
Aaron completed Michigan State’s five-year landscape architecture program and has spent close to two decades working in this specific soil and this specific climate. That matters more than it sounds like it should, a planting plan that performs beautifully in a catalogue photograph can fail quietly in an Ann Arbor back yard because of clay, shade, or the deer that walk through it at four in the morning.
Water moves through Washtenaw County clay slowly. It's the root cause of most standing-water complaints we see, and it's why drainage is designed into a project here rather than added afterward.
Cold enough to rule out a lot of what you see in design magazines. Every plant we specify has to overwinter reliably here. No wishful thinking.
Across much of Ann Arbor, deer decide what survives. Plant selection accounts for it honestly rather than hoping.
Runoff from private property ends up in the river. Rain gardens and native planting aren't just aesthetic choices here. They're genuinely useful, and the city has run stormwater credit programs recognising that.
Every project is designed for the property it sits on. These are the services Ann Arbor clients ask for most.
Design, stone work, planting and a rain garden on a single front garden, built by Aaron and his crew.
Common Questions
Yes, across the city and the surrounding townships. Aaron works personally with every client from consultation through installation, which naturally limits how many projects run at once, so scheduling is worth starting early in the season.
Earlier than most people do. The build season here runs roughly March through November, and design work over the winter means you're installing in spring rather than waiting. Enquiries in January and February have the most options.
Yes. A single well-composed courtyard garden or a stone entry can transform how a house feels. Aaron will tell you honestly on site whether what you want is worth doing at the scale you're imagining.
Clay, canopy and deer, mostly. Add a genuinely short build season and a client base that tends to care about native planting and stormwater, and you get a design approach that's specific to this area rather than transplanted from somewhere else.
Aaron works personally with every client, March through November, across Ann Arbor and surrounding areas.
Request a Consultation