Seaside GardensPlant & Garden Health Care.
Restorative and hand pruning of shrubs and trees, bed care, planting, and seasonal garden maintenance.
Based in Wareham, serving Buzzards Bay, the South Shore, the South Coast, and the Cape and Islands.
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Restorative pruning, laceleaf Japanese maple
Services
Seaside Gardens cares for the health of your gardens and plants. Shrubs, trees, roses, hydrangeas, and perennials are pruned by hand, deadwood is cleared, and beds are kept weeded and edged. Regular visits through the season keep plants healthy and catch problems early.
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Restorative and hand pruning
Shrubs and small ornamental trees such as hydrangeas, dogwoods, and Japanese maples, pruned by hand. Deadwood and suckers are removed, plants are thinned and shaped, and damaged or neglected plants are brought back over more than one season.
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Hydrangea and rose care
Hydrangeas are pruned by type and at the right time, since mophead, panicle, and smooth hydrangeas each flower on different wood. Roses are pruned, deadheaded, and cleared of dead canes through the season.
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Garden health assessments
A walk through the garden, plant by plant, with a written list of what each one needs. Common findings include girdling roots, mulch piled against trunks, dieback, and shrubs planted too close together.
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Bed renovation and planting
Overgrown beds are cleared, perennials divided, shrubs relocated, and new plants added with a simple planting plan. Beds are then weeded and edged.
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Invasive vines and woodline edges
Bittersweet, vines, and brush are cut and pulled by hand from fence lines, bed edges, and the woodline, and the edge is held back on later visits.
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Seasonal care for second homes
For owners who are away for part of the year: regular visits for deadheading, weeding, and bed care. Photos from each visit are sent along with the invoice.
Not offered: lawn mowing, large tree work, and spraying or treatment applications.
Work for fall and winter.
Examples of what can be done now, in the weeks before the ground freezes and through the dormant season.
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Dormant-season pruning
Once the leaves are down, the structure of deciduous shrubs and small trees is easy to see. Late fall and winter are the time for structural pruning and deadwood removal on most of them. Spring-flowering shrubs are left until after they bloom.
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Fall cutbacks and cleanup
Spent perennials are cut back, diseased foliage is removed from beds, and leaves are cleared from around shrub crowns. Seed heads and stems can be left standing for birds and overwintering insects if preferred.
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Planting, transplanting, and dividing
Fall is a good time to move shrubs, divide crowded perennials, and plant spring bulbs, right up until the ground freezes.
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Winter protection
Evergreens exposed to wind, salt spray, or road salt are screened with burlap, upright evergreens are tied against snow load, and young trees are fenced against deer.
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Invasive vines
Bittersweet is easiest to find once the leaves are down and the orange berries show. Vines are cut and the roots pulled from fence lines, bed edges, and the woodline.
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Dormant-season assessment
A walk through the garden in winter shows structure, damage, and crowding clearly. It ends with a written plan for spring, plant by plant.
Hydrangea timing: mophead flower heads stay on through winter to protect next year’s buds. Panicle and smooth hydrangeas are cut back in late winter.
Pruning that keeps shrubs and trees healthy.
Most of the work at Seaside Gardens is pruning. Shrubs, small trees, hydrangeas, and roses are cut by hand with pruners and a hand saw rather than sheared, so each cut is placed where the plant can heal and grow from it.
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Deadwood and suckers
Dead, damaged, and crossing wood is removed first, along with suckers and water sprouts, so the plant puts its energy into healthy growth.
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Thinning and shaping
Shrubs are thinned from the inside so light and air reach the interior, then shaped to their natural form. Cuts are made at a bud or at the branch collar.
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Restoring structure
Plants with dieback, storm or snow damage, or years without pruning are brought back over more than one season, so no single visit removes too much.
Timing follows the plant. Spring-flowering shrubs are pruned after they bloom, and summer-flowering shrubs in late winter or early spring.
Plants commonly worked on
- Hydrangeas
- Roses
- Dogwoods
- Japanese maples
- Boxwood
- Spruce and juniper
- Perennials
Before & after.
Each photo has a slider. Drag the handle or use the arrow keys to compare the before and after views.
Beds, plantings, and diagnostics.
A front-walk bed in summer: boxwood, daisies, and garden pinks.
A tree-form hydrangea in bloom above a weeded bed.
Plant diagnostics: a girdling root uncovered at the root flare.
A plant health care practice.
Seaside Gardens is a plant and garden health care practice based in Wareham, Massachusetts. Visits are scheduled regularly through the growing season and billed by the hour. The photos on this page are from a garden in Seaside Gardens’ care.
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