Landscape Architects Portland
Portland Landscape Architecture Firm — Built for Developers, Engineers, and Architects
Evergreen Design Group is a national landscape architecture firm with licensed landscape architects serving Portland and the greater metro. We work exclusively with land developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors — providing land planning, planting design, hardscape design, and irrigation design on development projects throughout Portland, Washington County, Clackamas County, and Clark County across the river.
Portland has one of the most developed and actively enforced urban environmental frameworks of any city in the United States. Green Factor scoring, Title 11 Tree Code compliance, Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) stormwater manual requirements, and neighborhood-level design guidelines create a permitting and review environment that is genuinely different from other West Coast markets. Landscape architecture scope in Portland is often broader, more regulated, and more technically demanding than in comparable-sized cities — and getting it right requires a team that knows the system.
If your project is in Portland and you need a landscape architecture firm that understands BES requirements, can score Green Factor accurately, coordinates with your civil team on stormwater compliance, and delivers permit-ready documents on schedule — that’s what Evergreen Design Group provides.
Landscape Architecture Services We Provide in Portland
We deliver a complete range of landscape architecture services for development projects throughout Portland and the surrounding metro. Our services are structured to fit your project’s phase, scope, and regulatory requirements — from early entitlement and land planning through full construction document production and construction phase oversight.
Land planning in Portland operates within a layered regulatory environment that makes early engagement between the landscape architect and civil engineer essential. Portland’s zoning code, Community Design Standards, Scenic Resources Protection Plan, and River Plan requirements all carry landscape architecture implications that need to be understood and addressed during the entitlement phase — not discovered during plan review.
We work alongside civil engineers and developers during site planning and entitlement to establish site organization, open space distribution, pedestrian circulation, green infrastructure frameworks, and tree preservation strategies that are aligned with applicable Portland zoning requirements and Bureau of Development Services (BDS) review standards. Our land planning services are coordinated with civil grading and utility layouts from the outset, supporting efficient and predictable entitlement timelines in Portland’s active development review environment.
Portland’s planting design environment is shaped by two overlapping expectations: native and regionally appropriate species are strongly preferred by the planning culture and increasingly required by specific zone standards, and plants must actually perform in Portland’s climate — wet winters, summer dry periods, compacted urban soils, and the significant light variation between open sites and the canopy cover common in established neighborhoods.
Our Portland planting plans are developed to meet both regulatory requirements and long-term field performance standards. Species are selected for demonstrated suitability in the Pacific Northwest urban environment, coordinated with irrigation and grading to support establishment, and specified in construction documents with full planting schedules, soil amendment requirements, and installation notes. Where Green Factor scoring is required, we design planting programs that achieve the required score while maintaining constructability and long-term maintenance practicality.
Portland’s Title 11 Tree Code is one of the most comprehensive municipal tree protection frameworks in the Pacific Northwest. Development projects involving significant trees — defined by species and diameter — require tree permits, and projects that remove significant trees must meet replacement standards that vary by zone and circumstance. Tree disposition plans document the condition, location, and proposed disposition of regulated trees on a development site, providing the documentation required for BDS tree permit applications and enabling coordinated grading and clearing decisions with your civil team.
We prepare tree disposition plans that are coordinated with civil grading and clearing plans from the beginning of the design process — not as a separate document that creates conflicts with the civil package after the fact. Where tree preservation is feasible and in the project’s interest, we incorporate tree protection zone strategies into grading and landscape design to support retention and permit approval.
Portland’s multifamily and mixed-use development market has high expectations for amenity quality — outdoor spaces that reflect the city’s outdoor culture, support resident wellbeing, and meet the design standards that BDS and neighborhood design review processes expect. We design courtyard environments, rooftop terraces, pool surrounds, fitness areas, tot lots, dog runs, passive lawn areas, and trail connections — coordinating with civil teams on grading, utilities, waterproofing, and stormwater to deliver amenity packages that are both market-competitive and fully constructable.
Portland’s persistent rainfall, extended periods of saturated soils, freeze events in winter, and significant slope variation across much of the developed and developing metro create hardscape design conditions that require genuine attention to drainage, material performance, and structural detailing. Permeable pavement is increasingly both a regulatory requirement and a practical stormwater management tool in Portland — and designing it correctly requires coordination between hardscape layout, drainage infrastructure, and subsurface conditions.
We design plazas, pedestrian corridors, retaining walls, trails, entry features, parking areas, and amenity hardscapes for residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects throughout Portland and the metro. Our hardscape documents are developed in coordination with the civil grading and BES stormwater compliance package to ensure surface water management, facility sizing, and utility integration are fully resolved before construction.
Irrigation design in Portland requires a seasonal approach. Portland receives meaningful annual rainfall concentrated in fall and winter, with a genuine summer dry period that makes irrigation necessary for most landscape plantings. Systems designed to address only one of these conditions — either oversized for year-round demand or undersized for summer needs — perform poorly and create maintenance problems.
We produce complete irrigation construction documents for Portland projects — hydraulic calculations, zone sequencing, head layout, controller specifications, rain sensor and weather-based controller integration, and backflow protection requirements — designed for Portland’s seasonal rainfall patterns and sized for actual site conditions. Our irrigation documents are coordinated with the planting plan and grading to eliminate field conflicts, and are prepared to meet Portland Water Bureau requirements and applicable permit conditions.
Landscape Architecture in Portland — What Your Project Team Needs to Know
Portland’s development environment is shaped by a regulatory framework, green building culture, and review process that distinguishes it from most other metros in the Pacific Northwest and nationally. Here’s what drives landscape architecture scope and approach on Portland development projects.
Portland's Green Factor and What It Means for Your Project
Portland's Green Factor is a scoring system applied to most new development in commercial, mixed-use, and multi-dwelling residential zones. It requires projects to achieve a minimum Green Factor score — typically 0.30 to 0.60 depending on zone — by incorporating landscape elements that are weighted based on their environmental benefit. Plantings, trees, green roofs, ecoroofs, green walls, permeable surfaces, and stormwater facilities all carry different point values under the scoring system.
Green Factor compliance is not simply a checklist — it requires a design strategy that achieves the required score while remaining constructable, code-compliant on other dimensions (setbacks, sight lines, ADA), and aligned with the project's program and budget. We develop Green Factor scoring strategies as an integrated part of the landscape design process, not as a post-design retrofit, ensuring that the landscape architecture documents support plan approval without last-minute redesign.
Bureau of Environmental Services Stormwater Requirements
The City of Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) administers one of the most comprehensive municipal stormwater management programs in the country. The Portland Stormwater Management Manual establishes design standards for on-site stormwater management that apply to most new development and significant redevelopment projects. These standards require on-site management of stormwater through facilities — sumps, drywells, vegetated facilities, permeable pavement, or ecoroofs — rather than direct connection to the combined sewer system.
Vegetated stormwater facilities — stormwater planters, swales, rain gardens, and infiltration facilities with plantings — are frequently the preferred or required approach under BES standards, and designing them correctly requires close coordination between the landscape architecture and civil engineering scopes. We work directly with engineers of record on facility sizing, planting within facilities, overflow routing, and the integration of stormwater infrastructure into the overall landscape design — ensuring BES compliance is addressed in both the civil and landscape packages before permit submission.
Portland's Title 11 Tree Code and Development Impact
Portland's Title 11 Tree Code establishes permit requirements and replacement standards for significant trees — generally those 6 inches or greater in diameter at breast height for most species, with some exceptions — on development sites. Tree removal permits, mitigation planting requirements, and tree protection during construction are all administered under Title 11 and enforced by Urban Forestry.
For development teams, Title 11 creates both constraints and timeline considerations. Tree permit applications must be submitted and approved before clearing can begin on sites with significant trees, and the mitigation requirements for tree removal can affect site design, planting budgets, and project phasing. We prepare tree disposition plans and tree permit applications that are coordinated with the civil package and development timeline, and we advise development teams on retention versus removal decisions in light of permit requirements, replacement costs, and project schedule.
Portland's Neighborhood Design Review and Community Character
Many Portland development projects are subject to design review — either through the standard Design Review process administered by the Design Commission, or through Expedited Review for projects meeting specific criteria. Design review in Portland evaluates projects against design guidelines that include landscape architecture elements: street tree placement, ground-level planting, pedestrian environment quality, and transitions between development and adjacent neighborhoods.
We prepare landscape architecture documents that are developed with Portland's design review criteria in mind from the beginning of the design process. Addressing design review requirements in the initial landscape architecture package is significantly more efficient than redesigning to respond to design review conditions after the fact — and our familiarity with Portland's design guidelines allows us to anticipate what reviewers will look for.
Portland Metro Submarkets — City vs. Suburbs
Portland's development activity extends well beyond the city limits, and each submarket in the metro carries its own regulatory context. Washington County jurisdictions — Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Tualatin — have their own stormwater standards, development codes, and design review processes that differ from the City of Portland's. Clackamas County communities including Lake Oswego, West Linn, and Oregon City operate under their own frameworks. Clark County, Washington — Vancouver and its surrounding communities — follows Washington state environmental requirements rather than Oregon's.
We deliver projects across the full Portland metro and understand the regulatory differences that matter between jurisdictions. A project in the City of Portland proper navigates BES, Title 11, and Green Factor. A project in Hillsboro navigates Clean Water Services stormwater standards and Washington County development codes. We design to the actual requirements of the project location — not to a generic Portland metro approach.
Portland Project Types We Support
We regularly provide landscape architecture services for the following project types in Portland and the surrounding metro:
Multifamily and Mixed-Use Developments — Apartment, condominium, and mixed-use projects in Portland’s infill zones requiring Green Factor compliance, BES stormwater management, courtyard and amenity design, and Title 11 tree coordination.
Master-Planned Residential Communities — Larger residential developments in Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary and metro suburbs requiring land planning, open space design, phased planting plans, and infrastructure-coordinated amenity packages.
Single-Family Subdivisions — Platted residential communities in Portland metro jurisdictions — Washington County, Clackamas County, and Clark County — requiring streetscape planting, common area landscaping, Clean Water Services coordination, and irrigation documentation.
Commercial and Office Developments — Retail, office, and campus projects requiring Green Factor compliance, pedestrian environment design, stormwater integration, parking lot planting, and BDS design review support.
Industrial and Logistics Sites — Distribution and manufacturing facilities in Portland’s industrial sanctuaries and surrounding areas requiring perimeter planting, stormwater compliance, tree disposition coordination, and low-maintenance plant specifications.
Civic and Institutional Projects — Municipal facilities, school campuses, and public spaces requiring code-compliant landscape design, native planting, ADA accessibility, and public agency review compliance.
Design-Build Projects — Contractor-led Portland projects where landscape architecture scope must be developed, documented, and permitted on an accelerated schedule without compromising regulatory compliance or coordination quality.
Why Portland Development Teams Work With Evergreen Design Group
Licensed Landscape Architects in Oregon
Evergreen Design Group's landscape architects are licensed in Oregon. Our Portland work is prepared by licensed professionals who understand Oregon's regulatory framework, Portland's specific municipal requirements, and the permitting and review processes administered by BDS, BES, and Urban Forestry.
We Know Portland's Regulatory Environment
Green Factor scoring, BES stormwater compliance, Title 11 tree permits, design review criteria, and the coordination those requirements demand between landscape architecture and civil engineering scope — this is the day-to-day work environment for landscape architects in Portland. We design within these frameworks as standard practice, not as exceptions to a generic national approach.
Direct Civil Coordination from Day One
In Portland, the overlap between landscape architecture and civil engineering scope is larger than in most markets — stormwater facilities, permeable pavement, tree protection during grading, and green infrastructure components all require close coordination throughout the design process. We engage with engineers of record from the beginning of the project and coordinate on grading, drainage, utility conflicts, and BES compliance throughout — not at the end when changes are expensive.
Single-Source Delivery Across All Landscape Disciplines
Land planning, planting, hardscape, irrigation, community amenities, and tree disposition — when your Portland project requires more than one service, we deliver them as a coordinated package from a single point of contact. Consistent documentation standards, Green Factor strategy integrated across disciplines, and coordinated schedules reduce the gaps that create plan review comments and field conflicts.
National Experience, Portland Market Knowledge
Founded in 2005, Evergreen Design Group has delivered projects across more than 40 states over two decades. That national depth — combined with Oregon state licensure and direct familiarity with Portland's development review environment — means we bring breadth of project type experience alongside the city-specific knowledge Portland projects require.
On-Schedule, Proactive Communication
Portland's development timeline is shaped by BDS review cycles, BES coordination requirements, Urban Forestry permit timelines, and design review processes that have their own schedules. We design our document delivery around your project's milestones, communicate immediately if anything affects our schedule, and keep your team informed so permit submissions and review cycles run predictably.
Frequently Asked Questions — Landscape Architects Portland
Yes. Evergreen Design Group’s landscape architects are licensed in Oregon and regularly deliver projects in Portland and across the metro. Our construction documents are prepared by licensed professionals and are developed to meet Oregon state requirements as well as the City of Portland’s specific regulatory standards administered by BDS, BES, and Urban Forestry.
We work exclusively with B2B clients — land developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors. We do not take on individual homeowner projects. In Portland, our typical engagements include multifamily and mixed-use infill developments, residential master-planned communities, commercial and office projects, industrial facilities, and civic or institutional sites.
Yes. Green Factor scoring is a standard part of how we approach Portland commercial and multifamily projects. We develop Green Factor strategies as an integrated component of the landscape design process — identifying which landscape elements will contribute to the required score and designing the landscape program to achieve compliance while remaining constructable and aligned with the project’s program and budget. We do not treat Green Factor as a post-design calculation exercise.
We coordinate directly with civil engineers of record on BES stormwater compliance throughout the design process. In Portland, vegetated stormwater facilities are frequently the required or preferred approach under the Portland Stormwater Management Manual, and the design of those facilities requires close coordination between landscape architecture and civil engineering scope. We manage that coordination proactively — ensuring planting within facilities, facility edge treatment, overflow routing, and grading coordination are aligned between the landscape and civil packages before BES review.
We prepare tree disposition plans that document significant trees on development sites — species, diameter, condition, and proposed disposition — coordinated with civil grading and clearing plans. Where tree removal is required, we advise on permit requirements, replacement obligations, and the timeline implications for site clearing and grading. Where retention is feasible and in the project’s interest, we incorporate tree protection zone strategies into the grading and landscape design to support permit approval and minimize impacts during construction.
Yes. We regularly deliver projects throughout the Portland metro — Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Tualatin, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Gresham, and Vancouver, Washington. Each jurisdiction has its own development standards, stormwater requirements, and design review processes. We design to the actual requirements of the project location — Hillsboro and Beaverton projects follow Clean Water Services standards and Washington County codes, not Portland’s BES and Title 11 framework.
Typically we need a project address, total site acreage, a description of the project type and program (for example: 120-unit multifamily development in the Pearl District with ground-floor courtyard), your anticipated schedule and key permit submission milestones, and any available site plan or civil base. If you have a preliminary BES stormwater design or tree survey, sharing those helps us scope more precisely. Contact us to start the conversation.
Start Your Portland Project Conversation Today
If you’re working on a development project in Portland or the surrounding metro and need a landscape architecture firm that’s licensed in Oregon, understands Portland’s Green Factor, BES stormwater, and Title 11 requirements, and integrates cleanly with your civil and design team — we’re ready to talk.
Contact Evergreen Design Group to discuss your project scope, timeline, and deliverable requirements. We’ll respond with a clear proposal.
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