Nashville Landscape Architect
Nashville Landscape Architect Services for Developers, Civil Engineers, and Architects
Evergreen Design Group is a licensed Nashville landscape architect firm serving land developers, civil engineers, architects, and design-build contractors on projects throughout the Nashville metro and surrounding Middle Tennessee counties. Founded in 2005 and licensed in Tennessee, we deliver land planning, planting design, hardscape design, and irrigation design on residential communities, mixed-use developments, commercial sites, and industrial projects across the region.
Our clients are project teams — not homeowners. We are structured to coordinate within your development workflow, meet your submittal schedules, and produce construction-ready documents that move through Metro Nashville’s permitting process without delays.
Nashville’s development market is among the most competitive in the Southeast. The jurisdictional complexity, land scarcity, entitlement timelines, and layered stormwater requirements that define this market demand a landscape architect who understands the local regulatory environment — not just the general principles of the profession.
Nashville's Development Environment: What It Means for Landscape Architecture
Nashville-Davidson County is one of the most active land development markets in the country. Growth concentrated in Davidson County and radiating outward through Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Sumner, and Cheatham counties has produced regulatory conditions that require a Nashville landscape architect to be deeply familiar with a layered, fast-changing environment.
Metro Nashville Stormwater: LID Requirements and Metro Water Services
Metro Nashville's Stormwater Management Program (MWS) requires Low Impact Development (LID) practices on new development projects disturbing one or more acres. This means vegetated stormwater features — bioretention cells, vegetated swales, permeable paving, and disconnected impervious surface routing — must be designed and documented as part of the landscape architecture scope, in coordination with the civil engineer of record.
Metro Water Services (MWS) reviews LID feature design during the stormwater plan review process. Planting selections within LID systems must meet MWS performance standards for establishment and long-term function. Design deficiencies at this stage generate MWS plan review corrections and resubmission cycles — delays that cost development teams weeks in active construction markets. Evergreen Design Group produces LID feature designs and associated planting documentation calibrated to clear MWS plan review on first submission.
Metro Nashville Tree Canopy and Urban Forestry Requirements
Nashville-Davidson County's tree preservation ordinance applies to new development and redevelopment projects. Metro Nashville's Urban Forestry Division reviews landscape plans for tree protection zone compliance, mitigation ratios for removed canopy, and replacement standards by tree size class. Deficiencies at plan review routinely trigger corrections that delay site plan approval.
Our tree disposition plans are prepared in full compliance with Metro Nashville Urban Forestry requirements: existing canopy documented by species, caliper, and condition; protection zones established per ordinance radii; and required replacement calculated to the satisfaction of the reviewing department. Plans are formatted for Urban Forestry submittal and coordinated with the civil grading plan to avoid conflicts between protection zones and proposed grades.
Davidson County Soils: Karst Geology and Expansive Clay
Much of Davidson County sits atop limestone bedrock — a karst-forming geology that produces sinkholes, shallow bedrock outcrops, and unpredictable subsurface drainage patterns across Nashville's urban core and inner suburbs. Landscape architects designing in Davidson County must specify soil amendments and drainage strategies that account for karst conditions and avoid concentrating water in susceptible areas. We coordinate karst-related grading assumptions directly with the geotechnical and civil engineering team on every project where subsurface conditions are a known variable.
Nashville's soils also include expansive clay profiles that shrink and swell seasonally. This affects hardscape joint design, edging stability, subbase specification, and long-term planting establishment. Our construction documents specify for these conditions explicitly — not with generic regional standards.
Nashville's Suburban Growth Corridors
The Nashville landscape architect serving the metro market must operate fluently across multiple jurisdictions, each with its own landscape and tree ordinance requirements. The most active suburban development corridors include:
- Williamson County (Franklin, Brentwood, Spring Hill, Nolensville): Among the fastest-growing counties in the nation. Brentwood and Franklin maintain their own tree ordinances that differ materially from Metro Nashville's — including distinct protection radii, mitigation ratios, and replacement tree size requirements. Landscape quality expectations in Williamson County are among the highest in the state.
- Rutherford County (Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne): High-volume residential development with active commercial and industrial growth. Landscape ordinance requirements vary by municipality; Murfreesboro maintains its own streetscape and buffer standards.
- Wilson County (Lebanon, Mount Juliet): Rapid residential growth driven by Nashville metro spillover. Mount Juliet administers its own landscape standards through the planning department.
- Sumner County (Hendersonville, Gallatin): Active residential and mixed-use development with local landscape requirements administered at the municipal level.
Evergreen Design Group maintains current working knowledge of each jurisdiction's landscape and tree requirements and designs to the applicable standard — not a generic Nashville-metro template.
Landscape Architecture Services We Deliver in Nashville
Every service is performed in-house by our licensed professionals.
Land planning is the highest-leverage phase for a Nashville landscape architect to engage on a development project. Our land planners work with developers and civil engineers at the pre-application and schematic design stage to establish open space frameworks, buffer configurations, amenity siting, and land use relationships that satisfy Metro Nashville zoning requirements before the civil plan is locked.
Projects in Nashville’s urban core and inner-ring neighborhoods frequently involve Specific Plan zoning, Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) provisions, or Contextual Overlay requirements. Our team understands how these overlay mechanisms affect landscape setbacks, streetscape standards, tree preservation obligations, and open space ratios — and we design around them from project initiation rather than resolving them at plan review.
Planting design in Nashville requires species selection calibrated to Davidson County’s clay and limestone soils, Middle Tennessee’s humid subtropical climate, and the performance requirements of Metro Nashville’s LID stormwater systems. Our planting designs specify heat-tolerant, soil-adapted species documented at the level of detail required for Metro Nashville plan review, contractor bidding, and landscape contractor installation.
For Nashville’s urban infill and high-density development corridors, we design planting in constrained structural soil environments — suspended pavement systems, tree grates, and rooftop growing media — where standard planting specifications do not apply. We also design native plant palettes for LID bioretention cells and vegetated filter strips that satisfy Metro MWS establishment requirements.
Tree disposition plans are a required submittal for virtually all new development and redevelopment projects within Davidson County. Metro Nashville’s Urban Forestry Division reviews these plans as part of the site plan approval process. Williamson County municipalities — particularly Brentwood and Franklin — maintain their own tree ordinances with distinct protection and mitigation requirements that differ from Metro Nashville’s standards.
Our tree disposition plans document existing trees by species, caliper, and condition; establish tree protection zones per the applicable ordinance; assess preservation feasibility relative to proposed grading and utility layouts; and calculate replacement obligations in the format required by the reviewing jurisdiction. Whether the project is in Davidson County, Williamson County, Rutherford County, or Wilson County, we produce documents calibrated to the applicable local standard.
Nashville’s residential development market is intensely competitive on amenity quality. Developers building communities in Williamson County, Rutherford County, and Wilson County know that the amenity package — pools, clubhouses, fitness stations, dog parks, multi-use lawns, pocket parks, and trail connections — directly affects absorption rates and lot premiums. We design amenity packages that are visually compelling, code-compliant, and built around the operational realities of HOA management.
We understand the cost-per-door math that Nashville-area developers track, and we design to it. Amenity scope decisions are evaluated against HOA operating cost projections and long-term maintenance loads — not just visual appeal. On master-planned communities with phased buildout, we coordinate amenity phasing with the civil schedule to match each phase’s absorption timeline.
Nashville’s development market spans a wide typological range — from urban mixed-use streetscapes and rooftop amenity decks to suburban community entrances, pool surrounds, and pedestrian trail systems. Our hardscape construction documents include materials specifications, finish schedules, grading and drainage coordination, expansion joint details, section details, and joint patterns specified to match site conditions and use patterns.
We design to Nashville’s specific conditions: freeze-thaw exposure in Davidson County winters that stresses improperly detailed pavements; clay soil movement that requires hardscape subbase preparation beyond standard compaction specs; and high-pedestrian-traffic environments that demand durability over aesthetic-only selections. Our documents are produced to the standard that contractors can bid and build from without excessive RFIs.
Irrigation design in the Nashville metro is shaped by Metro Water Services backflow prevention requirements, applicable local water efficiency standards, and the practical challenge of designing systems that perform in Middle Tennessee’s wet springs and dry summers. Our irrigation designs are hydraulically engineered — zoned by plant type and microclimate, sized to local municipal water pressure data, and documented to a level that supports accurate contractor bidding and long-term system maintenance.
Our Nashville irrigation designs include: a hydraulic water demand analysis; point-of-connection sizing tied to Metro Water Services pressure data; zone layouts organized by plant type and sun/shade exposure; irrigation head and drip emitter specifications; smart controller and weather-sensor specifications; and backflow prevention documentation compliant with Metro Water Services requirements. For residential communities, we design systems calibrated to HOA maintenance budgets and management expectations. For urban infill and streetscape projects, we are experienced designing in structural soil environments where conventional head spacing assumptions do not apply.
Nashville Development Project Types We Support
Residential Land Development
Master-planned communities, single-family subdivisions, townhome and cottage communities, age-restricted neighborhoods, and mixed-density residential across Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, and Sumner counties. We coordinate with your civil engineer from land planning through final construction documents, managing full landscape scope across all project phases — including phased community buildout aligned with your absorption timeline.
Mixed-Use and Urban Infill
Nashville’s urban core and inner-ring neighborhoods are active markets for mixed-use development: residential-over-retail, live-work communities, adaptive reuse, and transit-adjacent development. These projects require a Nashville landscape architect experienced in constrained urban sites, structural soil systems, LID compliance in dense environments, streetscape standards, and Metro Nashville Planning Department design review — including Historic Zoning Commission review in applicable overlay districts.
Commercial Development
Retail centers, office parks, medical office campuses, hospitality properties, and institutional developments across the Nashville metro. We produce landscape plans that satisfy Metro Nashville’s landscape ordinance requirements, comply with municipal stormwater standards, and function in the high-use commercial environment.
Industrial and Distribution
Nashville’s logistics and industrial market has expanded significantly across Davidson, Rutherford, and Wilson counties, driven by I-24, I-40, and I-65 corridor access. We serve industrial clients with landscape plans designed for large impervious footprints, heavy vehicle circulation, security-sensitive perimeters, and low-maintenance management — producing documents that meet site plan approval requirements efficiently and without over-designing the landscape budget.
Why Nashville Developers and Engineers Choose Evergreen Design Group
Current Knowledge of Metro Nashville's Regulatory Environment
Metro Nashville's landscape ordinance, LID stormwater requirements, tree preservation standards, and plan review process are the working environment for every Davidson County project we produce. We maintain current working knowledge of Metro Nashville Code requirements and the Metro Water Services Stormwater Management Manual — and we produce documents that reflect that knowledge at every plan review submission.
Suburban Metro Jurisdiction Coverage
Williamson County, Rutherford County, Wilson County, Sumner County — each municipality in Nashville's growth corridors administers its own landscape and tree requirements. We know the specific standards for Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Mount Juliet, and Hendersonville, and we design to the applicable jurisdiction's requirements rather than a generic Nashville-metro template.
Single-Source Landscape Scope Management
Your project team works with one firm for land planning, planting design, hardscape design, tree disposition plans, irrigation design, and community amenity design. We coordinate all landscape disciplines internally and deliver a unified set of construction documents — reducing the coordination burden on your civil engineer and project manager, and eliminating the scope gaps that emerge between multiple landscape consultants.
Construction-Ready Documentation
Our deliverables are produced to the standard that licensed contractors can price and build from without excessive RFIs. Materials specifications, grading coordination, planting schedules, and irrigation hydraulics are all documented to the level that supports competitive bidding and minimizes change orders during construction — which matters on Nashville's fast-moving project schedules.
Licensed, Experienced, and Accountable
Evergreen Design Group holds an active Tennessee landscape architect license. Every Nashville project we produce is managed by or under the direct supervision of a licensed landscape architect. Founded in 2005, we have delivered projects across more than 40 states, and Nashville is one of our most active markets. We bring national-level experience in construction documentation standards and entitlement coordination to every Metro Nashville engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions — Landscape Architects Nashville
Do you work on projects in Williamson County, Rutherford County, and other Nashville suburbs — or only within Davidson County?
Evergreen Design Group serves the full Nashville metro area, including Davidson County and all surrounding suburban counties — Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Sumner, Cheatham, and Robertson. Each county and municipality administers its own landscape and tree ordinance requirements, and we produce documents calibrated to the applicable jurisdiction. If your project is in Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Mount Juliet, Hendersonville, Spring Hill, or anywhere else in the metro area, we can support it.
What does Metro Nashville require for stormwater compliance on a new development project?
Metro Nashville’s Stormwater Management Program requires Low Impact Development (LID) practices on new development projects above one acre of land disturbance. This typically means incorporating vegetated stormwater features — bioretention cells, bioswales, vegetated filter strips, or disconnected downspout routing — designed and documented by a landscape architect in coordination with the civil engineer of record. Metro Water Services (MWS) reviews these elements during the stormwater plan review process. Evergreen Design Group produces LID feature designs and associated planting documentation calibrated to meet MWS design standards and clear plan review on first submission.
How does Metro Nashville's tree preservation ordinance affect my development project?
Metro Nashville’s Urban Forestry Division requires tree surveys, protection zone plans, and canopy replacement documentation on new development and redevelopment projects within Davidson County. The ordinance establishes protection zone radii by tree diameter, mitigation ratios when trees must be removed, and minimum replacement tree sizes and species. Projects that do not address tree requirements early in the design process commonly receive plan review corrections that delay site plan approval. We produce tree disposition plans formatted for Metro Nashville Urban Forestry submittal, and we advise on tree preservation strategies that reduce mitigation obligations and protect the development budget.
What are the landscape requirements for development projects in Williamson County — specifically Brentwood and Franklin?
Brentwood and Franklin each administer their own landscape and tree ordinances, which differ from Metro Nashville’s requirements in several important ways. Brentwood’s tree ordinance is enforced through the Planning Commission and requires site-specific tree protection and replacement plans with protection radii and mitigation ratios that differ from Metro Nashville’s Urban Forestry standards. Franklin’s landscape ordinance specifies minimum plantings per linear foot of street frontage, interior parking lot landscaping ratios, and buffer yard standards tied to adjacent zoning classifications. Because these requirements vary by municipality and are updated periodically, we maintain current working knowledge of each jurisdiction’s standards and design to them specifically — not to a generic Nashville-metro default.
How early should a landscape architect be engaged on a Nashville development project?
As early as the land planning and pre-application phase, before the civil plan is set. In Nashville’s regulatory environment, engaging a landscape architect at the site layout stage allows open space, tree preservation zones, LID stormwater features, and amenity areas to be properly integrated into the site design rather than retrofitted after impervious cover, grading, and drainage are already resolved. Projects that include a Nashville landscape architect at the planning stage consistently produce cleaner submittals, fewer MWS and Urban Forestry plan review corrections, and stronger entitlement outcomes than projects where landscape architecture is added as a late-stage overlay.
Do you provide irrigation design that complies with Metro Nashville and Metro Water Services requirements?
Yes. Our irrigation designs for Nashville projects are developed in accordance with Metro Water Services backflow prevention requirements and applicable local water efficiency standards. We perform hydraulic analysis sized to local MWS water pressure data, zone systems by plant type and sun/shade exposure, specify smart controller technology, and document systems to a level that supports accurate contractor bidding and long-term HOA management. We are also experienced designing irrigation in the structural soil environments common in Nashville’s urban infill and streetscape projects, where conventional head spacing and zone sizing assumptions require modification.
Can you coordinate directly with our civil engineer on grading and LID design?
Yes — civil coordination is standard practice on every Nashville project. We share drawings with the civil engineer of record, align on grading assumptions, coordinate on LID feature geometry and drainage routing, and identify conflicts between civil and landscape scope before they reach plan review or construction. In Metro Nashville’s development environment, landscape and civil coordination is not optional — Metro Water Services stormwater review and Metro Planning landscape review are parallel processes that require consistent documentation across both disciplines.
What types of projects does Evergreen Design Group typically support in Nashville?
Our Nashville-area practice includes residential master-planned communities and subdivisions across Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, and Sumner counties; mixed-use and urban infill projects in Davidson County; commercial retail and office development; institutional and civic projects; and industrial and distribution facilities along Nashville’s I-24, I-40, and I-65 corridors. Our clients are land developers, civil engineering firms, architects of record, and design-build contractors. We do not serve single-family residential homeowner projects.
How do we engage Evergreen Design Group for a Nashville project?
Contact Evergreen Design Group through our website or call our office directly. We will schedule a brief discovery conversation to understand your project type, site location, schedule, and scope, then follow up with a written proposal. Most clients are developers, civil engineering firms, architects, or design-build contractors. We are structured to move at the pace of Nashville’s development market — most proposals are delivered within a few business days of initial contact.
What file formats and CAD standards do you deliver in?
Our construction document deliverables are produced in AutoCAD (.dwg) and are compatible with the file exchange standards used by civil engineering firms on Nashville development projects. We coordinate on project-specific CAD standards, layer naming conventions, and sheet format requirements at project initiation. PDF plan sets are provided for permit submittal to Metro Nashville Planning, Metro Water Services, and Urban Forestry. For clients using BIM-integrated workflows, file delivery options can be discussed at the proposal stage.
Engage a Licensed Nashville Landscape Architect for Your Next Development Project
Whether your project is a master-planned community in Williamson County, a mixed-use development in the urban core, or a commercial or industrial site anywhere in the Nashville metro, Evergreen Design Group is ready to deliver the landscape architecture scope your project needs.
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