Redwood Property Maintenance mows, trims, mulches and landscapes yards in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, east of our Garden City base. Dearborn Heights has many 1950s single-family homes and some creek flooding, so we keep the work practical: tidy lawns, trimmed shrubs and clear sidewalks.
Dearborn Heights covers about 11.75 square miles. The median home dates to 1958, about 87 percent are single-family houses, and nearly half were built in the 1950s. About 70 percent are owner-occupied, so most of what we see is the family yard.
The city sits in two watersheds: the southern part in the Ecorse Creek watershed and the northern part in the Rouge River watershed, and the area around the Ecorse is subject to flooding. That makes bed preparation and mulch worth doing carefully, and it is a reason to choose plants that cope with wet ground in custom landscaping.
What the city asks of a property
The city's ordinance page says owners must keep bushes and shrubs neatly trimmed and the yard clear of debris, and that sidewalks must be kept free of trip hazards, which includes overgrown bushes or shrubs, grass and debris, along with raised slabs and snow and ice. Residents are also allowed to trim branches or foliage growing onto their property from a neighbor's. Trimming back shrubs that reach the walk is the kind of job we do.
Yard waste, which the city calls compost, runs from April 1 through the second Friday of December, with a labeled can up to 35 gallons, compost bags or bundles accepted. On the ground, the soil survey shows mostly sandy loam, with some of it rated poorly drained, and most of the ground mapped as built-over urban land.
In spring, the cleanup and a first trim of the shrubs that reach the sidewalk come first, then mulch. After a wet spring the lawn needs the mower more often than you expect. Late summer is for aeration on compacted ground, and a November cleanup clears leaves from the lawn and from the walk, ahead of the first snow.
Local answers
Dearborn Heights lawn care questions
Do shrubs have to be trimmed in Dearborn Heights?
The city's ordinance page says bushes and shrubs must be kept neatly trimmed, and that overgrown bushes on a sidewalk count as a trip hazard. Regular trimming covers it.
When does yard waste collection run in Dearborn Heights?
From April 1 through the second Friday of December, using a labeled can up to 35 gallons, compost bags or bundles.
Does flooding affect landscaping in Dearborn Heights?
It can, near the Ecorse Creek. Tell us if a yard stays wet and we will talk through bed layout, mulch and plants that tolerate it.
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