Above is a video that summarizes the projects mentioned in this article. Below the article is a photo gallery of our featured project, a Lake Butte des Morts residential landscaping rebuild that is also heavily featured in the video.
Landscaping Oshkosh: A Complete Guide to Planning Your Outdoor Project
Landscaping for Shorelines, Lake Flies, & More
What You Will Learn
- Featured Project on Lake Butte des Morts
- Shoreline Project Zoning
- Sharing Your Shoreline
- Lakefront Landscaping Project Timelines
- Waterfront Retaining Walls
- Lake Flies & Landscaping
- Shoreline Plant & Tree Selection
- Emerald Ash Borer in Oshkosh
- Landscaping at UW-Oshkosh
- Landscaping Oshkosh Apartments & Condos
- Finding Trustworthy & Professional Oshkosh Landscaping Services
Hoping to create a great outdoor space to enjoy time with family and friends but wondering which Oshkosh landscaping company to call? Or do you run a business or apartment complex and would like to keep your outdoor spaces up to date with today’s post-COVID, outdoor entertainment trends?
Learn all about Oshkosh landscape maintenance services or start to plan for your on-the-water outdoor kitchen and firepit areas here.
Landscaping on Lakes Winnebago, Butte des Morts, Winneconne, Poygan
Greg and Tammi have a beautiful home on Lake Butte des Morts and needed an experienced Oshkosh lakefront landscaping company, so they called Lowney’s Landscaping. Getting access to all the experts quoted in this article, they created an award-nominated haven for hosting friends and family at their truly unique lakeside lot.
First and foremost, people planning waterfront landscaping care about the lake views, seating, and traffic flows. For this project, company owner Joe Lowney said Greg and Tammi “had an existing pool, hot tub, and patio space, but then we had to work to get a feel from them about how they’re going to use that space, what they’re going to do to entertain their guests.”
So do you have primarily a family-time space or are you more often entertaining guests, and in what quantities? How many seats, and facing which way? In this case, Joe said, “They have a killer outdoor kitchen, and you don’t want to obstruct the view out of that kitchen, but they also wanted an area where they could sit in the shade. And the pool is on the south side of their house. So Greg wants to be in the shade and cook out there, and Tammi wants to be in the sun (by the pool).”
Add it all up and you wind up with “a gazebo space with a nice bar inside so Greg could be in the shade with his buddies, and if you want to be in the sun, you still have plenty of space for that.”
The fire pit is not far from the pool (sometimes they are), which makes this large area conveniently compact despite its significant square footage. “They can be grilling but then hop in the hot tub,” Joe said. “There’s a space to sit around the fire at night and still hop in the pool. It’s a cool space.”
Being on a body of water that has this kind of dimension to it means having to plan for quite a bit of space out at the shoreline. That is where a large, experienced landscaping service can pull together ideas and best practices. Greg and Tammi benefited from Joe’s decades of experience but everyone else on the team is brought in for their specific topic area.
“We had Nick (the Lowney’s on-staff carpenter) build a temporary transition to the docks, which they can take out every fall,” Joe said. “So we made this transition piece and then we came up a couple steps and then we reset their stone steps coming up the bank. Their view up top is gorgeous because they drop 20 feet (at the water’s edge), but then you have to plan for your docks and your transitions.”
Setbacks from the water’s edge are heavily monitored by the local authorities, so it isn’t just a matter of knowing what can withstand the impacts of being next to the water year-round. It’s also a matter of knowing who to call for approval of that plan. In the case of Lowney’s, that’s often lead designer and Professional Landscape Architect Christine Kosiorek.
“Christine is very, very good at researching that,” Joe said. “If we need to, we’ll also bring in a surveyor. In this case, we knew we had about 30 feet of play, but you do have to understand setbacks and other factors, like how much could be permeable. We really work hard on those pieces to give our customer peace of mind.”
Everybody has heard the story about the person who installed something waterside and was later told they had to remove it at their own cost. It’s not an urban legend and it happens not just at larger lakes like Winnebago but also in small towns everywhere. “They’ll make you take it out,” if you don’t follow code, Joe said.
Contact Us to Discuss Your Landscaping Plan
Knowing Your Waterfront Landscaping Limits
Lowney’s Landscaping hardscape manager Chris Van Groll noted that permitting can take a year, so waterside planning cannot come too soon. “If you just build your house (before starting the shoreline permitting processes), by the time you get a permit, it might be way too late to do what you could have done,” Chris said. “Now you missed your opportunity.”
The simple measurements come first, but then it can get complicated. Christine, who like Chris has a degree in horticulture, said it starts with a tape measure. “If you’re putting in patios and similar things, then you have to know how much area you’re allowed,” Christine said, so if you’re adding on, you’ll need to know how much area you already have.
For emphasis, don’t guess this; it can be more expensive to fix than to investigate properly up front. “If you do it wrong, they might make you rip it out,” Christine said.
A typical mistake, Christine said, is that a lot of people think you can place “a giant patio right next to the lake. But most areas don’t allow almost anything other than pretty much a walkway.”
With bodies of water as large as Lake Winnebago and its sister lakes, you can also be dealing with a LOT of ice, which is the purpose for many of these setback requirements. Christine said it’s not only about ice, though. “There is usually a steep slope leading to the water, and the slope could fail,” she said. That means the entire setback area could wind up in the lake, and you don’t really want your outdoor kitchen going with it.
There are also “flood lines,” the opposite situation. Christine remembers a past client in the eastern part of the state who called Lowney’s because their waterfront deck was now under water.
We asked the internet gods to define flood lines:
A “flood line” along a lake is an imaginary line on the ground that marks the highest point a lake’s water level is expected to reach during a flood event, essentially indicating the boundary of the area that would be inundated by floodwaters if the lake level rises above that point. This line is usually determined by analyzing historical flood data, topography, and other factors, and is often used to identify high-risk flood zones along a lake shoreline.
The point is that water moves, and it can go up OR down, and history gives an educated guess as to how much.
Sharing Your Shoreline With Critters & Other People
Most people who live next to water also care about the animals with which they share the space. (Note that we said most.) Even if you’re not one of those people, the folks creating the guidelines in your area almost always are, so you’ll have to listen to them either way.
“Animals need to be able to get up the shoreline,” Christine said. “That’s why most places don’t let you build concrete walls anymore.”
That’s mostly a moot point on Winnebago because concrete walls aren’t a good idea there anyway. “If you build a concrete wall and the ice shove comes in, do you think it’s gonna withstand the force of that water?” Christine asked.
You also need to remember that what you want for views of the water works both ways. You don’t own the lake or its view of the shoreline. The local code agencies also care about what people on the water want for their view, and “not everybody on the water wants to look at your house,” Christine said. “They’re trying to enjoy nature, too.”
Understanding Project Timelines for Lakefront Landscaping
Landscaping should always be planned while a new home or project is being planned and not before the construction starts. Once the wires and pipes are in the ground, and especially after some of the buildings are starting to go up, the landscaping (and outdoor kitchens and decks and lighted firepit areas) becomes a lot more difficult to construct.
That is especially true in waterside situations since most available/empty lots today are narrow. Once the building or cabin is erected, the machines may not be able to even get to the water side of the lot.
“A lot of these lake properties don’t have access,” Chris said. “They’re trying to get as many lots in there as you can fit. We’ve done a fair amount of work on Winnebago where we’re actually building (the landscaping and outdoor spaces) as the house is getting built and we’re trying to get done before it gets closed off.”
So the landscaping is started before the house and its drainage, wiring, piping, and other aspects can be planned or started while there is still time. “Even though you’re basically draining the house, you’re starting from the lake side (during the build),” Chris said.
If the building is already there, then creative companies like Lowney’s will find a way. “We have done work from the lake side before,” Chris said. “I have done projects where we actually had to take advantage of wintertime (and its ice) because we couldn’t get back there anymore (from the house side). We’re actually doing it this winter, in Oshkosh. In that case there are a lot of tree removals and we’re doing that on the ice.”
Lowney’s has hired barge/raft companies like Radtke Contractors when necessary to get rocks to the shoreline from the water side.
Waterfront Retaining Walls
As noted above, Step #1 when you’re working on a project of this size along a shoreline relates to setbacks and permitting. After those are planned, if you are moving a lot of rock, you’ll need a company that can handle the construction of a waterfront retaining wall that can withstand some serious conditions.
These lakes are not small by almost any measure, and even though they’re shallow – or possibly because they are – their waves and ice flows need to be planned for. In one project in 2024, “we used the concrete as a filler rock on the shoreline,” said Landscape Consultant Mike Schumacher, who has been managing landscaping projects for even longer than Lowney’s Landscaping has been a company. “Then we put really nice-looking rock over the front of that. We repurposed everything without having to haul anything away, and it created quite a dramatic change.”
See the photos above for proof. If you need this kind of significant waterfront retaining wall and stonework, you obviously won’t want to try that yourself.
Managing Lake Flies in Your Landscaping Plans
Lake Winnebago veterans were wondering when this section of the article would start.
Surprisingly, the Lowney’s Landscaping experts said lake flies don’t have to play a huge role in your landscaping plans. You will want to create a space that can easily handle cleanup, so it will impact your furniture and appliance selections, and you’ll want really good outdoor furniture like LuxCraft outdoor furniture because garbage furniture sitting next to a lake will last as long as you think it would.
If you would like Lowney’s to handle the landscaping maintenance and cleanup, there are full-time crews for that. The Oshkosh landscaping clients include some residential lake-fronters and quite a few businesses. “For a lot of our clients on the lakes, we do everything related to landscaping maintenance,” said Lowney’s Landscaping maintenance manager Jeremy Stryhn. “We do spring and fall cleanups, mowing, bed care for mulch and stone, and turf (grass plantings and repair). For the most part, (other) lawn maintenance companies will handle turf only.”
When it comes to bed care options like mulch versus stone, and choosing which trees and plants to include in your plan, do the lake flies and other bugs impact those decisions?
Jeremy said not really … but you will want a company that can handle what are called “structural sprayings,” which means spraying your buildings and landscaping areas to eliminate the bugs.
“If you spray just before the lake flies come in, you can really reduce their impact,” Jeremy said. So the Oshkosh companies that employ Lowney’s will try to schedule a spraying just before the expected onslaught, and lake veterans typically know when that is about to start. “If we get our spray on the house and gutters and soffits beforehand, it will help repel them, they’ll go find somewhere else to land,” he said.
One thing to remember is that after a lake fly hatch, you may not want to bother mowing the lawn for a week or two; it’s going to be a mess if you try. Lake veterans will use blowers and power washers to clean everything off, and some people bring all their patio furniture inside (into a shed or similar) before they get covered with bugs.
Can you try spraying for lake flies yourself? Yes, but you will need a high-pressure sprayer, and do some research on which chemical to buy, then learn how to mask yourself so you don’t get sick. You must know how and where to spray without making yourself (or your family or pets) ill along the way. You can tell that it’s not something most people belong trying. “This is what pest control companies are for,” Jeremy said.
Besides lake flies, Jeremy said the box elder bugs are acute in these areas also, though he doesn’t personally know why. Very often, a turf maintenance program in the Oshkosh area should also have a bug-control program added to it.
The simplest plan with the least anxiety in it: Let the experts handle the lake flies and box elder bugs while they’re at your place doing landscaping maintenance. “There are quite a few companies and homes in Neenah where all we do are structural sprayings (for insects etc.) because of box elder and lake flies,” Jeremy said.
Shoreline Plant & Tree Selection
Lowney’s Landscaping retail garden center manager Justi VanderVelden said you don’t have to plan for specific or unique perennials and trees alongside the water. Because the weather can be amplified there (stronger winds, etc.) you will want hardy plants, though, and that’s why she recommends plants like Service Berry Autumn Brilliance, which is a Wisconsin native.
And it’s not just hardy. “The flower color in the spring is creamy white and it has a sweet fragrance, a very sweet smell,” Justi said. “Then in the fall, it gets berries, and because it’s native, it does very well in our soil around here.”
Bonus: It’s even helpful in the winter. “It is a good plant for squirrels and birds because they eat the berries, and if you have a multi-stem variety, they can live in there in the wintertime,” Justi said.
You should choose native and hardy varieties no matter where you live, so Justi doesn’t select different plants for clients who are along the water. “On (Greg and Tammi’s) project, these grasses are very resilient, and once the Summer Sweet Ruby Spice gets established, it will be beautiful and vibrant,” Justi said. “Viburnum Blue Muffin is used there also; that is another Wisconsin native and it gets really cool blue berries. It’s a very pretty plant in the fall.”
Do plants require special care in the winter if you’re along the shoreline? “If you get real strong winds, you might have to cover them a little bit in the winter,” Justi said. “It depends if they’re already in a little microclimate” for instance, sheltered by a building or wall. But again, she emphasized, “if they’re native, they’re gonna adapt quite well.”
When she said “cover” did she mean with a blanket or a tarp? No, she meant a natural covering like mulch and/or leaves.
We also asked if you should plan for ice shelves and pileups and if that would dictate the kind of plants and trees you should plan. Not really, Justi said, other than just keeping them far enough away from the water, because if that planting bed gets overrun by ice, “nothing is going to live. Just know how close you can actually get to the water’s edge.”
If you aren’t sure what “multi-stem” meant, a “standard” is a single stem that looks like a tree. “It’s two totally different looks,” Justi said. “The standard keeps it nice and clean, and you can keep it trimmed (more easily), and then the multi-stem, you just let it do its thing.”
Back on the topic of lake flies, there are some plants that lake flies aren’t too fond of, including citronella, lavender, and peppermint. Those plants on your deck might help a bit when the lake flies come, but Justi said “if it’s a bad hatch or an onslaught, don’t expect that to help very much.”
Emerald Ash Borer in Oshkosh
As everyone should know by now, most of the ash trees in this area are either dead or well on their way because of the Emerald Ash Borer. The only ash trees that are going to survive are those that have been properly injected by a company like Lowney’s Tree Service.
Oshkosh was hit before other cities in the Fox Valley because the ash borer came up from the south. Lowney’s Tree Service will still take the ash-inquiry phone calls and visit the property, though typically it just winds up being an estimate for taking down the tree and moving the wood (if you don’t want to cut it up yourself).
“We encourage people to call us,” said Lowney’s Tree Service lead arborist Adam Pashouwer, “but you’re going to want to be realistic and be prepared to hear the truth.”
Sadly, very few companies were using the best chemical and even fewer were properly injecting it in the past few years, so a lot of people and companies wasted time and money with EAB methods that failed. Lowney’s Tree Service – running four-time winner of the Best of the Valley in voting of Post-Crescent readers – has been doing it properly. One Lowney’s client in Oshkosh has dozens of ash trees on its rental properties, and those trees are doing very well with the every-other-year treatment. “Their trees are fine,” Adam said. “It’s all the other ash trees (in Oshkosh) that are stripped dead.”
A quick side question: How is ash versus oak in the fireplace? “It’s not as good as oak, but ash is a good hardwood,” Adam said. “If you split it, it burns well. If you don’t split it, it does not.”
Another reason that you may wind up calling Lowney’s Tree Service from Oshkosh is that a lot of tree services will not take down trees in the winter; they don’t want to deal with them landing on the ice. “We’re experienced enough to take a tree down (on ice),” Adam said. “It’s natural and sensible to want to do it in the winter so it doesn’t land in the water.”
Technically, dropping a tree into the water can be defined as creating a natural water landscape and in some jurisdictions those shouldn’t be removed from the water, even if the tree dropped there one minute ago. Again, you’re into codes and having to learn what is legal (or just calling somebody who does).
Click here for Lowney’s Tree Service’s website if you need an Oshkosh tree service.
Landscaping at UW-Oshkosh
Discussion about commercial landscaping in Oshkosh starts with UW-Oshkosh, where Lowney’s Landscaping has done a lot of work. Cole Lowney, graduate of UW-Oshkosh who now works for (and with) his dad Joe at Lowney’s Landscaping, is a 20-something who knows that generation well. (Yes, he should!).
Cole was part of the crew that worked on a historic home on the UW-Oshkosh campus in 2024, rebuilding the landscaping there, the walkways, and the stone/brick. Yes, the students were in session. Cole said most of them just avoided the area of course, while others asked what was up and wanted to learn more about the project.
One factor when choosing a company to work in a public place like a university is that the person hiring the crew will need to consider the professionalism of that company and its crews. Safety is always obviously paramount, but it’s not particularly easy when you have thousands of people walking through the area every day.
Lowney’s project manager Tim Clark said organizations are careful to choose reputable landscaping services when they’re going to be working around students and in crowded areas. “You have to be cognizant of the environment you’re working in, and our crews are very much aware of those things because of their experience,” Tim said. And when you’re working on campus at a large public university, “you have to be even more conscious of safety, for instance where you park the equipment. And if you go out of our fenced-in area, there are kids walking all the time and typically they’re in a hurry and not paying attention.”
Oshkosh Landscaping Management Services
Increasingly, apartments and condo units like those in Oshkosh need attractive landscaping and outdoor entertainment spaces like kitchens, fire pits, and covered areas like decks, gazebos, and pergolas.
So Cole, when 25- to 35-year-olds are looking for an apartment or condo, what kind of amenities are most important to them? “A fire table would be super,” he said. “My buddies always go to the places that have fire tables.”
He said it’s also critical to have outdoor spaces like grills and outdoor kitchens. “It can make the difference in what place a person will choose to rent,” he said. “In fact, it probably will make the difference. They want a social place to hang out, year-round, and that won’t be in their apartment itself.”
Young people (yes 25 to 35 is young!) don’t like to have to go out to bars numerous times a week, either. If they don’t want a house yet (or can’t afford one), many of them can afford a nice apartment complex that includes outdoor spaces where their personal living space can be expanded.
Lowney’s just upgraded the outdoor space at Anthem Luxury Living apartments in Oshkosh. “It was a referral from another client up in Door County, actually,” Joe Lowney said. “At first, this project just started as a gas fire pit for their tenants, and they wanted it on a timer, like a hot tub timer.”
The timer was to reduce the tenants’ urge to use the public space all night, and also for security reasons.
As happens, while the crews were there, the project expanded. “When we got there, a couple of the walls were falling, and they also decided to add an outdoor kitchen,” Joe said. “So because of our relationship with Blaze Grills, we were able to sell them two grills and create a nice outdoor kitchen. The grills are on timers also, and there are cabinets for utensils, and there is really nice lighting out there.
“And one of the nice parts about working with us is we coordinated with the HVAC contractor to get gas out there and we took care of the electricians and permitting. This will all pay for itself. These young kids absolutely love it.”
This outdoor entertainment space idea didn’t start with the pandemic, but it does seem like we don’t feel like moving our social time back inside, even in the winter. “If you’re looking for an apartment and the one next to this one doesn’t really have an outdoor space at all … to sit by a grill and a patio and a fire table, with a little bit of shade, … you’re definitely going to choose this one,” Joe said.
Professional Oshkosh Landscaping Services
As noted above, not just any company would be hired to work at a university as large as UW-Oshkosh, especially while school is in session. Nor would a person managing the landscaping at a senior home want workers who weren’t serious, invested, full-timers.
Tim Clark gave an example of an Appleton condo association at which Lowney’s handles all of the landscaping year-round. He said the full-time crews employed by Lowney’s make a difference to people who have decisions to make about which services to hire. “That is one of the reasons why management teams like us,” Tim said.
And because of the longstanding relationships that can be built with a company in business for 28 years, and with employees who will be returning to the location year after year, “if we see something that could be improved, we’ll say something,” Tim said, “we’re not just there to do the job and get out.”
