Chatham Landscaping Built for the Elbow of the Cape

Chatham is surrounded by water: Nantucket Sound to the south, the Atlantic to the east beyond the barrier beaches, and Pleasant Bay to the north. Homes near Chatham Lighthouse, along Shore Road, on Morris Island and around Stage Harbor and Oyster Pond take salt spray on most windy days, and nor’easters hit the east facing shoreline hard.

That exposure shapes the landscape. Privet and boxwood hedges brown on the windward side, hydrangeas need shelter to bloom well, and lawns on sandy fill dry out by July. The classic Chatham look, gray shingles with hydrangeas, roses and tight hedges, takes steady attention to keep up in that environment.

Chatham adopted its own Wetland Protection Bylaw, Chapter 272, in 1997, and it goes further than state law. It treats the land within 100 feet of wetlands, banks, beaches, dunes, ponds and the ocean as an adjacent upland resource area, and within 200 feet of a perennial stream. With so much shoreline, a large share of Chatham properties have at least part of the yard in that zone.

The Chatham Conservation Commission reviews work there, from clearing and pruning on a coastal bank to new patios and walls. Chatham also regulates fertilizer content and timing through a Board of Health regulation effective since February 2015. We confirm both before quoting tree work, hardscape or a lawn program on a waterfront lot.

During the July 23, 2019 tornado outbreak on the Cape, more than 90 percent of Chatham customers lost power, mostly from trees and limbs falling on lines. Chatham’s tree cover is mostly pitch pine and oak in the inland neighborhoods off Route 137 and Old Queen Anne Road, with mature street trees in the village, and both take a beating from coastal storms.

For Chatham owners, many of whom spend only part of the year here, the safest approach is a fall walk-through: mark dead or leaning trees near the house, thin crowded pines, and clear deadwood over roofs and driveways before winter. When a storm does bring something down, same-day service is available when the schedule allows.