Landscape design in Naples, Florida, by Registered Landscape Architects.

Our design-build process.

What "landscape design" actually means here.

Most Naples landscape work is delivered by maintenance crews following a generic template - three shrubs, a hedge, palms in a line. That is not what we do.

At Knaak the landscape is designed by registered Landscape Architects from first principles. Every plant is specified by the architect, sourced personally, and installed by the same team that drew the plan. The result is a landscape that looks intentional from the day it is installed - and grows into the property rather than against it.

Master plan, planting and year-round color.

Site analysis & master plan

We begin with a site walk. Sun exposure, soil drainage, view corridors, existing trees, the way the family uses the property. The master plan emerges from the site - not from a catalog.

Plant specification

Every species, size, and quantity is specified by the architect. Specimen palms when the project calls for them. Native plantings for resilience. Florida-friendly species selected for the gulf climate, salt, and humidity.

Garden design

Cutting gardens, herb gardens, framed view gardens, entry courtyards. We design private landscapes that feel discovered rather than placed.

Full irrigation

Smart irrigation systems with zone-by-zone tuning and rain-sensor integration. Quietly engineered. Never the visible system.

Year-round color planning

Florida allows for continuous bloom. We design rotating color so the landscape never reads as static.

Landscape architect, landscape designer or landscaper?

In Naples the three get used as if they were the same job. They are not. A landscaper installs and maintains plant material. A landscape designer draws planting plans, usually without a license, and hands the drawings to someone else to build. A Registered Landscape Architect is licensed by the State of Florida to design to grade, drainage and code, to stamp drawings for permitting, and to carry the project through construction. Knaak Design Group is led by a Registered Landscape Architect (RLA #6666903) who is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and holds CLARB certification, and the practice also holds a Certified Building Contractor license (CBC #1256813). The person who draws your landscape is the person whose team installs it.

That matters most on the properties where the landscape has to work hard: waterfront lots with salt exposure, elevation changes, drainage into a canal or a neighbor's yard, and gated communities with architectural review boards. We know the review boards by name and handle that process in-house. Read more about the firm and how a project runs.

Walls, lighting and the work you do not see.

A finished landscape photographs as planting, but what keeps it alive is underneath. Retaining walls and planter walls hold the grade on sloped and waterfront lots and are drawn as part of the hardscape, in the same stone or paver palette as the terraces, not stacked later from a catalog of landscape blocks. Zoned irrigation and real drainage engineering carry the planting through the wet season and the dry. Low-voltage landscape lighting is more than fixtures: transformers, controls, placement and balance after dark are designed with the planting so the garden reads as well at nine at night as it does at noon.

Because one team draws and builds all of it, the lighting conduit goes in before the planting, the drainage runs under the terrace instead of around it, and the walls are founded for the soil that is actually there.

Where we design.

Naples is home. We design and install landscapes across Southwest Florida, including Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers, Port Royal, Pelican Bay, Grey Oaks, Mediterra, Olde Naples, Park Shore and Aqualane Shores. The studio takes a small number of projects each year, almost all of them within thirty miles of the Naples coast, which is why we know the soil, the saltwater exposure and the review boards.

Landscape work sits inside most of what is in the portfolio, alongside custom pool design in Naples, pool renovation, pergolas, outdoor kitchens and fire features. The thinking behind the plant choices is in the journal.

What landscape design costs in Naples.

Our published planning ranges start at $25,000 to $75,000 for a single focused addition and run to $250,000 and above when the whole outdoor property is reworked around a new pool, terraces and structures. Landscape and lighting investment is driven by the scale and maturity of the plant material, quantity, irrigation, soil preparation and access, and lighting adds transformers, controls and placement on top of fixtures. Two identical designs on two different lots can carry very different numbers because of elevation, drainage, soil and what is already in the ground.

These are planning ranges, not estimates. The full breakdown by element is on the investment page, and an inquiry call clarifies whether a project fits the studio.

Common questions.

Our warranty.

Knaak warrants all construction work to be free of defects in material and workmanship for one year from substantial completion. If a defect appears within that year, we remedy it at no cost to you, provided the terms of your agreement have been met.

Plant material is warranted as follows: one year on trees, palms, shrubs, and ground cover; six months on perennial flowers; and thirty days on sod. Annual flowers, roses, container plantings, and existing plants relocated on site are not warranted. Warranty does not extend to damage from circumstances beyond our control, such as freezing, drought, pests, fire, wind, flood, vandalism, or governmental water-use restrictions.

Assemblies, accessories, and installed equipment carry their manufacturer's warranty, which we assign to you. We compact surface and sub-base density to meet or exceed specification, though we are not responsible for natural settling. Beyond the warranties stated here and in the Standard Pool Amenities Warranty provided with your agreement, no other warranties are expressed or implied. Full warranty terms are provided in your written agreement.