With honesty and integrity, GROUNDS KEEPER, inc. has served New Jersey with residential design and build construction and landscaping artistry since 1973. We are committed to offering consistent performance, quality control and total professionalism with a management team of men and women dedicated to the task at hand. We specialize in naturalistic design creating outdoor living spaces from conception to completion . You can schedule your very own one-on-one personal consultation at your home for today! Let our award-winning team of landscape designers reveal their secrets. During the consultation, our goal is to spend an hour or more giving your ideas a clearer vision. Taking into account the wish list that is presented to us, our aim would be to show how disparate objectives can relate together into a more cohesive integrated whole. We can also take time to review a portfolio of our completed work with you. Often the result of this time we'll spent together is valuable insight towards the hidden opportunities just waiting to be discovered in and around your property. You can schedule a consultation via phone or our online form. To learn more or to just receive a $25 Gift Certificate redeemable at our Pond Shop in Matawan, sign-up for our email list and we will send you timely reminders for any of our upcoming FREE seminars and events .

Our Pond Shop is open for business within our 4,000 square feet retail headquarters located just south of the Middlesex Road stop light at 798 Highway 34 in Matawan 07747. We are an AQUASCAPE Master Retailer and member of the National Water Garden Excellence Program and a Certified Aquascape Contractor (CAC) . We offer water gardening education, plants, fish, kits, fountains, pond supplies and custom installation and service. Most of our very own team spend their days designing and building complete naturalistic outdoor living spaces for our residential clients. Typically, our projects do include some form of custom water feature be it a bubbling fountain, pondless waterfall or a meandering stream cascading into a pond. The garden becomes an extension of the home where Outdoor Garden Rooms are another place to live and not just an accent to the house. Views are enjoyed from the inside and out.

A backyard retreat becomes an entertainment space where quality time is spent with friends and family in comfortable surroundings that bring people together. Proper placement of the landscape and hardscape is created by our Landscape Architect, Craig Scott Termotto of CST Design Group , within a seamless Master Plan. To this end, we gladly quote clients a fee during the initial on-site consultation (typically a flat rate between $1,800 and $3,600 with a 1/3 deposit being due up front) that will be required by Craig to develop the Master Plan. Implementation of the project can be done all at once or installed in manageable phases. To insure clients can make informed realistic decisions on what is best, budgets and alternate rough drafts of the design for the property are given in the middle of the planning process. The design phase of the project can take as long as 6 to 12 weeks depending on the time of year. It is always best to consider scheduling consultations early in the season if installation in the spring or early summer is desired. Optional elements commonly found within various designs include perennial gardens, retaining walls, in-ground swimming pools, spas, water features, terraces, outdoor kitchens, pergolas, gazebos, patios, fire places, decks, pathways, fencing, driveways, arbors, outdoor stereo systems, landscape accent lighting and more can be essential in achieving this serene setting. For instance, lighting dramatically brings the garden alive after dusk to extend the time that can be spent outdoors and then adding outdoor stereo in harmony with the sound and movement of water can truly make for a very romantic setting. Emphasis is placed on a sensible low maintenance design using sustainable plantings.

The garden offers a dynamic change within the rhythms of the seasons offering places of interest and beauty year round even in winter with delightful berries and bark. Other attributes include the attraction of wildlife be it birds, butterflies or hummingbirds in the landscape and turtles, frogs or dragonflies from around the pond. A musky fragrance can hang in the air, bold forms and textures of complimenting perennial foliage and ornamental grasses can be part of the overall design with the use of evergreens and trees for privacy and shade. A more sophisticated plant palette is chosen as opposed to the more common variety with many selections even being water wise plantings. Soothing sounds and peaceful movement can be found through the swaying of large ornamental grasses in the wind or the tranquility of a cascading waterfall into a natural ecosystem pond. Perennial and ground cover plantings are being chosen with an emphasis on length of bloom and interesting appeal from foliage. Bed lines are delineated and contoured in a pleasing manner using screened topsoil often set amongst rock boulders. Niches between boulders create nicely informal planting pockets. Beds are then mulched as a finished top dress. Other optional finishing touches can include outdoor patio furniture, decorative containers or garden ornaments. Many of these delightful outdoor accessories are available at our store.

To date, visitors to our Pond Shop can view five ponds displayed on the property including our recreation of the lauded "Secret Garden" from the 2007 New Jersey Flower & Garden Show. There are running fountains and statuary inside within a beautifully laid out showroom. Our display has become an inviting garden lover's sanctuary for the community. Being open to the public, you are welcome anytime to come and see the results for yourself! The Pond Shop will remain in constant transition and will continue to act as GROUNDS KEEPER 's learning center as part of our goal of making this new home a place for knowledge, information and education as well as a source from conception to completion for water gardening and landscape design and build installations.

As Ever,


Jay Philip Eriv