Landscaping & Hardscaping in Highland, NY

Landscaping for Highland’s Diverse Properties

Highland, in Ulster County’s Town of Lloyd, occupies a distinct position in the Hudson Valley — on the west bank of the Hudson River, looking across at Poughkeepsie and connected to it by the Walkway Over the Hudson, the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge. This is a community that often gets overlooked in favor of its higher-profile neighbors, but it has its own strong character: productive apple orchards, small vineyards, and a mix of longtime residents and newer arrivals who have discovered the area’s combination of river access, rural atmosphere, and relatively affordable land.

The landscape here differs considerably from the rocky, forested Highlands terrain to the south. The Town of Lloyd occupies a broad, gently rolling plateau above the river. Soils tend toward fertile silty loam in the former orchard belts, well-suited to planting but sometimes poorly drained in low-lying fields. Closer to the river, properties sit on steeper bluffs with clay and shale soils that need careful grading and drainage management to prevent erosion toward the riverbank.

Residential development in Highland ranges from 1960s and 1970s ranch neighborhoods near the hamlet center to newer subdivisions carved out of former farmland, to larger rural parcels along the agricultural edges of the town. Each type brings different landscaping priorities. Established neighborhoods often need renovation — overgrown foundation plantings, neglected lawns, aging hardscape — while newer developments need installations from the ground up. Rural parcels are often about creating maintained, usable outdoor space without overwhelming the open character that made the property appealing in the first place.