Landscaping on Kiawah Island, SC

What the Kiawah ARB Guidelines Say

Kiawah’s guidelines, Designing with Nature, run to 82 pages; the ARB publishes the 2026 edition. The points that shape most landscapes:

• Plants: at least two-thirds of new trees must be native, invasive species are banned, and mulch is pine straw or natural hardwood bark only.
• Lawns should be minimal, kept back from property lines and the marsh, and sodded rather than seeded. Artificial turf is allowed once the ARB approves a sample.
• Irrigation is required, with drip in the planted areas.
• Driveways can be dark gravel, pervious pavers, brick, or exposed-aggregate, salt or tabby-finish concrete. Light-colored driveways are not allowed, and curving drives are preferred.
• Lighting: no motion-sensor lights and no unhooded spotlights. Low-voltage metal fixtures are encouraged, and tree uplighting is kept limited.
• Fences are 5 feet at most, simple and dark, and screened with evergreen planting.
• Trees: you need ARB approval to remove or prune any oak of 3 inches or more, or any other tree of 6 inches or more, measured at breast height. Every oak of 16 inches and over has to be preserved unless the board finds there is no reasonable design solution that saves it, and removing one can mean replanting the same total caliper back. Major clearing is best scheduled outside bobcat denning season, April through June.

How Much You Have to Plant, and How Big

This is the part that surprises people, and it is worth knowing before you budget. Kiawah does not just approve a look — it sets minimum quantities and minimum plant sizes, and a plan that misses them comes back.

• Tree count: one tree of 3 inches caliper or more for every 1,000 square feet of lot, and 70% of the trees already on the lot have to stay. Palms count as a third of a tree each. Two-thirds of the trees you add must be native — oak, magnolia, hickory, palmetto — and any tree counted toward the minimum has to be native and at least 4 inches caliper.
• Foundation planting: shrubs against the house must reach at least half the height of the foundation, measured from finish grade to the first floor you live on, or 4 feet, whichever is taller. They have to wrap the whole building, not just the front, and the board can ask for bigger material to settle a tall foundation.
• Shrub sizes: on a single-family or patio lot, half of every shrub you install must be 7 gallon or larger, and the rest at least 3 gallon. Townhome and commercial sites are 7 gallon throughout.
• Screening: a double layer of evergreen planting between the house and the street or the neighbours, and multilayered evergreen buffers along shared lines if the lot backs onto a golf course.
• Lawn placement: turf stays at least 10 feet off the property lines and outside the stormwater buffers, which are usually 15 feet from a marsh or lagoon edge, whichever is stricter.

Those minimums are why a Kiawah landscape costs what it does, and why the plant order gets priced off the lot size rather than off a picture. We work the numbers into the design from the start, so the plan that goes to the board already satisfies them.

Changes to an existing landscape need a plan from a licensed landscape architect, and the ARB meets twice a month.

Rules as published when we checked in 2026. Guidelines change, and the board or town always has the final say, so we confirm the current rules for your property before a design is final.

What Projects Typically Cost

Ranges are typical, not quotes. Size, materials, site conditions and finishes move the number. You’ll get an exact price after the consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions