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What are the dominant characteristics of your landscape? Do you have mature trees to accentuate, or a sunny area to take advantage of?

What is your preference in terms of landscape styles, color etc.? I suggest you use Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and any other sources for ideas and particular images you like. In addition, a very important layer and consideration for design are the environmental considerations.

How can we create a beautiful space that also provides ecological services, like filtering stormwater and allowing it to infiltrate to the aquifer; designing a front entry garden that also attracts pollinators; and fostering healthy soil microbial communities that break down nutrients and sequester carbon dioxide?

Designing with Ecological Services in Mind

In this case, new construction, compact soil, full sun and hardscape in front, and lots of shade and bare soil in rear were the existing conditions.

The scope of work included a full-property ecological landscape design, natural-source soil amendments, organic lawn installation, perennial planting, irrigation, and marking out a footprint for a future vegetable garden.

The above front-entry garden features bird-attracting ornamental grasses, including our native Panicum — also a known hero in carbon sequestration — as well as pollinator-attracting perennials like Nepeta and native Geranium.

Above: Before photos of the backyard, pre-lawn installation.

This lawn installation required quite a bit of premium topsoil and organic compost and amendments such as gypsum to rebuild the soil after intense compaction and disruption during the home’s construction. We followed Green Jay’s Magic Wand Program and the results speak for themselves!

Above: organic lawn installation, plush and thriving!

Special attention was given to creating a landscape that would grow and mature with the young family who would enjoy the evolution, development and changes in the landscape through the seasons and through the years.

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Jay Archer

Landscape Ecologist, Designer & President

Green Jay Landscape Design

914-560-6570

This beautiful no-lawn landscape, originally designed by Larry Weaner Associates, was augmented to include a variety of flowering bulbs to increase curb appeal in this native plant landscape. Early blooming spring perennials and ground covers (green mulch) were added to invite pollinators and reduce the need for expensive, labor-heavy weeding and removal of invasive species.

This is a fabulous example of a hybrid native/non-native landscape planting. In the first photo at the top of this post, the yellow flowers are Packera aurea (golden ragwort), a perennial native to eastern United States woodland and bog environments. It is a fabulous spring bloomer that supports local pollinators and wildlife. For early spring bulbs, we planted a mixture of native (above white flower is our native trout lily – Erythronium albidum) and non-natives like daffodils and hyacinths to maximize the sequence of early spring blooms.

Not quite a novel landscape, this garden endures as a most productive ecosystem in a part of town where most properties are chemical-dependent lawns with little to no native plants or potential habitat for birds and pollinators. This property is a shining example of a joint effort between design, education and sustainable management in the anthropogenic age of resilience.

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Jay Archer

Landscape Ecologist, Designer, President

914-560-6570

Even with the best laid plans, you can never anticipate everything. However, due diligence and following a well developed ritual of site analysis translates into a proper punch list for budgeting.

In this case, as part of the initial site analysis, irrigation for future planting was considered. By using a flow meter to determine delivery of gallons per minute/flow, we discovered a potential problem with the water line.

The remedy was for Green Jay Landscape Design to communicate with the water department, Westchester Water Works, to shut the water off. Then, we excavated and replace the main line, carefully backfilled, tamped to compact and remove air space, regraded and repaired the lawn organically.

This lead to a successful, although somewhat complicated, landscape design construction and installation. Oh yes, we also created a beautiful flowering ecosystem attracting birds, bees and butterflies. Read more about the full project, from Landscape Design Master Plan to our fully in-house installation on our previous blog.

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Jay Archer

Landscape Ecologist, Designer & President

Green Jay Landscape Design

914-560-6570

A woodland retreat should exhibit all the elements of nature to convey a feeling of peace and serenity. Gravel drive, landscape boulders, winding garden paths leading to a deck/terrace complete with naturalistic waterfall and small pond.

Soothing and relaxing, as it should be. The sound of water gently flows, dappled shade, birds singing, a quiet exuberance of color emerges from the greenery, the poetry of the natural world surrounds.

\\Imagine living here, immersed in the sounds, sights and smells of the forest. This landscape invites you out to explore its nuances. It’s the perfect spot for shinrin-yoku, the Japanese concept of “forest bathing” — opening up your senses and connecting with nature simply by taking time to be present within it. Forest bathing has been linked to various health benefits including reducing blood pressure, stress hormones, depression and supporting immune function.

In addition to supporting human health, this Westchester County native woodland garden has been providing habitat for local birds, butterflies and other pollinators for over a decade! Thanks to our fabulous client for the trust and enthusiasm at keeping things wild!

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Jay Archer

Landscape Designer, Landscape Ecologist, President

Green Jay Landscape Design

914-560-6570

In these extraordinary times we look to Mother Nature to cultivate and nurture our indomitable human spirit.

The sun shines and days grow longer, the birds sing and dance in ritual courtship.
The trees, shrubs and flowers bloom ..and as always…Heaven smiles upon us.

New life is born to forest and field, the rivers run, strong and powerful, enduring and sustaining the abundance of life giving energy surrounding, enveloping and embracing us.

We slow to touch the Earth and feel our way forward with reverence and remembrance, giving thanks for what came before.

With grateful hearts, together, united, we celebrate the bounty and wonder of the natural world, our Earth. We are her children. We can depend on her and each other for all the resources we may ever need.

Compassion, faith and hope carry us into a better tomorrow. Let us care for each other with kindness and understanding.
We awake to precious moments shared…together…united…as one.
No distance so great to separate us from our love
No distance so great to separate us from our destiny, our land, our Earth.

Wishing you peace, health and happiness…always.

Live the Life You Love,
Jay
P.S. If we don’t run out of toilet paper, we will live forever!

Our home landscape is a classroom and demonstration garden for our passionate work.

In early morning the pearls of dew collected on this wolf spider web illustrates the value of living with nature, encouraging and accepting kinship with all creatures and the joyful wonder we receive in return.

Careful not to walk through! Spiders are not only indicator species, they are our primary pest control!

It is amazing to see what each new day brings to the garden, to reward our senses, through the seasons. Each day is unique and holds special treasures if we remain curious and open to the experience.

Check out our previous post about Reducing Your Lawn Area and Boosting Biodiversity, and be sure to look at the NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat guidelines.

With so may rainy days over the past two years, our hours wandering the The Secret Garden of Celestial Happiness have been somewhat limited and reduced. We are so busy making the magic happen elsewhere we don’t always have daylight for the mysteries of our own backyard garden masterpiece. It is always there waiting to fulfill our dreams and our need to engage with nature, while we are busy being…A Voice for Nature.

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Jay Archer

Landscape Ecologist, Designer, President

Green Jay Landscape Design

914-560-6570

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Designing with Ecological Services in Mind

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