Green Jay Landscape Design

Green Jay Landscape Design

(914) 560-6570

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The northeast has been hit with a series of bizarre weather patterns in the past few months: a highly unusual drought in spring followed by intense storms and flooding for weeks in July. While the switch to El Nino is partially culpable, the never-before-seen extreme weather events are attributed to our warming climate. The recent storms in Vermont were a 1,000-year storm event… yet municipal stormwater systems might only be designed for a 25–year flood. We need to face the music and realize that we are currently in the extreme climate weather that was promised to us by global climate scientists. We need to keep working to reduce emissions, yet we also need to realize that our current systems for storm mitigation are likely undersized for this climate era.

Landscape Design Master Plan by GJLD featuring passive irrigation, a trench drain with vertical infiltrators, and a Rain Garden

Land Stewardship in the Era of Climate Change

Our first pledge as landscape designers and stewards in the 21st century is to practice astute observations in the landscapes we oversee. This spring’s unusual drought happened at a time of critical plant growth – when leaves are just starting to push out and root systems and trying to expand. This growth phase, if stunted by lack of resources (water), can affect plant growth and vivacity.

If plants die or are stunted in spring, there is a ripple effect down-season, as they are less equipped to provide their essential ecosystem services: absorbing stormwater and releasing it back to the hydrologic cycle; turning CO2 into oxygen; filtering air pollutants; providing food for wildlife. If we do not astutely observe the changing conditions in our landscapes, we cannot respond to pressing problems. Landscape management must become nuanced, agile, and inventive in the era of climate change.

Analyzing, Planning, Designing for the 1,000-Year Flood

We, as landscape design professionals, also need to shift how we analyze site conditions. Every landscape should be evaluated for stormwater direction, absorption, and recycling capabilities. Step outside your plants-only mindset and look first at the gutters and leaders: is the quantity and size sufficient for the size of the building or home? Do the leaders bleed out into the landscape or driveway, or are they directed to landscape features for absorption? Does the neighbor’s stormwater system bleed over property lines and effect your clients’ landscape?

Managing water in the landscape takes system infrastructure – a mix of above ground and below ground solutions that direct stormwater to the most effective zones of the landscape for absorption or storage. Aside from just directing stormwater, we must also consider the topography through which the water is moving. Is it susceptible to erosion because of its slope angel or lack of vegetation? Can we utilize landscape elements to help slow down the flow of stormwater as well as direct it? In the era of 1,000-year storms, we need to utilize all the bioengineering and landscape construction techniques available to craft resilient landscapes.

Bioengineering and Landscape Construction to Combat Extreme Storms

Of course, every landscape design and construction plan will be tailored to the site conditions, material availability, and client budget, but educating your client on the importance of stormwater infrastructure to the longevity of their landscape is a critical step. Below are some of the bioengineering and landscape drainage systems we often deploy in projects.

Below Ground Strategies:

  • Solid & Perforated Pipes for Passive Irrigation: the first ten feet of piping from the building outwards must be solid, to protect the building’s foundation. After that, we generally switch to perforated pipes surrounded by gravel and filter fabric to allow stormwater to both be transported and lightly release in the landscape as passive irrigation.

  • Trench Drains with Vertical Infiltrators: Horizontal pipe drain that usually runs across a lawn (or zone prone to ponding) with vertical running from just below the surface to the horizontal pipe, with the whole system surrounded by gravel and filter fabric. The vertical infiltrators allow more access points to the horizontal drain for faster stormwater conductivity.
  • Engineered Soil: soil specified for the job at hand. Typically we chose a soil with a higher mineral content and lower organic matter content for steep slope green infrastructure jobs. The high mineral content in the soil delays the overall decomposition. This allows the plants to become established in a consistent slope that is not degrading rapidly. We find many slope failures when people dump their organic matter waste repeatedly on the slope and it rapidly breaks down and collapses the slope.

  • Filtrexx SiltSoxx: Compostable, log-shaped barriers that are designed to catch silt and sediment as it travels through the landscape via stormwater. Siltsoxx are installed via stakes into the slope and then graded over with soil. They act like underground terraces to slow down stormwater and capture the debris and sediment it transports.
  • Storm Chambers: Cultecs, Flowells: Underground stormwater holding chambers. For projects that require extensive mitigation for impervious space on the property, we direct stormwater to these underground chambers where they slowly leak out into the soil and recharge aquifers. Again, gravel and filter fabric surrounding the installation is essential, and actually expands the water holding capacity of the storm chamber. For example, a 50-gallon flo-well has a 50-gallon water holding capacity on its own, but when installed with one foot of gravel surrounding all sides, the capacity increases to 145 gallons.

Above Ground Strategies:

  • Terracing: Constructed terraces of natural stone help to interrupt a slope and make it more gradual. These physical barriers help slow the flow of stormwater. Planting the terraces lets plant roots further secure the soil on the slope and helps recycle stormwater into the hydrologic cycle via evapotranspiration.

  • Erosion Matting / Jutte Netting: Some slopes call for additional stability until plants become fully established. In these cases, we install erosion matting or jutte netting, and plant directly into it. If seeding, the netting does allow seed to germinate and emerge through it. The netting eventually biodegrades and by that time, the gardens are fully established and their deep roots help stabilize themselves and the slope during storm events.
A river rock vegetated bioswale directs stormwater through the landscape.
  • Bioswales & Forebays: Bioswales are gravel and/or river rock channels that help direct stormwater through the landscape. They are often utilized to direct water away from desirable areas (ie. patios, swimming pools, tennis courts) and into landscape zones better suited to absorb the water. Sometimes we armor bioswales with alternating stone, which interrupts the flow and directs stormwater gradually out to the sides. Forebays are gravel-filled depressions that are great for collecting and evaporating stormwater.

  • Rain Gardens: the poster child for stormwater management! Rain Gardens are beautiful landscape features that are often excavated depressions filled with a well-draining soil mix. Rain Gardens are planted with native plants that can tolerate periods of flooding and drought. They collect stormwater and allow for both infiltration and evapotranspiration. For more information view our previous blogs: Rain Garden vs. Pollinator Garden [VIDEO]; Rain Garden Design in Westchester, NY; Rain Gardens Explained
  • High-Absorption Trees: In very wet zones, we have started to deploy trees that grow fast and absorb a ton of stormwater in the process. Dawn Redwood, Bald Cypress and Willows are all great examples.
  • Rainwater Harvesting: Collecting stormwater in rain barrels is a great practice to continue as both storms and droughts become more intense and less predictable. We connect rain barrels to perforated pipes to allow it to irrigate out into the landscape when needed.

 

For more information on applying these techniques, see Jay Archer’s article in Turf Magazine on Sustainable Stormwater Solutions, that follows three GJLD case studies on landscape drainage projects.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914.629.5240

You are probably familiar with Phragmites australis. It is now ubiquitous in our region’s wetlands, displacing the beloved native cattail. Phragmites is an exotic invasive plant that reproduces by both rhizome and seed, easily outcompeting wetland natives.

But, does it serve any purpose? Non-native phragmites in our native wetlands is not such a black-and-white invasive tale.

Areal shot of a 22-acre wetland facing pollution and invasive species pressure.

Introduction to Wetland Restoration & Phragmites Management | Case Study: Harrison, NY

In fact, Phragmites is excellent at Phytoremediation: cleaning pollutants from soil or water. Phragmites can uptake heavy metals, micropollutants (pharmaceuticals & personal care products), wastewater and sediment.

Jay Archer explains his strategy for managing a large swath of phragmites in a wetland. Eliminating the invasive species is less important than managing it to allow native species to return and to create avian corridors.

The wetland in this video is regularly polluted from nearby roadways. Phragmites helps remove the oil and gas contamination from the water.

In managing the wetland, Jay opted to stunt the phragmites by weed whacking it multiple times in the first year. By year three, it only requires cutting once a year. Its area and overall height in the wetland is dramatically reduced, allowing for native species (and biodiversity!) to reemerge.

Managing the height of the phragmites creates clear fly-ways for migrating birds, and allows more light to infiltrate down to shorter native plant species.

This stunting technique also created an avian fly zone — an area of lower growing vegetation with greater access to the wetland ecosystem. Migrating birds easily navigate to this thruway, connecting border habitats with biotic corridors.

Site Specific Ecological Restoration

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for ecological restoration. Every intervention is sites-specific and takes into account the local growing conditions, existing biodiversity and the sites’ ecological functioning.

For more information our wetland restoration offerings, visit our eco-solutions page.

Overhead view of a wetland, partially managed by Green Jay Landscape Design.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

Constraints become a catalyst for creativity in this Hastings-on-Hudson property. The small, angular backyard is dominated by the existing slope, a mature tree canopy, and the surrounding fence. One can view these traits negatively — steepness, shade, and things to screen – or as opportunities. We chose the latter. Steepness was tempered with terraces; shade was lightened through strategic tree removal and complimented with woodland underplantings, whose delicate foliage and flowers pop against the wood fence backdrop.

Starting with a Landscape Design Master Plan completed over the winter, we reimagined the front and backyards from an ecological perspective. Landscape construction, masonry and planting installation were recently completed.

Landscape Design Master Plan for a full shade, part shade and full sun site.

Natural Stone Masonry: Patios, Wall, Staircase, Terraces

The existing paver patio was not constructed on a proper base and was significantly warped. The existing retaining wall was also crumbling. We rebuilt the patio with bluestone, the wall with flagstone, and added a flagstone staircase to navigate the slope.

Irregular flagstone patio was newly constructed in the same footprint as the previous warped patio.

A natural stone patio in our region requires adequate depths of stone dust, item four, and gravel to create a stable, level patio. We installed a horizontal, perforated pipe drain beneath the patio to assist with drainage off the patio.

Masonry details: river rock accents bluestone steps and fieldstone edging between patio and garden bed.
Flamed edge flagstone steps ease the transition from home to patio.

The steps from the house down to the patio were reconstructed with flamed edge treds, procured from Prospero Nursery. By heating the stone and adding texture with a hammer, one can soften the edges of the tred for a more approachable entry (the elderly dog was a factor!).

 

Dry stacked retaining wall has proper construction to support the slope long term.

We constructed a dry stacked retaining wall to replace the existing wall that was failing. The new wall has a proper backing of washed gravel and filter fabric to allow for drainage and is constructed with a batter (angle) for lasting construction.

New flagstone staircase meanders from patio up through the slope to the upper backyard garden and seating areas.
Creeping Jenny is a functional ground cover and drapes nicely over the dry stacked retaining wall.

From the bluestone patio, steppingstone paths connect either side of the house to the front yard.

Flagstone garden path connects navigates side yard and new seating area.

The side yard path also diverts to a a landing area for a bench, a spot for stillness and reflection in the garden.

A natural stone landing for a garden bench.
Partial shade side yard garden featuring flowering shrubs and native ferns.

Grading, Land Contouring

The natural flagstone staircase winds up the slope from the patio and connects to a cedar wood chip path with cedar log water bars to slow the flow of stormwater.

This is an example of working with the grade and bioengineering by topophilia – manipulating the grade and managing sheet flow and flow paths according to natural topography and contours of the land.

Woodland shade garden helps stabilize the slope and prevent erosion.

Garden terraces constructed with boulders help retain slope, prevent erosion and enable a new native planting. Two gravel patios are integrated into the slope to create space for seating areas.

Gravel seating area terraced on the hillside increases functional space for this steep backyard.

Native Woodland Shade Planting

This property is nestled in a woodlot, but not every tree is beneficial. We advised the client to have the non-native, invasive Norsay Maples removed, which in turn let in more light to the understory, creating dappled shade instead of deep shade.

This shade garden features mostly-native woodland perennials, ferns, sedges, and flowering shrubs.

Once the site development and masonry construction were completed, we began the organic landscape installation.

The existing flowering dogwoods lent the perfect architectural midlayer. We designed a native shrub, perennial, and ground cover understory to complete the woodland habitat and stabilize the slope.

Native woodland understory planting secure slope and creates habitat.

Many shade-loving native perennials are spring flowering. In summer, oak leaf hydrangea and clethra bloom, and in fall, chokeberry fruits emerge and persist though winter. Native ferns and sedges provide a consistent textural aesthetic to the planting.

Front Lawn Replacement Native Garden

In the front yard, sunnier conditions allow for a full sun ornamental grass and native perennial garden. This new native garden replaced the front lawn and contributes many more ecosystem services than the turf grass did.

Front yard lawn replacement with native plants.

The entire property is about 80% native. We kept some legacy heirloom plants that the client requested, including tree peonies, David Austin roses and Miscanthus (which we transplanted to a more size-appropriate location).

Front yard native plant garden in early summer.

Want to work with us? Schedule a consultation today. Now booking for Spring/Summer 2023.

Cottage style front yard native plant garden provides pollinator habitat. 

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914.560.6570

Ecological Landscape Design is a design perspective that views all landscapes as part of a greater, interconnected ecosystem. No matter the size of the garden or property, what we design, plant, and maintain has a ripple effect on the surrounding environment and broader ecosystem health. In the below video, Jay Archer explains our objectives as ecological landscape designers to use our design and construction skills to create highly functioning, biodiverse ecosystems.

Functional, Holistic & Environmentally Friendly Landscape Design

 

When we think about design goals, for any project, there are three main threads: our client’s health and wellbeing, the direct local environment, and the broader ecosystem. This may seem ambitious for residential landscape design, but the beauty of ecological landscape design is its ability to solve for a multitude of different problems at the same time.

Healthy Lifestyle Shifts with Landscape Design

Every design starts with the client –understanding their direct needs and objectives, and what they might not know they need from a landscape design.  What starts out as a singular goal can be expanded upon to improve overall lifestyle and human health.

For example, we may get a call about a landscape renovation because all the foundation plantings are 30+ years old and overgrown. The client wishes to change the landscape aesthetic but may not realize that these overgrown plantings close to the home also restrict air circulation and create conditions for mold growth, which creates a respiratory hazard. We come to a consensus with the client about what needs to be changed and offer design solutions that deliver on many more ecological landscape design objectives.

This landscape design invites quiet strolls through the circular paths

This requires critical thinking about the function of each landscape element. Foundation plantings have been the norm for so long in the landscape industry, but we find they can detract from a home’s architecture, are often planted too close to the structure, and are almost always exotic plants that offer no ecosystem services.

Instead of simply replacing foundation plantings, we can rethink where plant material is most needed on a property to suit the clients’ lifestyle. Perhaps native shrub islands or a faux meadow garden in the backyard will attract the client to a previously neglected part of their property. Designing a space for strolls through the landscape or quiet moments of reflection in the garden has immense physiological and mental health benefits.

A designed faux-meadow next to an established wet meadow.

As ecological landscape designers, we seek to reintegrate our clients with the natural world, because we know of its healing powers! From plant polyphenols and soil microbes that reduce stress, to the soothing qualities of bird song and trickling water, we are acutely aware of how design elements can shift a lifestyle and improve human health. Learn more about the connection between soil and human health on our previous blog.

Environmentally Friendly Landscaping

Once the spatial layout and landscape function has been explored, fleshing out the design with green infrastructure and native plants helps us achieve local environmental goals.

For example, it is highly likely that the previous landscape was treated with synthetic chemicals and therefore has virtually sterile soil, devoid of microbes. By amending the soil and cultivating soil microbes, we drastically improve the performance of the landscape.

Soil microbes improve plant health and immunity, absorb stormwater better, and make plants more resilient in tough growing conditions. We are designing a local environment that is more self-sustaining than traditional, exotic landscape plants.

Another local environmental goal that can be achieved at the residential level is water conservation. How water is directed, filtered, and absorbed through a landscape has a direct effect on how much stormwater can recharge our aquifers vs. gather pollutants and discharge into larger water bodies.

A river rock vegetated bioswale directs stormwater through the landscape.

We examine landscape drainage on every property and are always seeking to improve absorption, rainwater harvesting and rainwater recycling with Low Impact Design (LID). This can include rain barrels that connect to irrigation, rain gardens that absorb stormwater and create habitat, or bioswales that direct stormwater to an underground holding area.

Water conservation and soil conservation are inextricably related, especially at the local level. Stormwater runoff contributes to soil erosion, so by designing for stormwater absorption, we can simultaneously meet goals to retain soil, which in turn makes our landscape plantings healthier and more resilient. By facing stormwater management head on at the residential level, we are improving the local water supply, watershed, and capacity for plant habitat.

Tackling Ecosystem-Level Goals with Residential Landscape Design

Hyper-local, residential planting and maintenance choices also affect the broader ecosystem. By planting native plants, we are creating habitat at home – extending existing biotic corridors through developed areas, one yard at a time.  As we face what is known as the Sixth Great Extinction –a drastic loss of species, especially insects, in the last 50 years — planting for biodiversity is more important than ever.

Red Spotted Admiral butterfly visits native Purple Coneflower in this ecological poolside garden.

The best way to create a biodiverse habitat is to plant a variety of native plants that fulfil different habitat needs. Plants have unique pollinating syndromes (flowering attributes) that evolved alongside specific pollinators to maximize pollination and nutrition uptake, respectively.

According to the University of Massachusetts:

Beetles often pollinate more open flowers while butterflies visit narrow tubular flowers with landing pads. Bees pollinate shallow tubular flowers with landing platforms. Birds pollinate funnel shaped flowers or cup-shaped flowers that have a strong perch support. Flies pollinate shallow flowers that are funnel-like or flowers with floral features that trap the flies. Moths pollinate tubular flowers without a lip.

Every plant selected meets our criteria for attracting pollinators, beneficial insects or birds!
Bees typically prefer flowers with landing platforms and shallow tubular flowers, like this native false sunflower.

Plant selection from an ecological landscape perspective must be varied enough to create a comprehensive habitat, while also maintaining aesthetic cohesiveness. Beauty and function. Aside from pollinating syndrome diversity, an ecological planting must have a sequence of pollen/nectar, seedheads and berries to provide food sources throughout the year. Native trees, shrubs, grasses, and pollinator stems also provide nesting materials and space for wildlife. Bird baths, ponds or streams offer essential water and bathing sources.

By prioritizing native plants and reframing our concept of beauty in our landscapes, we can achieve impressive environmental goals at both the micro and macro scale.  Check out Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park for an example of power in numbers and grass roots environmentalism.

Ecological Landscape Design for a Resilient Future

As you can see, our goals are lofty as ecological landscape designers. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Setting ambitious targets for environmental improvements through local landscape design makes our work fulfilling and meaningful, allowing us to give back to our community and Mother Nature again and again. If these values resonate with you, we’d love to work with you! Schedule a consultation or fifteen-minute discovery call here.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914.560.6570

Rain gardens are a valuable piece of green infrastructure that belong on every property! Rain gardens are designed and strategically sited in a landscape to disrupt and absorb stormwater sheet flow before it pollutes other bodies of water.

Case Study: Wainwright House, Rye, NY

In this video, Jay discuses a 2022 community service project we worked on with Rye High School students. With a team of volunteers from the Environmental Club, we removed a patch of lawn along the Wainwright House entrance road.

As Jay explains, removing this patch of lawn in a sea of turf and replacing it with virtually any type of garden, would be an improvement in stormwater absorption. Designing the garden as a native plant pollinator garden means these plants also have the capacity to absorb and filter stormwater.  Many native plants are naturally evolved to withstand our regional climate swings, from flooding to drought.

Video by Shoreline Video.

Native Plants Guide Rain Garden Design

Rain gardens are most often associated with landscape drainage and can be technical or non-technical in their construction. Aside from being and beautiful and functional landscape feature, rain gardens are also thriving pollinator habitats.

Since rain gardens call for facultative plants, those adapted to both drought and flooding, native plants are the most adept to those conditions in our area. This adaptation allows rain garden plants to absorb inundation during storm events and survive periods of drought.

So, using native plants for a rain garden will inherently create habitat for pollinators and wildlife. You should use a similar strategy when designing your rain garden as when designing a pollinator garden. That is, design for a sequence of flowers, seedheads, and berries so your garden is a food source for months. Try to include as much native plant biodiversity as possible, to attract as much insect and wildlife biodiversity as possible.

If you are designing a technical rain garden, that is excavated into a depression, you may choose to design planting zones based on depth and how much water will be held in that zone during a storm event. The center and lowest point of your rain garden will hold water the longest while the edges, sitting slightly higher, will dry out faster.

Features of a rain garden include native plants, well-draining soil and a location that makes sense for capturing sheet flow.

For more information on native plant selection, visit our previous blogs: Our Favorite Native Plants for NY, CT and NJ Part One and Two. 

Learn more about our stormwater management offerings — from rain gardens to bioswales to rainwater harvesting — in Westchester, Fairfield and Bergen counties.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914.560.6570

 

Native plants have experienced a PR glow up in the last few years, graduating from their “weedy” classification to pillars of the ecological landscaping movement. Grassroots organizations have been pivotal in changing the narrative around plant selection. Thanks to groups like National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Fund, Pollinator Pathways, and Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park, there is greater public appreciation for native plants and the wildlife they support. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up some landscape design trends for 2023 that accentuate native plant landscaping.

1. Designate No Mow or Low Mow Areas on Your Property

We’ve said it before, and we’ve said it again: reducing your lawn area is one of the most impactful steps you can make toward making your landscape more ecological and friendly to wildlife. This simple adage often draws questions and doubts: will my maintenance go up or down? Will I know how to maintain this new, non-monoculture zone? Will it look good? Not to worry, there are different approaches to lawn reduction that can be customized to your needs.

Landscape design plan for converting a lawn area into a seeded woodland wildflower zone.

The simplest option is to convert traditional turf to a Low Mow Lawn. Low Mow Lawns typically consist of fine fescues, which have a similar appearance to turf but grow much slower. They can be mowed once a growing season instead of every week! They are not quite as tolerant to foot traffic, however, so we suggest implementing garden paths to navigate through Low Mow lawn areas.

The second option is to design shrub islands within the lawn. We love this technique because it breaks up the visual monotony of a lawn, and if planted with native shrubs, contributes far more to wildlife and ecosystem services than turf grass ever could. Native shrubs contribute architectural interest in the winter, and when planted in groups, create nesting and feeding habitat for birds. Native plantings are naturally low maintenance – only requiring occasional pruning and feeding a few times a growing season. When clustered as shrub islands within a lawn, they can easily be mowed around, without disrupting your existing maintenance routine.

2. Include Native Edibles

Home vegetable gardens have exploded in popularity alongside native plant gardens as people realize the value of toxin-free, off-the-vine-fresh produce. However, most of our cultivated vegetables and fruits are non-native annuals. There is no shame in annual veggies, but there is an untapped potential to utilize edible perennials and native edible shrubs, that contribute more to soil health, ecosystem services and habitat creation.  A classic example is blueberry – a native, edible shrub that can support a human diet while also contributing pollen for bees and other pollinators. If you primarily want to be the one eating the blueberries, we suggest an exclusion fence or netting. Our friends at Homefront Farmers make custom berry box gardens that are beatufiul and functional!

Some of our other favorite native edibles include chokeberry (Aronia), beach rose (Rosa rugosa) and chokecherry (Prunus virginiana).  These overlooked berries can be harvested and made into jams, jellies, compotes or syrups. If that sounds like too much work, not to worry, the birds will enjoy the feast too!

A client marks the location of Common Milkweed, an edible native perennial.

For a native, perennial edible, consider milkweed (asclepias)! Milkweeds gained national recognition as a host plant for monarchs, but the unopened flower buds, the flowers, and the flower stems are edible! They taste somewhat like asparagus.  You can easily harvest some buds and stems without knocking out the entire plant. We encourage you to harvest overtime, and always keep some flowers for the pollinators!

Finally, don’t sleep on edible ferns! Fiddleheads (curled ends of young fern fronds) from native ostrich ferns, lady ferns and royal ferns are edible! The window for harvesting is often only a week or two in spring, and identification is critical as not all ferns are edible. If you design a fern planting with the intention of eating some of it, you will have to wait a few years for the planting to be mature enough to harvest. When cutting fiddleheads, take no more than half of the stalk, otherwise you will kill the fern.

3. Create a Woodland Fairy Garden

Shady areas of a property are often overlooked for design potential. While deep does limit what plants will thrive, woodland edges with dappled sunlight can support a variety of native plants! We like to design these edge habitats with a mix of woodland perennials, sedges, ferns, and shrubs. Use this edge planting as a border for a woodland path; winding through mature trees, it creates an immersive naturalistic experience.

If you have young children, its especially fun to sprinkle in garden surprises. One of our clients purchased fairy doll houses and tucked them into the planting along the woodland trail. This whimsical addition make a simple woodchip path a magical world to explore. The more we can encourage our families to get closer to nature, to breath fresh air and touch healthy soil, the greater impact on our mental and physical health.

Ground cover creeps between a flagstone path, softening the hardscape, preventing soil erosion and reducing weed pressure.

4. Use Native Ground Cover to Reduce Erosion

Many of our clients have expressed a desire to reduce their yearly mulch needs. Traditionally, the landscape industry has heavily mulched all plantings, from under planted parking lot ‘hell strips’ to ‘volcano mulch’ around tree trunks. While mulch does have its benefits – retaining soil moisture, protecting soil from erosion, reducing weed growth – it is a product of trees (bark and roots). Trees contribute so much ecologically – they produce oxygen, support hundreds of species of wildlife, absorb water, create shade and cooling, sequester carbon dioxide – lowest on this list of contributions is grinding up their bark to use as mulch in garden beds.

To reduce your mulch use, but still achieve the benefits of mulch, we suggest planting more native ground covers. Ground covers are short perennials or shrubs that have a spreading growth habit, often through rhizomes, that creates a layer of “green mulch” above the soil.

A good native ground cover will spread quickly, covering bare soil, without being too aggressive as to choke out emerging perennials. For shady areas, we love sedges (carex), wood asters, coral bells (Heuchera), foam flower (Tiarella), and Green and Gold (Chrysogonum).  For sunnier sites, try Meehan’s mint (Meehania), Evening primorose (Oenothera), and creeping phlox (phlox).

Don’t think of your green mulch as a green blanket, but rather, play with different textures, flowering times and foliage colors to maximize your native landscape design.

5. Design Native Mini Meadows

A designed faux-meadow next to an established wet meadow in Greenwich, CT.

Meadows have also been having a moment lately, and it’s no wonder why! With their flowy, feathery textures, evolving color palettes, and fall/winter architectural interest, meadows are naturally stunning and incredibly biodiverse. However, creating a meadow is a lot of work. In order to prevent uncontrollable weed growth, it’s imperative to start with a blank canvas or what is often referred to as “scorched earth.” You need to remove the existing plant material without disturbing the weed seed bank in the soil. This can be a tall order for a large area, and some landscapers resort to chemical vegetation removal.  Using synthetic chemicals goes against Our Promise as Landscape Ecologists, so we tend to design smaller “faux meadows.”

The advantage of working at a smaller scale with meadows is that the site development is much more simplified. For small, flat areas, we use sod cutters to remove turf grass. We avoid disturbing the soil further (ie through tilling) because this can bring weed seeds to the surface.

Magnificent growth in just one season from this faux-meadow front yard in Putnam Valley, NY.

We plant our mini meadows densely, sometimes using a mix of one- and two-gallon plants, alongside smaller landscape plugs. Planting densely reduces weed pressure in the first season, while landscape plugs help cut costs.

Mini meadows are a great way to reduce your lawn area, drastically increase biodiversity, and reduce your maintenance to mowing or burning once a season (when established). Learn more about native wildflower meadow maintenance here.

We hope you enjoyed these native plant landscaping trends! We incorporate these strategies into most of our designs, site conditions permitting. Let us know in the comments if you try any of these landscape design trends! To work with us, schedule a consultation or free 15-minute discovery call!

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914.560.6570