Green Jay Landscape Design

Green Jay Landscape Design

(914) 560-6570

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Newly terraced slope stabilizes hillside. Natural stone steps make it accessible.

Our first landscape design project in Bergen County, New Jersey was a complex storm restoration project on a steep slope overlooking a river. During Hurricane Ida, historic rainfall collapsed the side yard slope just feet from the house.  Existing retaining walls began to collapse, and the once navigable slope was now too steep to walk comfortably down to the river.

Before photo: the slope collapsed during Hurricane Ida.

Landscape Design Goals

The client wanted to restore the slope into something beautiful that would resist erosion and restore functionality to their side yard. Green Jay Landscape Design created a design plan and erosion control plan that needed to be approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as well as local regulatory agencies.

The sudden change in grade made this side yard dangerous and unusable.

Designing for Erosion Control

 The design plan includes several layers of erosion control strategies. First, many boulders were brought in and strategically placed to form the first layer of stabilization.

Boulder terraces and filtrexx socks work together to stabilize the slope and minimize erosion.

Next, we brought in sixty yards of engineered soil, specific to this application, to restore the grade to the pre-storm level. Installed within the soil are Filtrexx Socks, compostable “logs” that form the next level of barrier to keep the soil in place.

Boulder terraces retain the new soil.

Finally, the entire planting was planted into Jutte netting to an additional level of stabilization while plant roots get established. Eventually the Jutte will decompose and the plants will form a network of stabilizing roots.

Jutte netting lines each bed, stabilizing plants as their root systems develop. Natural stone staircase navigates the grade change.

All materials used are natural source organic materials sourced locally whenever possible.

Planting for Erosion Control

 

Boulder accents and evergreen Juniper mark the edge of the driveway.

When designing this erosion control planting, with part to full shade light conditions, we chose plants that:

  • Were mostly shrubs, which have larger root systems than most perennials
  • Included evergreens, for added structure and stability in winter
  • Provided habitat for local birds and pollinators. Most of this plant palette is made up of native plants.

Shrubs of varying heights stabilize the newly. graded slope.

Some plant palette highlights:

  • Red & Yellowtwig Dogwood
  • Ninebark
  • Viburnum
  • Aronia
  • Pennsylvania Sedge

Shade-loving perennials line the walkway bringing color to a dark side yard.

Natural Stone Masonry

Impeccable stone work effortlessly navigates the steep grade.

Staircase uses large natural stone steppers for a grand, naturalistic aesthetic.

Garden terraces formed by boulder rip rap walls, alongside a new natural stone staircase.

Impeccable stonework retains the grade around a landing in the natural stone staircase.

Much of the success of this design is due to the natural stone masonry. Aside from the boulder rip rap wall in the garden beds, our masonry team rebuilt a collapsed CMU wall and constructed new natural stone steps to navigate the steep slope. The result is beautiful, naturalistic and restores the functionality of the side yard as a corridor down to the river.

Wood chip path makes the steep slope down to the river accessible and a property asset.

We also restored part of the woodland trail to make it safer and more stable, using logs as water bars.

Cedar bark mulch lines the woodland trail. It is a natural insect repellent, which helps to extend the lifespan of the log steps and rail.

Water bars help navigate the slope and prevent erosion on the woodland trail.

This project is an excellent example of our Nature Design Studio, Primitive Technology Group and adminstrative staff working together efficiently for best results.

Work with Us

We have expanded into Bergen County, NJ! Contact us to schedule a professional on-site consultation and begin designing your dream landscape!

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914-560-6570

This farmhouse-style home in Westchester County, NY did not have a landscape to match the stunning architecture. When GJLD first visited the property for a professional consultation, the backyard was a boring expanse of lawn. Jay observed the existing features—mature trees encircling the backyard—and was struck by inspiration to design a native courtyard garden for the backyard. He named the garden The Cloister of Sweet Serenity.

Backyard Masonry Design & Construction

The foundation of the landscape design is the natural stone masonry. An irregular flagstone patio off the back door creates an ideal gathering space for morning coffee, lunch, or summer evenings al fresco. From the patio, a flagstone path encircles the yard beneath the canopy of trees. A secondary gravel path meanders through the middle. Together, the pathways are both meandering and direct, offering multiple ways to experience the garden. Stone and metal benches are nestled within the garden for even more spots of respite.

Our flagstone walkways and patios are engineered for New England weather and climate including frost heaves. We choose to avoid cement because it is a very energy intensive material to produce, creates emissions during production, and is hazardous to human health.  Silica, in cement, is considered carcinogenic and recognized as so by OSHA.

Instead our base is composed of Item 4 (processed stone) with a washed gravel sub base for drainage with stone dust, sand, or polymeric sand for bedding and joints.

Native Cottage-Style Planting Design

The planting design for this Westchester County, NY property is predominantly native. From the early spring bulbs, to the extended summer blooming perennials, to the red and yellow twig dogwoods commanding the space through winter, the garden was thoughtfully designed to be enjoyed in all seasons. This aesthetic sequence doubles as an ecological one, for every ornamental feature also creates food for wildlife, from pollen, to seedhead, to berry.

As usual, all the planting was installed according to GJLD’s organic specifications. The highest quality, natural source compost, biochar and soil amendments were incorporated into the soil for optimum organic garden performance. We love Organic Mechanics and Organic Plant Magic products.

Landscape Design Process

This project began with the client hiring us to develop a Landscape Design Master Plan designed by our very own Nature Design Studio. The design plan allows us to decide the overarching layout, while also getting into the granular details of the planting plan. The Design Plan comes with one set of revisions as well as a Proposal with a ready-to-build plant list, and cost for installation.

It is never too early to start the design process. For those that pursue designs during the winter, we can often get started right away on the masonry work. Site development and planting installation can be scheduled for spring, and the landscape is complete just in time for the warm weather!  Contact us to start the design process.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914-560-6570

 

We are thrilled to finally announce our re-brand, a shift we’ve been working on behind the scenes for the last year. Our brand name is now Green Jay Landscape Design, a change we felt reflected our specialization over the last few years into an ecological landscape design and build firm.

In the last two years, we’ve improved and expanded our design and build services to highlight our specialty: native landscapes that support ecosystem services and healthy lifestyles for our clients.

 

 

Of course, none of our branding efforts would be possible without the help of our incredible team: Melissa Tatge, graphic designer with All the Good Design, our talented team of web designers at Socious Marketing, and our tireless SEO friends at Market Hardware.

 

 

We invite you to explore our new website – we’re very proud of it!

Portfolio

A re-imagined Portfolio, that highlights the range of properties and types of work we perform.  Some of our favorite, newly featured projects include: Courtyard Cloister Garden, Lakefront Pollinator Parterre, Native Pool Landscape and Private Nature Preserve.

Garden beds define and relate landscape areas (ie. pool area and vegetable garden)

Thanks to our talented photographers Rich Pomerantz and Neil Landino and our videographer Chris Jones of Shoreline Video Production for helping us to capture and communicate our work.

Every garden needs a bench moment to take in the views.

Eco-Consulting

Consulting with other designers, contractors, municipalities, and homeowners on more technical projects has become an increasingly important wing of our business.

These projects step beyond the typical scope of landscape design to solve real environmental problems on complicated sites.

Our eco-consulting expertise includes:

Wetland Restoration

Erosion Control

Stormwater Management

Carbon Smart Landscaping

Invasive Species Control

Project Management

Residential Sustainable Stewardship

A new solution we offer for large property owners (five acres or more) is our Residential Sustainable Stewardship program. We observe and analyze the microclimates of a property and develop a long-term plan of action to restore ecological value to the property.  Depending on the site, this may include understory development, wetland restoration, meadow management, and trail building.

Service Area

New in 2022, we’ve expanded our service area to include Bergen County, New Jersey  for landscape design, build and eco-consulting.

We are now proudly a Tri-State Area operator, serving Westchester & Putnam Counties, New York; Fairfield County, Connecticut; and Bergen County, New Jersey.

One of our first projects in New Jersey was an extreme slope remediation and erosion control project in Old Tappan, NJ.  Read more about the project here.

Follow Us

We invite you to follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content, events, tips, and most recent project footage. Our blog  is regularly updated with landscape design and construction project summaries, ecological education posts, and more!

Contact Us

We are currently scheduling on-site professional consultations and queuing up landscape design and construction work for 2023. Contact us  to discuss your project.

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Green Jay Landscape Design
Where Design Meets Ecology

914-560-6570

First year garden terraces in September. Native perennials for pollinators bloom for weeks.

Newly planted garden terraces with a mixture of native perennials and annual vegetables.

Buying a home comes with the remnants of the previous owners’ personality – the good, the bad, and the different. In this case, an above ground pool was put in by the previous owner but did not fit with our client’s young family and lifestyle. The pool was removed, leaving an awkward space between the deck (that used to step out directly into the pool) and the rest of the back yard.

BEFORE PHOTO: sand and concrete are remnants of the above ground pool.

Site Analysis Guides Landscape Design

While observing the site in person, it became clear that the grade change between the deck and lawn would lend itself perfectly to two garden terraces. Boulders would retain the terrace layers, adding a naturalistic aesthetic to the garden.

BEFORE PHOTO: wrap around white fencing and nearby neighbors left much to be desired for backyard privacy.

A few other problem areas expressed by the client during the professional consultation also needed to be solved through the design. The close quartered neighborhood in Dobbs Ferry had lots of fence real estate, and the neighbors’ homes felt imposing and close.

New border garden mixes River Birches with tall perennials for maximum coverage of the fence.

We decided a border garden along the white fence, featuring three River Birches and a native perennial underplanting, would disguise both the fence and the neighbors’ homes. The new garden along the fence creates habitat for pollinators and acts as a focal point from the deck entertaining area.

Underplant birches with Geraniums and maroon Coral Bells for low maintenance, long lasting color.

Landscape Design Master Plan can be executed in phases.

All these design ideas were flushed out in a Landscape Design Master Plan – a full color, ready-to-build planting plan that communicates the design to the client and guides our installation.

Combining Vegetables & Pollinator Plants for a Permaculture Approach

Process shot: GJLD masons construct a two-tier garden terrace with boulders.

Process shot: constructing garden terraces and a natural stone staircase.

The terrace planting was designed as both a pollinator habitat and a vegetable garden. Planting these groups in proximity brings more pollination to fruit and vegetable crops, increasing yields. Planting scented herbs next to vegetables helps deter pests. Some perennials like Lupines and others in the Pea family naturally fix nitrogen in the soil to a plant-available form.

Early July plant palette for pollinators: Bee Balm, Daisies and Tickseed.

The backyard habitat planting features a sequence of mostly native flowering perennials and shrubs, chosen for their high ecological impact, long bloom time, and relative low-maintenance.

The foreground features vegetables and herbs while the second tier features long-blooming perennials for pollinators.

Here’s a sampling of the plant palette used in the backyard, according to bloom time / season of interest

Spring: Lady’s Mantle, Coral Bells, Spicebush, Sweetspire, Viburnum

Summer: Summersweet, Tickseed, Butterflyweed, Shasta Daisy, Blazing Star, Sneezeweed

September native garden blooms featuring: Tickseed and Blue Mistflower.

Fall: Asters, Bluemist Flower, Joe Pye Weed, Goldenrod, Oxeye Sunflower, Blackeyed Susan, Prairie Dropseed, Northern Sea Oats

Winter: Chokeberry, Prairie Dropseed, Northern Sea Oats

Eggplant is interplanted in the garden, shown here with Butterflyweed.

Intertwined with the shrubs and perennials in the terrace garden, the client planted a selection of annual vegetables – eggplant, pepper, tomatoes, basil, strawberry.

Rosemary and blueberries are also great additions as edible perennials and shrubs, respectively.

Functional Masonry

Natural stone masonry with a boulder rail navigates the transition from the lower lawn to the behind the terraces.

 To navigate around the terraces from the front yard to the backyard, the grade change was managed with a few natural stone steppers. The steps visually integrate with the boulder terraces and make the slope accessible. A section next to the steps was intentionally left as lawn to easily maneuver the lawnmower from front to back yard. This is an example of how thoughtfully siting masonry can have an outsized functional impact.

Phase Two Landscape Design

The driveway asphalt extends all the way to the house, making the side entrance awkward.

The front yard, which the clients decided to postpone for Phase Two, will involve removing excess asphalt in the driveway to allow for a re-imagined natural stone front walkway and side entrance landing. This construction will have the added benefit of solving a landscape drainage issue.

Currently, the gutter leader spills out onto the driveway, freezing in the winter and creating a hazardous area. By removing the asphalt, we can bury the pipe and allow the stormwater to recharge the ground aquifer instead. We will then construct the new masonry on top of the pipe. Perennial gardens will sweep both sides of the new front walkway, giving the home the colorful entrance it deserves.

Contact us to start your Landscape Design project!

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914-560-6570

We were hired to evaluate the landscape drainage issues at this Westchester County property, which proved to be complicated due to some peculiar construction from previous homeowners.

Analyzing the Stormwater Problem

The previous owners put an addition on the house and reconstructed the driveway to a grade that required an anti-gravity sump pump to re-route the stormwater. This complicated system often failed and led to flooding in our client’s basement and backyard. Half the backyard would have standing water for days after a large storm event.

Furthermore, gutters and leaders from the large roof emptied out onto the lawn, which can only absorb so much water.

Designing a Landscape Drainage Solution

We knew that the problem had to be addressed before it reached the sump pump, to avoid system failure. If we could divert some of the stormwater runoff from the roof into the landscape to be absorbed, the engineered sump pump system could deal with a smaller amount of runoff overall.

Diverting stormwater to a Rain Garden only works if the soil has appropriate drainage rates. Rain gardens are not bog gardens. Stormwater should drain within twenty-four hours.

Not every site is compatible as a rain garden – the soil must have sufficient drainage capacity. Heavy clay soils hold water, and do not work as rain garden sites.

We always perform percolation tests to test the soil characteristics, as part of our site analysis for a rain garden. In the photo above, Uziel tests the soil’s compaction level.

In this case, the existing soil was highly compact with a high proportion of clay. We core aerated, vertical slice seeded and applied numerous soil amendments to the lawn area, to help relieve compaction and improve drainage capacity.

 

To redirect stormwater away from the house and lawn, we connected two leaders from the roof into underground pipes. We directed the pipes toward the corner of the yard into the newly designed rain garden.

 

The rain garden area itself was excavated and filled with topsoil with a high drainage capacity. The pipes leading  to the rain garden are perforated at the bottom, allowing stormwater to seep out over a larger area, and come up through the pipe during periods of a higher water table.

Once the water reaches the rain garden, it is dispersed and absorbed by plants’ roots.

Rain Garden Design

 Facultative plants are found in mesic zones usually on slopes or in well drained spots, occasionally exposed to drought or flood conditions.

 

Native & Non-Native Plants for Rain Gardens

Many of our favorite native shrubs for wildlife also work in rain gardens: clethra, aronia, dogwood. Perennials in the rain garden can also create habitat: Eastern Red Columbine attracts hummingbirds, Blue Lobelia, Joe Pye Weed, and New York Ironweed are all pollinator magnets!

In this design, we also planted a non-native Dawn Redwood. This fast-growing tree absorbs large amounts of water and grows fast; it will be extremely effective in this context.

Start Your Landscape Drainage Solution

If you have a consistently soggy landscape, there are likely improvements to be had. Check out our Stormwater Management page for a detailed look at stormwater solutions and Contact Us to schedule an on-site consultation.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

Where Design Meets Ecology

914-560-6570

 

Mark your calendars, Westchester County, there are TWO great pollinator events coming up next month! We’re so grateful to work in communities with such strong grassroots enthusiasm and municipal support for spreading the mission of ecological restoration!

Mamaroneck Monarh Butterfly Festival

Saturday Sept 24th | 11 AM – 1 PM | Harbor Island Park, Mamaroneck

Fun for the whole family! Event includes: educational activities, crafts, music, food AND a community butterfly garden planting! *costumes encouraged* *winners will be chosen*

PS. Harbor Island Park is now maintained using NO pesticides. Thanks to Village Manager, Jerry Barberio and Foreman of the Parks Department, Jeff Ahne.

Hosted by the Mamaroneck Committee for the Environment & Recreation Dept. Free registration on here.

Larchmont Native Plant & Pollinator Festival

Saturday Sept 24 | 1 – 3 PM | Constitution Park, Larchmont

Family event featuring activities, story time, music, photo station (dress as your favorite pollinator!), buy native plants & sample local honey!

Hosted by the Larchmont Environmental Committee and Larchmont Pollinator Pathways.

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Green Jay Landscape Design

914-560-6570

Where Design Meets Ecology