This property had many unique existing landscape elements, but the front yard lacked a strong design composition. The client sought to freshen up the landscape before putting their house on the market – a strategy that both adds value to the home and delivers a powerful first impression.
By some estimates, landscaping contributes up to 25% of a home’s market value.
Maximizing Curb Appeal with Native Plants in the Front Yard
In the front yard, the circular driveway and interior garden bed were designed and constructed well, but the plantings left something to be desired – with just a few sparse evergreen shrubs. The foundation plantings also featured typical, over-used landscape plants that lacked color and any benefits of native plants.
After creating a Landscape Design Master Plan in Vectorworks, we had a specific ready-to-build plant list and the materials needed for construction. The landscape design involved replanting the interior driveway bed with native perennials, flowering shrubs, ornamental grasses, and spring flowering bulbs. The front foundation also received a new layer of perennials and bulbs, adding much needed vibrancy to the front yard.
The large bed size allowed for randomized repetition in the planting – a strategy that creates visual impact by plant massing, yet also takes on a naturalistic feel through randomization.
The client loved the design, and we began the installation, which involved both new plantings and addressing the existing landscaping for better performance.
Site Development, Soil Remediation
As part of our organic landscape installs, we apply several natural-source products to enhance the soil for planting. This usually involves organic compost, biochar, green sand, and potentially a soil drench of bio-stimulants and yucca (if conditions are particularly hot).
Favorite brands include: Organic Mechanics, Organic Plant Magic, Stone Barns Compost, Bioplex, Quantum Growth and Greensand.
Feeding the existing shrubs in the foundation, in accordance with our Organic Plant Healthcare program, allowed the mature plantings to gain essential nutrients, improve their immune systems, and look better in season to come.
Backyard Stroll Garden
The existing backyard landscape design in Scarsdale was a Japanese-inspired shade border. The design was executed well and has matured into a lovely garden. But, as it features a mostly foreign plant palette, the ecological value is limited. The border garden also serves more as a viewpoint than an experiential garden. We decided the backyard could benefit from a more interactive garden that could be walked through.
We designed a garden off the steps of the deck, with intersecting gravel paths to guide you to through the different ends of the garden. We like to think of this garden as the entrance to the rest of the landscape.
Garden edging was utilized to hold in the gravel paths. Since the garden is sited within the lawn, we wanted to reduce the likelihood of gravel migrating into the lawn – a maintenance headache.
Landscape Design in Scarsdale: Schedule a Consultation
Interested in improving the landscape around your home? Contact us to schedule a free 15-minute discovery call, or a professional on-site consultation. Serving Westchester County, Putnam County, NY; Fairfield County, CT; and Bergen County, Essex County and Morris County, NJ.
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Green Jay Landscape Design
914-560-6570
