All good landscape design employs a combination of art and science to create beautiful, functional, outdoor spaces for human use and enjoyment using living plants, landforms, and “hardscape” elements such as walks, drives, decks, water features, boulders, statuary, and the like.  But not all landscape designers are the same.

With the staggering loss of biodiversity globally, we have made the conscious decision not to make a bad situation worse by continuing to displace native species with aliens out of habit.    American history, for the most part, is about people preoccupied with carving a place out of the wilderness, and they considered exotic plants to be a symbol of their success.  Native plants have always been beautiful, but until very recently the greatest challenge to using natives in landscape design was that they simply weren’t available in commercial quantities.  Fortunately there is an ever increasing list of native trees, shrubs, flowering plants and ornamental grasses available from nature-loving specialist growers, nurseries, and tree farms so that we no longer have to continue to do the same old thing just because of a lack of availability.

There are several ways you can incorporate natives into your landscape design.  The simplest is to “naturalize” your existing landscape by adding  wildflower, butterfly or rain gardens within the context of your existing design, or by replacing part or all of your existing landscape materials with native plants.  Next in order of complexity would be designing a completely new “traditional” naturalized landscape using native material, or a blend of native and non-native materials.  This is also a great option for new construction where you may have a blank slate.

While they aren’t for everyone, for the ultimate in sustainable landscaping we will work with you to design a native landscape, a landscape that is accurate for your particular site using native plants and materials in associations found in nature within the context of regionally appropriate landforms.  A landscape that functions ecologically as nature intended.  Surf over to our native landscape page to learn more about this exciting alternative to traditional landscapes!

We can also help you  by developing management plans to restore degraded natural areas, improve wildlife habitat, control invasive, alien, plant species, or maintain healthy natural areas.