Ecology + Design

Ecological Foundation Planting | Landscape Design Master Plan | Irvington, NY

Often, the most critical part of developing a landscape plan is knowing what to edit, remove and replace.  This was definitely the case for this Westchester, NY home with overgrown foundation plantings that restricted essential airflow around the home and overshadowed the home’s architectural features.

Foundation planting remodel, new walkway, and newly organic lawn!

Landscape Site Conditions

The client also had their new family in mind, and asked for a design that would be a safe and engaging space for their children to play in. Upon evaluating the site conditions, Green Jay Landscape Design also found areas with poor landscape drainage, creating pooling, dirty storm water that in turn became mosquito breeding habitat.

BEFORE PHOTO: pooling water creates mosquito breeding habitat.

Landscape Design Program

From our client interviews and independent landscape evaluation, we determined the design goals as such:

  • Remove overgrown and ecologically void landscape plants
  • Prune existing plants to a functional scale
  • Improve landscape drainage through a comprehensive stormwater management plan
  • Design and install a fence around the main rear lawn to create a safe and practical play area and border along the steep slope
  • Remove and replace the awkward paver walkways with smooth, natural stone pathways in the front yard
  • Update the plantings along the driveway
Front yard foundation planting featuring dogwood and nepeta!

Design Concept: Landscape Design Master Plan

A design concept encompasses both the tangible and intangible: the desired feeling of the landscape and the practical elements that will bring the space to fruition.

In Jay’s words:

The landscape environment will express youthful enthusiasm, energy and light in the freshness and rich diversity of plant life. In all weather, through all seasons, your garden borders, planting beds, trees and lawns will thrive and exude vibrant health and vitality, growing and developing along with your family.

Hydrangea shrubs with ecologically beneficial perennials.

Your plant palette has been chosen for ecological function (producing oxygen, sequestering carbon, conserving and biofiltration of water resources etc.) as well as aesthetic value. All this while featuring long lasting flowers, sweet fragrance, native grasses moved by the wind and fruiting shrubs of different contrast in color and height.

All conspiring to create a whole tapestry and composition, which will support necessary diversity in beneficial wildlife, including an abundance of insects, birds and butterflies. Your property will have added value for Pollinator Pathways.

New parking area garden beds with boulder accents! Planting pallet attracts pollinators and birds!
Newly planted garden along the parking area featuring contrasting foliage and long-blooming perennials.

Landscape Construction & Installation

 After removing a significant amount of overgrown foundation trees and shrubs, we expanded planting beds and prepared the soil organically. We replaced a heavily evergreen planting palette with a selection that emphasized native, flowering trees and shrubs, and layers of understory perennials to provide pollinator and bird habitat.

Brand new foundation plantings featuring modern, ecological layers.

Given the suburban-rural location of Irvington, NY, the potential for connecting habitats – between the natural and abundant forests to the residential neighborhoods – was too good to pass up, especially since we had already installed an ecological and organic landscape for the client’s direct neighbors!

Pollinator Pathways, Certified Wildlife Habitats, and Healthy Yards are all more impactful in numbers! A yard is a great step, but a neighborhood, town, and county are scales of impact.

Custom flagstone masonry walkway from garage driveway area to front yard.
Forked custom front entrance walkway with natural flagstone.

In addition to plantings, we modernized the front entry with a new front walkway of natural bluestone in an irregular pattern.  We chose a soft base, which we always prefer over a concrete  base.  Extending the footprint into grand, sweeping lines also achieved the desired effect. The clinets are thrilled!

Contact us to plan your next ecological landscape design project, or schedule a consultation!

Green Jay Landscape Design

914-560-6570

 

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