Every Yard

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Counts

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How one yard changed the block – and how yours can tooSTORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAREN BUSSOLINI

OPPOSITE One year after planting, shadblow trees (Amelanchier x gran!diflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) plantedon a low berm create an intimate space and partially conceal housesacross the street. A variety of showy composites (black!eyed Susans,asters, boltonias) make for a long season of bloom and feed insects andbirds with both nectar and seeds. HERE Early fall!blooming Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’ is a magnet for native bees.

TWO YEARS AGO I WAS ASKED to create a garden in a pleasant upscale neighborhoodthat was – unfortunately – like so many others. This one happened to be in coastal southernConnecticut, just a short commute to New York City, but it could have been anywhere.

In nearly every yard, stormwater raced through downspouts and across clipped lawns, non-porous driveways and sidewalks out to the street’s storm sewers on its way to nearby Long IslandSound. Rain or shine, automatic irrigation systems periodically drenched lawns and sidewalks withtreated drinking water.

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Except for a few joggers and dog-walkers,people rarely appeared – other than an armyof workmen with their massive mowers, gas-powered trimmers and backpack sprayers.After soil was compacted by the mowing anddoused with chemical fertilizers, herbicides,pesticides and fungicides, loud gas-poweredblowers finished the job. Rather than com-post them in place, workers carted leaves andlawn clippings “away,” then piled on trucked-in wood-chip mulch.

Today, neighbors stop to appreciate myclient Sarah’s redesigned yard – which wehope is doing its part to make a positiveenvironmental impact.

Sustainable landscaping is at onceintensely local and universal. Changing thenorm of vast lawns and wasteful and pol-luting management practices in millions ofyards across the country would have a hugebeneficial effect on the environment.

Homeowners can follow many of thesame practices Sarah and I used to achievea more sustainable garden wherever theyare, if they choose locally adapted plantsappropriate to their site. I share here how Itransformed Sarah’s yard, as a guide thatcan be used elsewhere, in the belief that wecan change the world – one yard at a time.

Like most of her neighbors, Sarahspent many hours a day commuting to anoffice job in New York City. She wanted tospend the little time she had at homeenjoying her yard, but there was little toenjoy. What then passed for lawn was a21-by-30-foot sun-baked rectangle ofpatchy crabgrass and clover contained by alow retaining wall and struggling to sur-vive in concrete-hard soil. It slopeduncomfortably toward the street, and theview was of windows of houses across thestreet. Exactly once a week, on Saturday,she walked down the front walk to themailbox rather than collecting mail fromthe car.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Multi!stemmed spring!blooming chokeberries underplanted with blue star(Amsonia hubrichtii) in a narrow bed along the front walk screens the driveway. • Each to its own niche:Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) benefits from rainwater directed under the path from a downspout,Heuchera villosa likes the shade of taller grasses or shrubs, trees root into deeper soil in front berm. • Driftsof boltonias (‘Snowbank’ and extra!tall ‘Pink Beauty’) grow through leggy chokeberries and shadblows,while fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica ‘Grow!low’) spills over the retaining wall. BELOW Native bees feed ona magenta fall!blooming New England aster (Symphotrichum novae!angliae ‘Alma Potschke’).

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The way to a sustainable gardenTHE BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES ABOVE, taken threemonths apart, might look like there was a team of us working onSarah’s yard, but all it took was my two hands, two feet, a shovel, rakeand a couple of helpers for heavy soil prep and tree planting.

Soil Using existing native soil is best. But we had compacted, ster!ile dirt and needed soil to build berms, so we bought a humus/loammix from a reputable local composting operation. Stripping off allexisting sod (composting it on!site) and turning in 4 inches of newsoil broke up compaction, made an interface with existing soil andgave me a blank slate upon which to draw.

Design I did a quick sketch over a scaled plot plan, but the realdesigning came from drawing with my feet. This works especiallywell with a small space. Just walk around – where does it feel com!fortable to walk? Where do you want to linger? How do you get fromhere to there? Are there views you’d like to see or not see? I drovestakes in the ground to position trees, flags for shrubs, double!checking from indoors. I scuffed my feet in the soil to outline bermsand draw a comfortably curved path wide enough for two people tostroll side!by!side from the front door around to the far side yard.

Construction Sculpting the berm was hands!on (and feet!on).We wheelbarrowed soil in, mounded it along the perimeter and rakedit out to establish hills and hollows. Letting soil (and plants) spill ontothe unattractive retaining wall softened its visual impact. The gravelpath was locally sourced native stone with a few irregular bluestoneslaid in to direct the eye and break up the “runway” look of the frontsidewalk. We dug down 4 inches and tossed soil onto the berms,added 2 inches of stone dust and stomped it down, then added 2inches of 3/8!inch driveway stone, creating a semi!permeable walka!ble surface with a satisfying crunch. When we were done, the frontwalk was the only place water could leave the property.

Plants To maximize both diversity and cohesiveness, I used manyplants of a few species and a few plants of many others. In a small

space, every plant counts. I chose reliable, locally grown Easternnatives plus a few insect!attracting herbs, all with exceptionalwildlife value over a long season of interest. This is a monarch but!terfly migration route, so we included many fall!blooming asters(Symphyotrichum spp.) for nectar to fuel their journey.

Niches In nature, plants grow in community, each species findingits own niche. We created diverse niches by varying topography andplanting in layers. Deep moisture!retentive soil on berms supportstrees, which create shade. The street side is full!sun and dry, anddownspouts pool water by the roots of moisture!loving plants(Magnolia virginiana, bee balm and Clethra alnifolia). Gravel mixedwith soil at path edges supports plants that prefer gravelly, poor soil(yuccas, butterflyweed).

Maintenance An initial light layer of mulch conserved moisture,stemmed erosion and discouraged weeds until the plants fill in. Plantdebris, except for weed seeds and rhizomes, is retained, to mulchand return nutrients to the soil. All plants need watering at first, butonce they’re established they’re on their own (except for trees in aprolonged drought). Spring and fall tidying and occasional judicioussnipping keep it looking nice.

We deadhead most perennials to encourage them to produceadditional blooms (for nectar and beauty) but stop deadheading inlate summer, leaving seedheads to provide seeds for birds through!out the winter and encourage self!sowing. Weed seeds do drift in, butas time goes on, we will only have to weed a bit and edit (with a lighthand) as this plant community becomes increasingly self!maintainingbut ever full of surprises.

Native shrubs make a show in early spring, becoming a green back!ground until fall foliage turns to a blaze of color. As the summer pro!gresses, warm!season grasses and flowering perennials grow taller andtake the spotlight, then offer a subtle palette of color throughout thewinter, after which they are cut to the ground. In the rest of the neigh!borhood a lot of effort goes toward keeping everything the same, butwe embrace change and can’t wait to see what happens next.

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For our first meeting, I invited her to apresentation I was giving on native plantsat the local Audubon Center. Talking itover by the nature center’s sunny parkinglot afterward, we watched birds flit in andout of dense native bayberry thickets andbutterflies flutter by. We listened to apleasant symphony of birdsong and swish-ing wind-blown grasses. There was moresensory pleasure and sense of place in thisparking lot than in Sarah’s entire neigh-borhood. She realized then that she want-ed flowers and birds and a connection withnature, a yard that was a sanctuary, not asterile showplace.

I suggested wrapping a low soil bermaround the yard’s perimeter to catchstormwater, allowing it to infiltrate andremain available to plants. On top, a groveof small multi-stemmed native trees andshrubs would create shade, privacy and asense of enclosure. Thinning out lowerbranches would allow underplanting withdrifts of drought-tolerant native grassesand showy flowering perennials. Embracedby the berm, a loosely semi-circular gravelwalk would invite strolling on a firm, levelsurface. Anybody could do this anywhere,with regionally appropriate plants.

The first night after I set trees andshrubs in place, fireflies appeared, thenbirds came. I got an excited phone call afew weeks later. “There’s a butterfly on mybutterflyweed!” The little girl next doorsoon inhabited the garden, immersing her-self in imaginative play. She delights in themany kinds of butterflies and has taken tocarefully selecting just one each of everyflower and presenting the bouquet to theowner, who is always charmed. Sarah loveshow the garden engages all the senses. “Iwalk outside all the time now just to enjoyit and see what’s going on, not just to getthe paper,” she says. “I love to hear thecrunch of gravel underfoot, and the undu-lating path is so mysterious … the way itcurves around the house makes it feel likeI could go on endlessly.”

She wakes to birds chirping, savors thelemony fragrance of sweetbay magnoliablossoms drifting in the air and the ever-changing flower colors. She is fascinated bythe activity of the bees and hoveringinsects. On her way to the mailbox every

day she stops to pat the irresistible whitepine ‘soft touch.’ Joggers and dog-walkersnow stop to chat and look. The rattiest yardon the block has become a local landmark,a meeting place buzzing with life. It is nowa welcoming habitat for people as well aswildlife. I hope that it also quietly inspiresothers to create beautiful, life-supportinglandscapes in their own yards. !

Garden photographer, writer and speakerKaren Bussolini (www.karenbussolini.com) isalso an eco-friendly garden coach and a NOFA(Northeast Organic Farmers Association)-Accredited Organic Land Care Professional.

ABOVE A combination that will lookgood for many months: Aronia berriescolor up early and hang on to brightenwinter days until birds eat them on theirreturn migration in spring. Switchgrass(Panicum virgatum) produces small seedseaten by many birds. Thinning to keepshrubs leggy and open allows for denseplanting that discourages weeds.

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