At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design » Curb Appeal, Comfort & Safety – At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design

Curb Appeal, Comfort & Safety

Jackie Braitman — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:11:07 +0000

Curb Appeal, Comfort and Safety

My client, in Silver Spring, MD – a close-in, older neighborhood outside Washington, DC — had already done some modest interior renovations before I was referred to her by her neighbor. About a year before I had done extensive interior, exterior and landscape renovations for her neighbor a few doors down the street (see that work: interior renovations; exterior renovation front, exterior renovation back).

My new client’s meticulous interior wasn’t matched by the exterior. Erosion on a relatively steep hill just off the street was tamed with ivy and periwinkle. But as you can see from the “Before” picture, below, that’s about the only benefit of the invasive ivy. The stairs were narrow and uneven. The straight brick walk got you to the porch but without much interest in the journey.

Before Work Started

The new landscape tames the hill with a curving brick retaining wall with blue stone cap. The deep, wide curve of the wall allows plantings both below and above the wall – helping to soften the look and to invite visitors up the stairs and onto the porch. Too often walls create boundaries that scream “keep out – you’re not invited”. This one does the opposite. The clear foreground, mid-ground and background help make the home feel more private and protected from the street even though no fence or privacy plantings were used.

Property as Viewed from Left - See Before Picture at EndThe use of small boulders throughout the plantings help ground the landscape and make it feel natural. New trees include a young purple-leaf plum, a willow oak, and 3 river birch. Right now, the shrubs, perennials, and grasses have center stage. As the trees mature, the feel of the yard will change dramatically but the trees will complement -- not overwhelm the space. The other plantings were places such that most of them will either tolerate the new shade well or will continue to receive adequate sun. Eventually, the roses might have to be moved as well as some of the grasses -- but not for many years. And much sooner than that, the trees will offer welcome shade in Washington's brutal summers. Property Viewed from Right - See Before Picture at End

The curved walk slows the approach to the house and puts the plantings on center stage. The walk is regular flagstone on concrete. This stable surface provides easy walking even with heels. It also provides a good base for shoveling snow. However, it’s retains a natural look that will feel even more natural as the plantings fill-in. This fall, the bare spot by the stairs to the porch will be filled with a Carol Mackey Daphne that provides both a delicious scent in the early spring and delicate variegated leaves throughout the summer months – sometimes, you have to wait to find the plant you want at your local nursery.

View Back to Street - The Curved Walk Helps Slow the Entrance

A focus on Foliage Yields Year-Round Interest: The plantings were selected to present foliage, bark and flower interest year-round. You can see some of mid-summer interest in the photos below:

Foliage Detail Makes the Garden Pop All Season Long

Folliage Interest and Rocks Create An Inviting Tapestry

More Examples of the Tapestry Created by Striking Foliage

Computer Renderings At the Conceptual Design Phase: To give you a sense of what the client saw during the conceptual design phase that allowed her to move forward with this extensive front landscape remodel, I’ve included 2 of the design renderings she viewed of this option. This was one of 3 design options I presented. Note that we changed many details of materials and plantings while still retaining the overall feel of the design.

Computer Rendering of Concept During Conceptual Design

Additional Rendering of Design Concept

Additional “Before” Pictures:

"Before" - View from Right

"Before" - View from Left

Gardening’s Final Frontier: the “Hellstrip”

Jackie Braitman — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:38:50 +0000

Gardeners call it the “hellstrip,” that skinny bit of often-neglected grass sandwiched between the street and the sidewalk. Now, some are sprucing it up, transforming it from perennial eye-sore to showpiece.
Homeowners in cities and towns across the country are seeing opportunity in these plots—also called “parkways” or “tree beds.” They occupy choice real estate in front of a home, potentially contributing to visitors’ first impressions, not to mention a resident’s own view beyond the edge of a well-tended lawn.
In Medfield, Mass., Betty and Neal Sanders have planted tough perennials such as Joe-pye weed and creeping junipers in the strip between the sidewalk and the street.
Even diehard gardeners find, though, the strips of land—surrounded by concrete and asphalt—are subject to challenges including road salt and snowplows, foot and bicycle traffic, sniffing dogs and wayward trash.

Betty Sander's Sidewalk Gardening

Betty Sanders has lush gardens on two acres in Medfield, Mass., but every time she pulled in or out of her driveway, the strip in front of her house gnawed at her. “It just looked ratty all the time,” she says.
So, she and her husband recently used compost and shredded leaves from their own property to plant flowers in similar shades of blues and yellows that echo the rest of her garden. Now, “it’s a garden that introduces the rest of my property,” she says.

Whether or not they are technically part of a homeowner’s property can vary from city to city, even neighborhood to neighborhood. Homeowners are typically responsible for basic maintenance, like mowing, whether or not they legally own the property. Regardless of ownership, the strips are typically in the “public right of way,” meaning that homeowners have little recourse against passersby who trample on the petunias, says Eduardo M. Peñalver, a Cornell University law professor who specializes in property and land use issues.

The allée I created with Crepe Myrtle Tying My City Strip to the Rest of My Garden

In Takoma Park, Md., Jackie Braitman saw the weedy strip in front of her home as a chance to visually lengthen her small front yard and create “more of a sense of welcome,” she says. While the strip is technically owned by the city, she chose to do something fairly elaborate, planting two pink-flowering crape myrtle trees on the strip directly across from two crape myrtles on her own property. The effect is an “allée” for pedestrians, she says, as two sets of tree limbs reach towards one another, forming an arch over the sidewalk. Beneath the trees, Ms. Braitman, an architectural designer, chose plants that can withstand heat and other stresses, and that still have attractive foliage even when not in flower. Many of these plants are repeated in her own yard—such as coral bells (heuchera), Thunberg spiraea (Spirea thunbergii ‘Ogon’) and “Knock Out” roses. She spent about $500—most of which went towards the cost of a professional landscaper who put in the trees, which were about $100 each.

Susan Harris uses plant divisions or extras mostly from her own yard

Another gardener in Takoma Park, Susan Harris, uses plant divisions or extras mostly from her own yard, including a nice clump of Miscanthus grass, daylillies, cone flowers, and a sedum groundcover.

Ellie Dorritie's Hell strip in Buffalo, N.Y.,

Some gardeners see in these plots an opportunity to experiment with plants that they couldn’t otherwise get to grow in their own yards. Ellie Dorritie, a retired postal worker in Buffalo, N.Y., says the full sun exposure in her planting strip allows her to garden with different plants than what she can get away with in her much shadier yard.
Her garden scheme? “Cram it in,” she says. “I ask, ‘Does it bloom? Will it fight for space?’ If the answer is yes, it goes in.”

For the most part, she says, neighbors are respectful and appreciative. There was one tiff a few years ago with cable company workers who wanted to dig up the plot for an installation. After a few tense words, “they gave in,” she says. While the entire sidewalk was ploughed up in order to make room for fiber-optic cable, “they didn’t touch my strip,” Ms. Dorritie says.
In response to what some city officials see as growing enthusiasm for gardening in hellstrips, a number of municipalities are offering more latitude for planting in them, while still requiring that certain rules are met.
Seattle last year removed its permitting requirement for gardens in “planting strips.” Homeowners must adhere to certain plant height restrictions: Plants can’t exceed two feet near an intersection; areas within 10 feet of driveways must be clear of plantings that block the view for motorists and pedestrians, says Rick Sheridan, spokesman for the city’s Department of Transportation. While he isn’t aware of any specific accidents related to overzealous gardening in the strips, his office has received complaints about plants obstructing views at intersections, he says.
In California, Santa Monica says it supports “parkway” plantings, though the city technically owns the plots, as long as certain height requirements are met. Residents must get a permit before planting anything more extensive than a few annuals, says Russell Ackerman, a specialist in the city’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment. In the last two years, his office has offered grants of up to $5,000 for homeowner water-efficient landscaping projects and most of those applications include plans for parkway planting as part of the total makeover, while about a third are focused on just the parkway, he says.

Mr. Dawson's Strip Before

Mr. Dawson's Strip After 4 years

“Space for gardening can be limited because we’re a dense urban area,” says Mr. Ackerman. “Some people really latch on to that parkway and plant it up.”

Above is a view of Francis Dawsons’s hellstrip when he purchased his home in Santa Maria, California in 2004. By 2008, the area in front of Mr. Dawson’s house had been transformed. The bright orange blooms of California poppies are paired with the blue flower of spikes of salvia plants. “Once you take out your lawn, magic things happen,” says Mr. Dawson.

Horticultural experts issue a few warnings to enthusiastic hellstrip gardeners. Jennifer Britton, assistant professor of landscape design at Montana State University, cautions against planting vegetables because of contaminants that can run off the nearby road.
Nina Bassuk, program leader of the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University, says gardeners should make sure that their hellstrip planting doesn’t interfere with established trees. Trees play an important role in urban areas, she says, for providing shade, mitigating stormwater runoff, and helping improve air quality. So be careful when shoveling near root systems.
Some gardeners say they like the social aspect of gardening next to the sidewalk. “I spend a lot of time out there futzing,” says retired anthropology professor Jane Adams, “and I got to know everyone. The kids would stop and tell me how much they enjoyed it.” Her space in Carbondale, Ill., is filled with wildflowers such as cone flowers and tickseed.
Text and images are taken directly from print and online slideshow articles from the Wall Street Journal.

Write to Anne Marie Chaker at anne-marie.chaker@wsj.com

The Front Porch – An Extension of Your Living Room

Jackie Braitman — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:36:48 +0000

A Front Porch with Acid-Stained Concrete Floor

I love to sit on my front porch at the end of the day or on the weekend with a book and a cup of coffee. Almost always my neighbors stop to chat. Sometimes it’s just for a minute and sometimes it morphs into dinner or drinks on the porch. And then other neighbors stop by… and I catch up on what’s going on without leaving the shade and comfy chairs of my front porch.

Adding a front porch or other outdoor garden room is one of the most dramatic and cost-effective changes you can make to your home. Here are 2 porches I’ve done in the past few years where my clients report benefits much like I’ve observed with my own porch.

Cigars on the Concrete Front Porch

The Porch is Close to the Ground without Intervening Railings Which Further Connects to the Neighborhood

The husband, Dan, was initially reluctant to add a porch. Now he wonders “why didn’t we build it sooner? We never used our front yard. It was just a way to get into the house. Our porch has given us a place we sit, meet neighbors, and enjoy our street”. Their Porch has two sitting area – one very open to the neighborhood (above) and one more secluded and private (below). When they want to interact with the neighbors they sit on the side that’s more open to the street. The acid-stained concrete porch is very close to the ground so there are no railings to separate them from the yard and the street.

Shrubbery and a Higher Elevation Separates This Side From the Street

The other side, above, is more sheltered by landscaping and — while railing is still not needed — the porch is higher off the ground providing more separation from the street. Arlene laughs about sending Dan and his friends to the porch to smoke cigars after dinner. The ceiling fans on both sides keep both the cigar smoke and the mosquitoes away. The central wood bench hides the gas and electric services and Arlene reports that she often sits on the bench to go through the mail while their cat lounges on the sun-heated stone insert.

A Side Porch That Acts As a Front Porch

A More Traditional House Needs a More Traditional Porch

A Ground-Level Porch Grounds the House to the Neighborhood

The remodel of the home, above, won an award from the local historic preservation group for reconnecting the home to the neighborhood. The house is situated on a corner and the front entry was steep (see before picture, below). We added the porch to the right side of the house. Now friends and family always enter from the more level alternate street side. Again, note that the porch is low to the ground – without railings – which welcomes the neighbors to say hello and stop and visit. The porch also helps balance the addition built on the left side of the house. Many neighbors commented on how much better balanced the house now feels.

Before - Without Porch & Before Remodel

So what’s the value of a front porch?

New Rooms To Live In: An expansive, shady front porch offers a delightful retreat. Add ceiling fans, comfortable chairs and tables and you’ve just added alot more square footage to your home! Not to mention, a special place to unwind and watch the rest of the world whirl by.

Neighborhood Integration: You’ll meet and talk with neighbors you’ve only nodded to before. Your kid’s friends will prefer your place to others for playing on the porch. Nothing beats a covered front porch for entertaining! It’s a wonderful place to socialize, catch up on the latest news or just relax and enjoy the company.

Curb Appeal: The front entry sets the stage for your home. First impressions make a huge difference in how your family, friends and neighbors view your home. A dramatic transformation happens when a “flat-faced” home receives a new, covered front porch.

Added Value: Enhanced curb appeal can translate into a higher selling price and faster sale for your home down the road.

Protection from the Elements: A front entry with no covering exposes your guests and home to damaging sun and rain. A porch or portico provides great protection for your front door, hardware, trim, lighting—and even, foyer. And your guests will truly appreciate it on rainy or hot, sunny day. It can even help lower your summer energy bills.

So now back to my porch (below). It is in desperate need of repair – like the cobbler’s children going barefoot. But the general disrepair doesn’t in any way detract from my use of the porch as an extension of my living room and an extension of my studio. One side is for enjoying informal interactions with my neighbors. I think of the other side as part of my studio with a work table where I do dirty work I don’t want in inside. Both sides are wonderful places to watch the world go by.

My Front Porch

And here’s one of my favorite Porches:

One of My Favorite Porches

Curb-Appeal: A 2-Week Make-Over

Jackie Braitman — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:56:28 +0000

A back porch Welcomes Clients and the Neighborhood

I live down the street from a 4-Square built around 1915. It’s at a prominent intersection and is zoned commercial. A string of non-descript businesses have leased space there. The house wasn’t a blight on the neighborhood but it didn’t add anything either. Then “The Still Point” a well-respected holistic spa took up residence. First they built-out their interior; then they moved on the exterior. In the course of approximately 2-weeks the outside of the building when from non-descript to warm and welcoming. Thoughtful paint, lighting, furniture and decoration turned a cold, inward-looking structure into a nicely scaled building that beckons the neighborhood into its doors.

AFTER - Main Neighborhood View

BEFORE - Main Neighborhood View - Courtesy of Google Earth

The, above, After and Before pictures are the view from the main intersection. A new, wide stairway from the back porch welcomes visitors. As seen in the introductory image, outdoor drapes help create an intimate space while ceiling fans, furniture and potted palms help make the space intimate.

A Closer View of the Back Stairs

AFTER - View of the Front of the House

BEFORE - Front of House

The front porch (see After and Before, above) received a slightly more formal but equally inviting make-over. The line of semi-flush light fixtures – while providing more light than is strictly necessary – creates an extremely attractive rhythm. The door, made prominent with black contrasting paint, is no longer over-emphasized.

Notice that they also cleaned up the various phone and cable lines coming into the house so that they no longer distract from the front porch.

Carpeted Front Steps

Porch steps were carpeted in a deep forest outdoor carpeting to avoid the slipperiness of painted wood. A water feature near the front door, providing a welcoming auditory break from the street.

Welcoming Front Porch

The mocha and crème color scheme brings out the subtle colors of the roof and highlights the architecture much better than did the former white, dark grey and red scheme. The more subtle palette also contrasts nicely with the black powder-coated furniture and lighting fixtures. Our eye likes contrast and texture and the new palette caters to these preferences.

Other than the back steps to the porch, there were no structural changes, but now the building is a part of and beckons to the neighborhood rather than standing apart.

A Sense of Place

Jackie Braitman — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:50:00 +0000

A New Front Porch Welcomes Family and Visitors

A gracious, comfortable front entry — the neighbors who have been closely observing the year-long inside and outside renovation of this 1940′s Colonial in a close-in Washington DC suburb — remark most often about the transition to the front of the house. A neighbor across the street enjoys a more peaceful, relaxed morning coffee — she says sitting in her breakfast room now feels like she’s across the street from a park. Neighborhood kids ask if they can play on the oval of grass at the top of the steps — rather than play in their own expansive back yards. It’s all about a sense of place.

Full View of House and New Entry Stairs

Gone are the unsafe front brick steps — at only 30 inches wide and with treads that varied in width and without a handrail — the wife’s mother gave a big thanks. Gone also is the trip-step in the middle of the front walk — that I personally tripped over at least 3 times. New brick steps were moved about 6 feet down the wall to create a curved walk in approaching the house and a more gracious division of the front entry garden. The steps are now 4 ft wide and are taller to fully tackle the grade. The bottom of the steps and the handrail curve to welcome visitors.

Gone also is the 1970′s vestibule — a response to the 1970′s energy crisis. The homeowner complained of having to set groceries down on the concrete stoop, open the vestibule door, move the bags of groceries into the vestibule, open the front door and only then bring the groceries into the house. Now she simply sets them on the generous bench right beside the front door. She also sits on the bench to chat with neighbors, read the mail, or to observe the neighborhood children at play.

Before Picture (courtesy of Google Street View)

The history of this house is a story of several separate additions that responded to the needs at the time. Visible in this before photo are the vestibule that was added to the front of this modest brick colonial just outside Washington, DC, during the 1970′s energy crisis — this was a common response to the crisis. It might have helped with heating bills but in almost every other way this add-on was an inconvenience. Also visible is the addition to the left side of the house — a side porch converted to a small room. This addition while providing nice light, is of a completely different style from the rest of the house.

The roof of the addition was lowered to meet the roof of the new front porch at a hip. The porch is only seven feet wide but these changes greatly help the proportions of the house. A new front door and a high-end full view storm door provide the energy savings of the old vestibule. The new porch, new walk and steps dramatically change the sense of welcome and grace as you approach the home.

Low maintenance plantings provide year-round interest. Early spring interest is provided by a fragrant, flowering Carol Mackey Daphne at the curve of the front bed just as you arrive at the front door. Later spring interest comes from flowering shrubs, summer interest is created by a variety of ornamental grasses and a lavender crepe myrtle in a place of prominence, fall interest comes from the changing colors of the ornamental grasses, and winter interest comes from the bark of the crepe myrtle and the red berries of the nandina. A mix of foliage color and texture adds year-round appeal. A day’s maintenance spring and fall are all that’s required. [That's, of course, after more frequent weeding as the plantings take hold and the deep-rooted weeds, persistent weeds are eliminated.] Well-placed, aged western Maryland boulders help ground the plantings to create a natural look.

The facade was made made more transitional (and less colonial) by removing the shutters, replacing the aged aluminum siding with fiber cement siding, balancing the long windows on the addition with patio
doors on the other side. The grey tone of the siding and new wood-replacement white window trim replace the need for shutters to create architectural interest.

Concrete Was Grooved & Acid-Stained

We used concrete for the porch to eliminate the need for future maintenance. An acid stain was used to create an antique amber color and blend the porch into the landscape — it coordinates with the cedar-colored Trex used on the back deck. Before acid staining, the concrete was scored on a diagonal to create the look of large tiles with a solid border. The window well was covered with a glass and concrete paver panel created by Circle Redmont. The panel is set into the concrete and still provides good light into the basement.

The front bench — in addition to providing visual interest, a place for packages and to sit – hides the gas meter and the electrical service. The gas meter is hidden in the right leg of the bench. The column hides the electrical service except for a window to view the meter.

Front Bench Hides Utilities

Front Bench Recycles Flagstone Removed from Hearth

Ceiling Fans on either end of the porch provide mosquito-free future seating areas.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

Entry Gardens To Define Your Home

Jackie Braitman — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:42:28 +0000

A Blank Slate - Existing Front Yard

This article is about how garden design effects the “feel” of your home. An entry garden can make a home feel more or less formal. It can make an imposing home feel less or more imposing and it can make a modest home feel more or less modest. As you look at the computer renderings think about how one approach makes the home feel more or less welcoming, more or less prominent, closer or farther away. The rendering tools I use are similar to the tools that some hair stylists or plastic surgeons use to help clients see what they would look like with different hairstyles or features. Landscaping is a big investment in time and money — seeing the result before you start can help make your decisions more confident.

Please note that the purpose of these renderings is to choose the basic approach and not to select particular plants. The plants in the renderings are simply representative of size and shape.

My client is looking to refresh the curb appeal of her home prior to an event that ls planned in about 1 year’s time. The above is a rendering of my client’s current front yard. The yard is bare with the exception of a dying, deciduous magnolia, a young volunteer wild Cherry, and a couple of foundation shrubs on the left side. A 3 foot high slope is also largely bare. Shade from the canopy of large oaks in the city “strip” and in adjoining yards provides too much shade for grass on the right side of the property. My assignment is to suggest some treatments for the hill and for the yard. They already have permission from the City to remove the dying magnolia and they are thinking of moving an accent tree to the right side to take advantage of the little bit of sun that reached the front yard. The wife’s tastes run to informal gardens while her husband’s tend toward the more formal and classical so I did renderings of both approaches. Plus both higher and lower walls plus a rock garden to handle the slope up from the sidewalk. The house, a colonial revival built 1913 is on a prominent street in Takoma Park Historic District in Maryland.

Center Walk; Low Wall

The first approach is to leave the center walk and to build a low stone wall to handle the slope — leaving room for a rock garden in front.

Entry Garder: Center Walk; Higher Wall

In the second alternative, we again, leave the center walk but tame the slope with a higher wall. Notice that the second approach is a more formal treatment than the first. It appears to bring the house closer to the viewer because of the foreshortened mid-ground. However, the “arrival” comes sooner and in 2 parts. In the first approach, arrival doesn’t occur until you step onto the porch. In the second approach, the first arrival occurs at the top of the wall when you enter the entry garden, then a second arrival occurs when you step onto the porch.

Since we rarely see homes from dead-on, you can view the options from the left in the gallery, below.

In the next alternative, we make the entry garden — and the home — much less formal by replacing the straight, center sidewalk with a curved sidewalk.

Entry Garden - Curved Walk From Side, Mid Wall

Notice that the house looks less imposing and actually smaller when we change the walk to a curved walk starting from the left front corner. I take informality a step further, below, by replacing the upright magnolia with a weeping cherry.

Entry Garden - The Weeping Form Brings Down Apparent Height of Home

The shape of the tree not only adds additional informality but further brings down the apparent height of the home. The following two images depict the same side view as we’ve seen, above. I also included a view from above since the change in the walk dramatically changes the
sense of the entry garden. Again, the wall and distinct levels creates 2 separate arrivals. The curved walk provides a more elegant entry garden with more sense of intrigue since you can’t see everything at once. The asymmetrical approach also creates a greater sense of space and privacy from the street.

Curved Walk as Viewed From Top

There isn’t a right answer to this problem. The homeowner needs to think about which approach is more comfortable for them. Either of the front sidewalk options preserves the importance of the home to the streetscape and the formality of the home. The informal option fairly dramatically changes the feeling of the home — making it more personal and less public. Each approach is right for different owners.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

You Can Landscape Now for Tomorrow’s Garden Room

Jackie Braitman — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:20:33 +0000

Side Wrap-Around Porch at Dusk

I moved around a lot during the 1980′s and the first thing I thought about when I moved into a new home was how to connect the indoors with the out of doors. This was well before the craze for outdoor living — but then again, I spent 5 years in Southern California in the late 1970′s where the weather invited everyone outside year-round. The Porch, above, is an eastern version of California living with a deep roof to cool the house in the summer and comfortable seating to talk with neighbors [It's an addition to a 1905 home in the Takoma Park , Maryland historic preservation district that we remodeled in 2005.]

I’m sitting in another home just a few blocks away. It was built in 1917 and I’ve been here just about a year. And I’m frustrated beyond belief that I don’t yet have the money to build the addition in the back that will connect me to the out of doors! My response is to spend most of my spare time working on the landscape — so when the remodeling is completed I’ll be living in a much more mature landsacpe than if I waited.

BEWARE – DO NOT LANDSCAPE WITHIN ABOUT 8 FEET OF THE PLANNED REMODELING OR ADDITION. If you landscape and plant before remodeling, everything will just get trampled. But for most of us, there is still a lot of room to work on the foreground or background that we can work on years in advance.

My Home After 1 Year of Planing

So I’ve spent my time in the front and the back rear of the year. In the front, I’ve put in a low fence so my dog can be outside with me but that doesn’t say “keep out” to the neighbors. I’ve stained it a blue/grey — a color that tends to disappear into the landscape. I’m planting on both sides — often the same plants — to further fuzzy the line. I’ve created an inset at the front gate — a 6 foot by 3 foot inset — to further welcome visitors. It’s almost like a small foyer. Concrete stepping stone — meant to look like rock — connect the new paver parking pad with the house and help create a more naturalistic planting area. I’ve planted 7 trees in the front — 1 zelcova and 6 tall crepe myrtle that will eventually grow to create archways over the walkways and entryway.

The "Before"

In the back, I’ve planted 12 trees — 6 overstory trees including 3 River Birch, 2 Red Maples, 1 Willow Oak and 6 understory trees including 2 Dogwoods, 3 Purple-Leaf Plums, and a Stewartia. In addition, I’ve planted probably 15 shrubs. I’ve also created a mid-ground and back-ground by adding a swale and berm. The berm is held back with a “wall” of very large logs. The swale and berm help control run-off on the slope and keep water on my property. Even after only a year, I’ve created a sense of privacy that will only increase as the years go by. I’m also creating welcoming shade that will cool my home and my life.

Background Plantings

As I started Planting