Improving Drainage in Your Landscape
This yard had a low area with no easy outlet for the water. We installed drainage swales to catch runoff and direct it to a dry well to alleviate ponding.
The drywall during installation – this tank is positioned to collect runoff and water from downspouts. The water will seep out into the surrounding soil, while not ponding as long on the surface.
Water is essential for lush landscapes, but in the wrong place, it can kill turf, damage our homes and wash out landscape features. Water should move away from homes and through our landscape in a way that allows it to soak into the soil but not pond in the wrong places.
Grading Around Your Home
In our mountainous area, steep slopes come with the territory. Typically, builders grade the soil around the home to push the water away from the home and it’s foundation. However, sometimes that grading isn’t done property, or it can settle. Regrading to correct this can help protect the foundations of our homes and keep water where it belongs.
Low Spots in the Lawn
Low spots can become swampy, drowning turf. Simple soil fill may resolve minor issues, while dry wells or French drains help in areas with no natural drainage outlet.
- Dry wells store water underground, allowing gradual seepage into the soil, while preventing it from ponding on the surface.
Other Ways to Move Water in the Landscape
- French drains collect and redirect water using gravel-filled channels with a drain tile at the bottom. Water flows in, enters the tile and is moved to the desired location. These can be left open or covered with soil and turf for a seamless look.
- Swales are shallow, graded channels that guide water away from structures. They can be grassy, lined with drainage rock, or designed as decorative dry stream beds.
Managing Stormwater on Your Property
Our turf and plants need water, so we don’t want to push water out of our landscapes as fast as possible. Grading turfed areas to allow rainwater to soak in without ponding supports healthy growth.
The water can be caught by swales and French drains can be moved to areas where it is an asset. For some clients we’ve created planted bogs to receive excess water and support a beautiful planting using plants that are adapted to moist to wet conditions, similar to a rain garden.
Many municipalities encourage homeowners to manage stormwater runoff on their property to prevent more pressure on our stormwater systems. These systems are expensive to upgrade, and that means more taxes. By handling runoff effectively, we protect landscapes, homes, and infrastructure.
This drainage swale with decorate rock and incorporated plantings is an attractive way to move water to an inlet.
The rock swale on the left directs water to the two planted bogs. If they both fill, water overflows into the pond.
Spring Planting
Birds are singing, bees and butterflies are starting to come out and it’s time to think about sprucing up your landscape. Whether you just want a few new plants or a whole new look, spring is a great time to plant while temperatures are mild and spring rains take some of the work out of watering.
Consider adding some natives to your landscape:
- butterfly weed – bright orange flowers in summer attract butterflies
- purple coneflower – beautiful flowers frequented by butterflies and seedbeds that draw in goldfinches; ‘Fragrant Angel’ has white, strongly fragrant blooms; ‘Tiki Torch’ lights up your garden large orange blooms
- ‘Sgt. Pepper’ red twig dogwood – green and cream variegated leaves edged with pink are followed by bright red stems in the fall for multiseason interest
- ‘Sugar Shack’ buttonbush – cute white puffball blooms in summer are followed by red fruit in the fall. Great for butterflies, pollinators and hummingbirds.
- ‘Native Flame’ Carolina ironwood – nicely sized tree for most yards with beautiful fall foliage
If deer have put some holes in your landscape, consider adding one or more of these more deer resistant plants:
- ‘Grey Owl’ juniper – This cultivar of our native juniper has silvery grey foliage, and grows to about 3-4′ tall and 5-6′ wide.
- Japanese plum yew – A yew-like evergreen with several good cultivars: ‘Fastigiata’ is a great upright evergreen, 6-8′ tall 2-3′ wide; ‘Golden Dragon’ is low with gold tips, 2-3′ tall 2-3′ wide; and ‘Repandens’ is a low growing evergreen ground cover, 2-3′ tall 4-5′ wide.
- boxwood – A classic evergreen, ‘Little Missy’ grows 2-3′ tall and wide, ‘Independence’ 3-4′ tall and wide, and ‘Freedom’ 4-5′ tall and wide. All have good disease and insect resistance but ‘Independence’ and ‘Freedom’ are particularly resistant to boxwood blight.
- ‘Blue Point’ juniper – Upright blue green foliage makes this evergreen a great accent plant, and a good, if smaller, substitute for Colorado blue spruce, which can develop needle blight.
- ‘Globosa’ Colorado blue spruce – While the tree forms can succumb to needle blight, this dwarf evergreen tends to be resistant and makes a great accent plant. The deer give it two thumbs down.
