Yard Design online

September 4, 2017
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With the arrival of spring, the Alliance has launched a new online Yard Design Tool that helps property owners in the Chesapeake Bay watershed create personalized planting plans for their properties. The tool can be found at allianceforthebay.org

The step-by-step, user-friendly tool walks homeowners through a series of questions about their yards and the type of garden they would like to plant. Users can choose to design either a Conservation Landscape or a Rain Garden. A Conservation Landscape is similar to traditional landscaping, but focuses on plants that are native to the Chesapeake Bay region. Rain Gardens use native plants too, but focus more on capturing water and infiltrating it into the ground. Rain Gardens are also more labor-intensive to design and plant.

Does your yard have sandy, silt, or clay soils? This is one of several steps the tool walks you through while designing a Conservation Landscape.

The design tool is part of the Alliance’s “Reduce Your Stormwater” project, which educates citizens about stormwater pollution and inspires them to take action. The Reduce Your Stormwater website contains a wealth of information on steps anyone can take in their daily lives or on their properties to reduce stormwater. Steps range from cleaning up after your pet, to installing a rain barrel, to using pervious pavers instead of asphalt or concrete. Planting a Conservation Landscape or Rain Garden helps by soaking up stormwater, filtering the air and water, requiring less fertilizers and pesticides, and attracting wildlife.

The tool is designed for use by anyone in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. However, homeowners in two sub-watersheds (the Yellow Breeches watershed in Pennsylvania and the Middle James River watershed in Virginia) may be eligible to receive up to 80% off planting materials for their gardens after using the tool. Visit the tool to find out if you live in either of these watersheds. Whether or not you do, we hope you enjoy designing a beautiful native garden for your yard! You’ll be making a difference not only for yourself, but for your local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.

Source: www.allianceforthebay.org



Landscaping Tips

Though your home is your castle, there is no necessity to surround it with a moat. Here are 5 tips that will help you to make your landscaping feel more warm, welcoming and cozy.

1. Put some flowers nearby your entrance. Flowers make any area look more welcoming and attractive, so greeting your guests with Petunia, Snapdragon, Lily-of-the-Nile or some other garden flowers is always a great thing to do. What is more, to add some space between your house and the entrance, you can consider adding a little white fence. It will create an illusion that your front yard is bigger than it actually is. What is more, adding fence will create a great space for planting flowers to add some color and coziness.

2. Add rambling vines to make your yard look absolutely lovely. You can not deny that rambling vines always create romantic and even magical atmosphere. So why not to use this tip while decorating your yard?

3. To hide the unattractive driveway, consider adding some color, texture, and height. You can easily do it by adding various sorts of flowers. To start, create an island of green lawn right in the hub of a drive. Then add a couple of low boxwood hedges with flowers toward the back of your island.

4. If you want your yard to blossom and flourish bust still do not have enough time to maintain it, consider planting low-fuss lilies. Such flowers look absolutely gorgeous and come in the variety of rainbow hues, so you can pick the one you love most. What is more, low-fuss lilies do not care about the sort of soil, they love the sun and welcome hot, they do not afraid of drought. In other words, Crinums is an ideal flower for all those who are looking for low-maintenance solutions.

5. The last tip also touches the low-maintenance aspect. To make your life easier, group plantings into beds and islands. This will help you to avoid mowing and trimming around each individual plant, save a lot of time and even money.

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