Ecological Landscape Design
Damascus Historical Society
Ecological beneficial landscape designed to enhance a nationally recognized historic property's attractiveness and solve stormwater issues.
Project Purpose
The three goals of this project were to create a biodiverse low maintenance landscape, resolve runoff issues, and increase the beauty of the landscape around the historic building.
Design Approach
The Damascus Grade School landscape provided a great canvas to improve local biodiversity and add attractiveness to the historic building. The main consideration was creating a landscape that fosters biodiversity while keeping maintenance low and curb appeal high.
Addressing Concentrated Gutter Runoff
The schoolhouse gutters are routed to a singular pipe that discharges into the lawn. Nearly all turf grass was absent from the flow area due to the velocity and regularity of the excess water. Although the grass species could not thrive in that area, a population of purple violets (Viola sororia) and mature sugar maples (Acer saccharum) were more than happy to receive the extra hydration.
Yet, the water was still eroding the soil and running off instead of penetrating. To solve this issue in a way that is both ecologically sound and cost-effective, native understory shrubs and forbs were selected to absorb the runoff and slow its flow so that it would penetrate the soil. To minimize disturbance to the mature preexisting trees, plugs of native plants were used to keep planting depth at a minimum.