In the summer of 2019, we were contracted to create a landscape for a residential property on Spruce Street in Beacon, NY. The residents expressed a desire for the property to feel more unified, for the spaces to be more usable, and a request to implement erosion control solutions on the steep slopes. The property owners shared with us that the property had been pieced together over time through residential land trades and purchases, creating a modular layout that felt somewhat disconnected. While the property was quite sizable, the challenge lied in weaving together each module of the property and incorporating them into one whole functional landscape. 

The design included plans for extensive native and edible plantings, bluestone retaining walls along elevation contours, a boulder retaining wall, a rain garden, dense erosion control plantings, an herb spiral, several new garden beds, construction of a three foot neighbor-friendly cedar fence around the front yard, reconstruction of a pre-existing deck and the implementation of various landforms and paths in hopes to give the property a greater sense of continuity and cohesion.

Once our build team arrived at the site, we realized there were several logistic hurdles in our way. Of them all, one immediately comes to mind: Space. Space quickly became a commodity at Spruce Street. Space for an excavator to do preliminary earthwork, space to receive deliveries of materials (local lumber, stone, soil and woodchips), and space to move those materials to and fro without damaging or going over any work that had already been completed. By prioritizing tasks and developing an order of operations most of the work was completed without a hitch, but not all of it.

When an obstacle stands in our way, it’s time to get creative.

This site would eventually host a staircase constructed of locally sourced cedar logs pinned into the hillside that gradually leads from the upper front yard to the lower backyard. On either side of the staircase, tiers of rock retaining walls would hold back new garden beds filled with shade tolerant plants to the right and native edibles to the left. However, as the only way in or out from the property for materials, this steep slope would first have to act as a path for transport.

Voila! The slope which was too steep to safely carry loads of materials down by wheelbarrow or machine was transformed into a chute for materials. With the help of a kind delivery truck driver who used his dump truck to unload up and over the guard rail, 20 cubic yards of wood chips were delivered up. With some of the materials now in place and with the help of Baker Excavating, the One Nature team was now able to began working on what would soon be a much more vibrant, cohesive, and functional landscape. 

Native edibles and retaining walls and cedar fences! Oh my!

While some of the team began excavating footings for three retaining walls that would trace contours of elevation along the property and gently taper into the property edge, other members of the team began planting an extensive erosion control garden bed filled with native edible species. The site for the edible plantings was a steep hillside which was going unused due to the generations of invasive plants that inhabited the area. A sort-of “no man’s land” on the western edge of the property that we wanted to transform into an area of bounty. In order to do so, dozens of resilient native plants were planted in to the hillside which would help mitigate the rapid erosion that was taking place there. Separated from the rest of the backyard by a fence, the upper edge of the hillside was densely planted with chokeberry, bayberry, elderberry so that the children in the family could easily reach over the fence and access the bounty of berries. A further step in mitigating the erosion on the hillside, the twenty cubic yards of wood chips (staged neatly by the hillside’s edge with the previously pictured chute) were distributed along the hillside. With several inches of wood chips in place, the surface flow of future rainwater which may otherwise quickly travel down the hillside carrying sediment along with it, would be slowed enough to be absorbed into the ground and utilized by the new plantings.

Terrace excavation and bluestone retaining walls

Before the excavation and construction of these retaining walls, this area was dominated by non-native hydrangea. These were replaced with native oakleaf hydrangea, sweet pepperbushes and other native species that will continue to grow and fill out the new garden beds. To provide additional lighting in this area the massive mulberry tree in the picture above was respectfully limbed, opening up the canopy above the garden beds and giving breath to the area. The mulberry tree, whose limbs were twisting and strangling themselves, would also benefit from the trimming of some of the branches. As promised to the homeowner, critical branches which easily lent themselves to the hands of children eager to pick its fruit were left untouched.

Remodeling the front yard

The newly remodeled front yard includes a reimagined layout of the pre-existing lilac bushes and raised beds while generating more garden bed space and maximizing space in the modestly sized front yard. It was important to utilize this space as efficiently as possible and to give room for the family’s youngsters to play safely within the newly fenced in area. The client’s often remarked how happy they were to step out of the front door onto the soft cedar deck with bare feet to breathe in the aromatic scents of the fresh wood warm in the summer sunlight.

With wooden elements dominating the front yard and stone elements in the back, this area pictured above acts as a transition between the two. A boulder retaining wall reinforces the stone elements of the retaining walls beneath it while giving structure and form to the front yard above it. A staircase was constructed out of locally harvested cedar logs which were pinned into the hillside (the same hillside that previously hosted the chute for wood chips) and cradled between garden beds on either side. Cedar logs were chosen so that the cedar elements of the front yard would stretch and continue out of that area, thus joining together areas of wood and stone and giving a cohesive sense of balance and harmony between materials.

Every property we are hired to work on is unique and has its own set of characteristics, challenges and opportunities. While each job site will have its own scope of work and requirements, our goal is always the same - to maximize our client’s enjoyment of their land, to benefit the ecosystem we are working within, and, always, to regenerate the planet one place at a time. It was a pleasure to meet this goal at Spruce Street and to work with the folks who call it home. We hope their young ones like their newly transformed wonderland and enjoy the newly planted berry bushes which will grow and mature as they do.