GRIMM BOYD RESIDENCE  
Client: Jessica Grim and Alan Boyd |  Location: Oberlin, Ohio
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This old farmhouse is set within a serene rural landscape. The property itself is filled with mature trees and a cluster of charming outbuildings. Jessica and Alan ,avid gardeners themselves, installed handsome planting beds on the west and north sides of the house. They also laid out a lovely patio amidst the outbuildings behind the house. The front (east) is graced by a sweeping driveway that meanders around the north side of the house. Despite these assets, the landscape had deficiencies. The plantings in front of the house were rather uninspiring and needed addressed. On the south side, over-grown trees had been removed recently for safety reasons, leaving a sun-baked void. Additionally, Alan and Jessica wished to reduce their weekly mowing chores. We devised a master plan featuring six large native prairie meadows with broad, flowing lines that echo the graceful lines of the driveway. We proposed to install fast-establishing plugs in the beds nearest the house, then seed the meadows further away. To date we have installed two meadows, containing some 1,600 plugs. These meadows will require only one (optional) annual mowing and no petro-chemical inputs or water. Weeds were subdued using recycled paper sub-mulch. By the end of the first growing season the new meadows were lush.
Phase I 2006 : Two Native Prairie Meadows
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Service: Designer and Contractor

LUCK RESIDENCE  
Client: Dennis and Joan Luck |  Location: Oberlin, Ohio
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The catastrophic decline of a massive multi-stemmed oak tree in the rear garden forced Dennis and Joan cut it down and deal with the aftermath. With the water-sucking capability of the tree gone and the neighbor’s newly paved driveway in place, drainage became the primary concern. (Not to mention other concerns like the sudden increase in sun/heat, and a decrease in privacy.) Nevertheless, standing water and foul-smelling root decay dominated this once favorite spot in the Luck’s garden. Our core response was to place a ‘rain garden’ directly over the area where the tree once stood. We felt this area would always be unstable for paving, and the rain garden would support plants capable of thriving with periodic wetness. We added an over flow inlet in case the rain garden became inundated and a perforated tile along the side to capture the neighbor’s run off.
The paving surface surrounding the rain garden is porous ‘bonded gravel’ under laid with a thick gravel base. Also, for shade and privacy we built a three-legged trellis made of locust trunks and native cedar branches. The aesthetics of the project was driven by leftover materials the Luck’s had lying around (wood, brick and stone). These were fashioned in a way to appeal to the Luck’s fondness for Japanese gardens.
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Service: Designer and Contractor