Pollinator planting design by Home Outside. Photo: Susan Teare
Planting helps make the world more resilient in the face of climate change. At Home Outside, we consider climate resilience in everything we do. Intentional planting design can perform the following functions:
· reduce water and energy usage
· prevent erosion
· sequester carbon
· provide food sources and shelter for native species
· absorb and filter floodwater
We aspire to curate our garden collections to stack multiple environmental benefits. Wherever possible, we select for nectar and pollen food sources to augment the number of pollinators and increase the number of host plants for birds and other wildlife. We seek to mitigate water use by designing drought-tolerant planting collections and by reducing impervious surfaces, and we craft rain gardens that help with water filtration and flooding. Our designs sequester carbon by using deep-rooted plants that accumulate carbon well under the surface.
As we take on creating garden designs for more regions of the country, you’ll see more resilient collections that help our earth withstand the many stresses we are all experiencing. And, of course, we always keep beauty and delight at the forefront of every design.
Wildflower meadow design by JMMDS. Photo: Susan Teare.
Birch trees underplanted with ferns, from New Landscaping Ideas That Work by Julie Moir Messervy (The Taunton Press, 2018). Design: Jeffrey Carbo, ASLA. Photo: Chipper Hatter.
Even a driveway can become a garden. Design and photo by JMMDS.
