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Meadow edge — Maplewood

Maplewood, NJ 2023

Soft meadow planting easing into a mown path beside a suburban driveway.

Converted a rectangle of lawn beside a long driveway into a soft, mown-pathed meadow planting. Year three.

The Maplewood project replaced a 600-square-foot patch of lawn that nobody used with a low meadow planting of little bluestem, switchgrass, butterfly weed, mountain mint, and a scatter of black-eyed Susan. We left a soft mown path curving through it.

The path matters as much as the planting. A meadow surrounded by lawn reads as intentional; a meadow with no edges reads as neglect, and neighbors get nervous. The mown line tells everyone “this is a garden,” and lets the homeowners walk into it instead of just past it.

Year three the planting has the height and movement it was always going to have. The clients tell me the goldfinches in November are the best part — the dried seed heads keep them around long after most yards have gone quiet.

Could your yard be next?

I take on a small number of new projects each season so each one gets real attention. If you'd like to start a conversation, I'd love to hear about your space.

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