Eco-Friendly Landscape Design

Landscape architecture is both an art and a science. Designing outdoor spaces that are both beautiful and land sensitive is a holistic approach to the craft, one that prioritizes longevity and care. The following projects embody that ethos, utilizing eco-friendly strategies that both protect and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape.

Luscious Layers: Gregory Lombardi Design

Designed to establish a strong visual connection to the ocean, this landscape design utilizes lush layers of plants and vegetation to create a protective seaside oasis. With careful consideration of rising sea levels, plantings were strategically selected and placed to shield the property from strong saltwater winds.

“The landscape is exposed to wind, saltwater, and storms that come up and down the coast,” says Troy Sober, principal of Gregory Lombardi Design. “We had to be very thoughtful in preparing a sustainable landscape that would weather storms, work with the rising sea water elevation over time, and meet the coastal requirements of a home this close to the water.”

The design team incorporated paths and hardscape throughout the landscape to create easy access around the property and to the beach below. Each path features protective plantings such as fountain grass, salt tolerant junipers, drought resilient Russian sage, purple catmint, white thyme, Shasta daisies, and Annabelle hydrangeas.

Wrapped in Freshwater Pearl, a raised spa sits above the lower lawn and shoreline. This elevated space is kept safely out of the water’s flood and velocity zones.

(Photography: Neil Landino, Anton Grassl, Holly Charbonnier, Landscape Architect: Gregory Lombardi Design, Architect: DSK Dewing Schmid Kerns Architects, Builder: Parker Construction, Landscape: R.P. Marzilli & Company, Inc.,)

Paradise Found: Katherine Field & Associates

This flourishing gardenscape was designed as a dynamic ‘living painting’ that prioritizes the health of the site’s natural environment. “Paradise Found,” a historic farmhouse and studio once home to 19th century painter and stained glass artist John LaFarge, saw a complete restoration in 2016.

Landscape-wise, the challenge for the team at KFA was to protect the native ecosystems, maintain the natural beauty of the existing landscape, connect to the Victorian farmhouse vernacular, and enhance the overall site for clients, who are horticulturists at heart.

As the property sloped to a narrow intermittent stream, care was taken to minimize disruption to the sensitive environment. Brilliant and colorful rain gardens were incorporated as natural interceptors of surface flow toward the stream, and were strategically placed to catch runoff from the roof and hardscape areas. To further maintain the delicate environment, the homeowners prioritize organic lawn and plant management practices. 

An extensive perennial and rose garden, consisting of over one thousand individual plants and hundreds of plant varieties, graces the landscape adjacent to a vegetable garden. A privet hedge along the street was replaced with a tapestry hedge made up of a mix of native shrubs. To honor the stream beyond, the landscape team designed planting beds in a river-like sequence; each group of plants was thoughtfully placed by hand to ensure a balanced color palette and three seasons of bloom.

(Photography: Anthony Crisafulli, Architect: Spring Street Studio, Builder: K&R Construction, Landscape Architect: Katherine Field & Associates, Landscape Contractors: Aquidneck Landworks and Landscape Creations)