As a landscape design firm, we focus on finding innovative approaches and sustainable solutions when dealing with complex issues in the landscape. Invasive weeds, struggling or inappropriately placed turf grass lawns, and standing water are just some of the problems we encounter. Our field experience allows us to design custom treatments unique to each site.
SUSTAINABILITY
Water Issues
Urban and suburban landscapes often require critical thinking about issues of on-site hydrology: frequent standing water, water seepage into surrounding structures, or stormwater run-off instead of retaining water on-site via filtration. Light Dark assesses the hydrology of each site and incorporates methods of land management to direct water away from structures through the use of pervious surfaces, rain cisterns, rain chains, dry creeks, alternative landforms such as swales and berms, and rain gardens planted with species that will utilize the water instead of sending it down a storm sewer or into our waterways.
Turf Alternatives
There are many places in the landscape where traditional landscape interventions don’t work well – deep shade, slopes, boulevards, parking areas among others. Instead of using negative inputs in the form of water and fertilizer or traditional hardscape, we recommend alternative planting schemes or materials that look good, need few inputs, and look to more sustainable and renewable resources.
Sustainable Removal
Light Dark Landscape is committed to 100% chemical-free, organic landscaping. We believe removal is a big part of the design process and have worked with clients to remove both invasive species as well as turf grass through organic methods such as sheet mulching, solarization, hand removal, or minimal mechanical methods only when necessary to avoid soil compaction.
We have also harnessed the power of animals to aid us in our work. At a site adjacent to a closed wetland we collaborated with a local farmer to temporarily house woodland pigs within an area overrun with burdock, a noxious weed with a deep tap root. Burdock happens to be a favorite food of pigs, especially the fleshy root; they thoroughly rooted the soil and removed a large percentage of the burdock plants and roots.
