The purpose of this garden was to improve the curb appeal of the new building, provide a living screen between the front of my client’s house and the road, (just 23 feet from the building), create privacy around the outdoor shower, while making the back side of the house segue to the meadow beyond. To troubleshoot the space and drainage limitations on the road side of the building, I applied a concept I learned in my Permaculture Design class- build a low soil berm planted with a mixture of clumping grasses parallel to the road, so that water runoff from the road would not pool in the garden, but instead be diverted towards an existing culvert. The grasses on the berm will form a solid screen in 2-3 seasons, a nice backdrop for the compact river birches and Amelanchier trees and mix of flowering perennials viewed from the pathway, many of which are Northeast natives. The client really admires Piet Oudolf’s work, (and so do I), so another goal was to create the effect of passing through a mini meadow from the parking area to the front step landing and out the back door. For those who don’t know, Piet Oudolf designed the gardens for the now famous High Line, a park situated along an old elevated train track running though NYC’s West Chelsea, Meatpacking District and Hell’s Kitchen neighborhoods) Definitely worth a visit if you like gardens superimposed over man made objects!