Tree islands and berms are one of the key strategies of creating a long term, natural environment surrounding a home. Trees anchor the planting area followed by swaths of shrubs and grasses, and ornamental rockwork. Tree islands should be low maintenance with a focus on structural plants but also provide great habitat for birds and pollinators. These areas offer year round structure – even in winter.

In a Kerplantz planting plan, the lawn space is important but how you plan to use the space leads to different options. Seed mixes are great for areas with foot traffic. Traditional Kentucy bluegrass is still the best option for high foot traffic areas. Low foot traffic areas have many options including mowed fescue and eco lawns, bee lawns, and no mow lawns and prairies.

Planned meadows are also great for low traffic areas. A Kerplantz meadow is any planting that is uniformly 2’ high or shorter. They generally are anchored by one or two grasses to fill space and provide year long structure. The spaces between are fun areas for seasonal flowers, leaf contrasts, and pollinator plants.

If you have a slope, you know the problems: they often don’t grow grass well, they start to erode, and if you have to mow it can be downright dangerous. Often people think the only option is to “level it out” with a tall modular block wall along the sidewalk. A solution which often isn’t the most attractive and leads to it’s own set of maintenance problems. A mix of rocks (walls or outcrops) and plants are perfect solutions to slope problems. Both rocks and plant material help anchor the soil, minimizing erosion. Planting plans can include anything from shrubs, to mono-swaths of grasses, to meadow mixes that provide both a functional solution and aesthetic appeal to the landscape.

Raingardens, channels, and drainage work have a place in every Kerplantz landscape. They not only can solve water issues and save our storm water systems but can be a central feature in the landscape design. A Kerplantz raingarden follows the same principles of any of our plantings.

So you don’t want a lawn – what’s the least maintenance thing you can do to just “fill land”? Almost every piece of land in our service area really wants to go back to being woods so the lowest maintenance approach is to intentionally plant a small woods. Kerplantz mini-forests are composed of mixed trees planted fairly densely with shrubs and under plantings to cover the ground.

Our Kerplantz planting plans develop cohesive, long-term and structural plantings that feel like they were “born there” and make maintenance easy. Using strategies including, tree islands, planting swaths, and seeded lawns, we create spaces that look cohesive and put together with a unique and personal flair.