Guyette Rain Garden
The Point Breeze family was looking to create a natural backyard play space for their children. While they had no pressing issues with stormwater, our design aimed to capture as much runoff as possible within a visually stimulating and aesthetically varied backyard space.
We worked with C&R Landscape Development to construct the hardscape elements (a patio space, stone path and steps) and excavate the rain garden and swales. The rain garden is the centerpiece of the design, curving gently around the patio deck. The garden is planted with a colorful range of native perennials, chosen with a mind to creating year-long visual interest. The garden captures water from the house and garage; downspouts connect to buried pipes which outlet into the garden.
The nature play elements include a bamboo tee-pee, covered with vining honeysuckle, and a stone spiral maze winding around an existing tree. Two large handmade planter boxes are used by the family to experiment with growing their own food. It was important that the children be able to move through the space freely, without worrying too much about crushing any plants. A beautiful handmade bridge spans the width of the garden; a smaller footbridge jumps a swale further up. At the time of installation, the ground was covered in a layer of mulch, to discourage weeds, but we are planning to replace this in 2021 with a softer (and more child friendly!) ground cover.
