Water is making headlines here at Native Landscapes because it’s become more of an issue on many of our properties and around our homes. Heavy rains over the winter are forcing many of us to make smarter landscape decisions by properly managing water sustainability around our home and garden.

Proper downspout and footing drains should be installed around the house during construction and renovation. Drainage patterns can become challenging, especially when working with steep grades where water gains momentum and can cause erosion problems.

Rain Gardening is a fairly new, exciting concept that is an environmentally friendly approach by managing surface runoff and, at the same time, creating a garden unlike any we have ever planted. Installation of Rain Gardens will regenerate cleaner ground water and introduce many of us to a wildlife-friendly group of plants that will open our senses to some interesting natives. These kettle areas are zones in our landscape that allow water to slowly and cleanly regenerate groundwater. This concept is so important, especially in the Pawling area, because we are the headwaters to the Croton Reservoir system which is a New York City water supply.

New rules and regulations on how we manage our storm water runoff are now new laws. Anything we can do in our yards to sustain cleaner water and to preserve the environment might just save us money in the future. I call this smart landscaping.