“The downspout used to flood the path to our dock. Abril and Diego planted a basin beside it, and the swamp milkweed was covered in monarch caterpillars by August.”
Keisha W.Rain garden
Native and pollinator gardens
Native gardens that give Bay-front rain somewhere to go
Rain gardens, pollinator borders and shoreline plantings for Annapolis homes on the water. A three-person crew designs each one for your sun, your soil and your downspouts.
Where the water goes
Your roof's rain ends up in the creek. A garden can catch it first.
On a waterfront lot, roof water runs across the lawn and over the bank. A rain garden is a shallow planted basin that holds that water for a day or two and lets it soak in.
We measure the roof and the slope, test how fast your soil drains, then size the basin and choose plants that take wet feet and dry spells.
Sized to the roof or pavement that drains into it
Natives that handle a flooded week and a dry August
An overflow path for the biggest storms
A drawing of what goes where before any digging
Plant lists
Choose by sun and by how wet the ground gets
Starting lists from the plants we use most around the Bay. The list for your lot comes after the site visit.
- 01
Full sun, dry to average
Open beds and sunny borders where the soil drains well. These are the long bloomers that bees and butterflies work from June to frost.
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)
- 02
Full sun, wet or moist
The floor of a rain garden and the low corner where water stands after a storm. These roots take a few days under water, then a dry August.
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Sweet Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum)
Blue flag iris (Iris versicolor)
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
- 03
Part shade to shade, dry
Under oaks and beside the house, where roots compete and the soil dries out by midsummer. Low, steady plants that knit together.
Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Wild ginger (Asarum canadense)
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
Blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia)
- 04
Part shade to shade, moist
Low spots under trees and the downhill side of a shaded downspout. Ferns, spring bloom and a shrub that feeds the birds.
Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum)
Lady fern (Athyrium angustum)
Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
- 05
Bay edge: salt wind and brackish soil
The strip nearest the shore, where spray, wind and a high water table take out most garden plants. Salt-tolerant natives that also hold the bank.
Northern bayberry (Morella pensylvanica)
Wax myrtle (Morella cerifera)
Seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens)
Saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens)
Marsh hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Groundsel tree (Baccharis halimifolia)
A year in the garden
What happens in the beds, month by month
The Maryland calendar: plant in fall and early spring, let it bloom through summer, leave the seed heads for the birds.
- 01Late February – March
Cut back and clean up
Last year's stems come down and the beds get a light mulch. Birds have used the seed heads all winter.
- 02April – May
Spring planting
Bare-root shrubs and potted perennials go in while the ground is cool and moist.
- 03June – August
Establishing
First-year plants need regular water. We leave a written watering plan for your lot.
- 04July – August
Peak bloom
Milkweed, bee balm and Joe-Pye weed carry the pollinators through the heat.
- 05September – October
Fall planting
Roots grow while the tops rest. This is our main planting season.
- 06November – February
Leave it standing
Seed heads stay for finches and sparrows, and hollow stems shelter insects over winter.
Pricing
What decides the price of a native garden
There is no price list, because every lot drains differently. Here is how the number is made.
- 01
What decides the price
Native gardens are priced by the job, not by the square foot, because these things move the number:
How much ground is planted
How much roof or pavement drains into it
Your soil and slope
Plant sizes: plugs, quarts or gallons
How far a wheelbarrow has to travel from the street
- 02
What the estimate includes, and what it doesn't
A drawing of the planting, the plants by name and count, turf and soil removal, mulch, delivery and cleanup. It leaves out county permit fees, irrigation, fencing, patios and tree work.
- 03
What happens at the visit
Janet or Abril walks the lot, measures the roof and the slope, and tests how fast your soil drains with a hole and a bucket of water. Plan on about an hour, and tell us where you want flowers.
- 04
Materials and who buys them
We choose, order and plant the plants and mulch. If you have plants of your own to move, we work them into the plan.
- 05
How and when you pay
A deposit when you accept the estimate, so plants can be ordered, and the balance when the planting is finished. Dates and amounts are written on your estimate.
- 06
When you get the number
In writing, before any digging, as one price for the work drawn on the plan. If you ask for more later, we write it down and price it before we do it.
From clients
After the first big rain
“Janet walked the shoreline with us and drew the planting in pencil before anyone picked up a shovel. The final bill matched the written estimate.”
Colm R.Shoreline planting
“We traded a strip of lawn for a meadow border. It looked thin the first spring and filled in by the second.”
Svetlana H.Pollinator border
Sample reviews.
Service area
Annapolis and the shoreline around it
Find your town. If it isn't listed, call and ask before you rule us out.
Anne Arundel County
- Annapolis
- Eastport
- Arnold
- Cape St. Claire
- Severna Park
- Pasadena
- Edgewater
- Mayo
- Riva
- Crownsville
- Davidsonville
- Shady Side
- Deale
Queen Anne's County
- Stevensville
We don't plant on the Eastern Shore beyond Kent Island, north of the Patapsco River or in Washington, D.C., and we don't take commercial grounds or lawn mowing.
Questions
Before you call
What does a native garden cost?
It depends on how much ground is planted, how much roof or pavement drains into it, your soil and slope, and how big the plants are when they go in. We price from a site visit and send a written estimate before any digging.
When is the right time to plant?
Fall is our main planting season: roots grow while the tops rest. Early spring works too. We plant in summer only when a watering plan is in place.
Does a rain garden breed mosquitoes?
A rain garden is built to empty within a day or two after a storm, which is shorter than mosquitoes need to develop in standing water. At the visit we test how fast your soil drains, and we size the basin to match.
Will native plants look messy beside a tidy lawn?
They can, when they're left to sprawl. We plant in drifts, keep taller plants toward the back and give each bed a clean edge, so it reads as designed. Seed heads stay up through winter for birds, and we cut them back in late winter.
Are you licensed and insured?
We're a registered Maryland business and carry general liability insurance. The registration is listed at the foot of every page, and you can ask for the certificate of insurance before work starts.
Can you plant right at the water's edge?
Often, with care. Land within 1,000 feet of tidal water is part of Maryland's Critical Area, where the county reviews planting and clearing near the shore. We tell you at the visit what applies to your lot; the county has the final word.
What areas do you serve?
Annapolis, the Anne Arundel County shoreline and Kent Island. The list of towns above says plainly where we don't go.
Contact
Tell us where the water stands
Tell us about the lot, or text a photo. We call back to set up a site visit.
Phone(410) 555-0100
Text(410) 555-0100
Hours
- Monday – FridayToday
- 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- SaturdayToday
- By appointment, April – October
- SundayToday
- Closed