This colloquy will consider the current climate of landscape design as it moves towards a more native plant palette. We will consider landscapes that can serve the natural world while providing a more sustainable solution for the built environment. We all remember the “mixed border” as a designing tool, which gave way to naturalistic plantings using “drifts”. In recent years, designers have turned their attention to plant based strategies that mimic nature with concepts of layering, and plantings based on a “matrix”. Discussions will focus on how plants can do the work in the garden by understanding their functions and relationships to each other. 

Avy Claire and Cathy Rees, co-founders of the Native Gardens of Blue Hill, have been maintaining and designing garden landscapes on the Blue Hill Peninsula for 20+ years. Their integrated approach navigates between the needs of human behavior and protecting and enhancing a bio-diverse landscape. 

  ▼ Syllabus/Reading