East Setauket Residence

Client’s Goals

After having a beautiful stone wall and walkway installed by local craftsman, Steve Antos, the client wanted to rethink the front yard plantings of this community facing home. We worked toward a design that respects the refined character of this historic neighborhood while reducing lawn and filling new planting beds with native plants that support birds and pollinators. And of course, it had to be deer resistant even on a main street.

Design Process

During the first spring we installed new planting beds that spanned full sun to partial shade and dry to moist conditions with key plants to establish the overall structure of the design. These included Arrowood Viburnum, Cinnamon fern, Summersweet shrub, goldenrod, Sweetfern, Little Bluestem, and New York fern among others.

The second year priority was to reduce the pressure from weeds by filling in gaps with more desirable plants. In natural systems, soil wants to be covered, and in designing landscapes we must plan for layers and gap-fillers to fulfill that role otherwise weeds will move in. Mulch can be a tool for covering soil after a new planting, but in time the plants themselves will grow and spread, and fallen leaves and stems will cover and nourish the soil.