A STREAM RUNS THROUGH IT
In this woodland-inspired garden, a fence-mounted copper trough delivers stormwater collected on the parlor-level terrace to the back of the space – directly into a designed dry stream.
Sometimes we conceal a drainage strategy, and sometimes a drainage strategy becomes a focal point.
The meandering bed of the stream, composed of local boulders and river stones, acts as a French drain and ends in a subsurface catchment basin that can handle more than 80 gallons of runoff during an extreme rain event.
Along the banks of the stream and throughout the garden, layered and limey plantings create a lush sense of privacy – and a bit of forest mystery.
Shade-lovers including kirengeshoma palmata, farfugium japonica, aralia cordata ‘sun king,’ and rodgersia pinnata ‘Superba’ offer focal points among clusters of ferns and swaths of wild ginger. A wave of neon hakonechloa macra ‘all gold’ breaks over the front of a (refreshed!) stacked stone wall.
17,500 GALLONS DIVERTED PER YEAR
SEWERSHED: RH-016
OUTFALL: EAST RIVER (LOWER)
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAKE SALYERS