M. HERNDON LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

we design PLACE-BASED landscapes
with emphasis on native plants
and pollinator gardens

...because biodiversity is beautiful...

butterfly monarch on aster
We believe that people feel most at home when they have access to a garden that integrates with the natural world and supports wild bird and pollinator species.

Our design approach gives careful consideration to site history and ecological address as a basis for choosing sustainable and place-based materials for hardscape and planting.

Our planting designs rely on a matrix technique for both beauty and sustainability because people are happiest when they live within a healthy and functional ecosystem.

Ecological address is similar to physical address but instead of state, town, street and house number, it includes ecoregion, watershed, forest community, soils, and habitat type. 

For example, an ecological address for a house in Harrisville, NH could be ‘grassland and wet shrub openings within a hemlock hardwood pine forest on  sandy loam on the Monadnock Plateau and the Merrimack River watershed.’

When we identify the ecological address of a place, not only does it help practitioners make functional design decisions, it also expands our clients’ sense of home into the natural world.

Matrix planting is a low maintenance layered technique popularized by the New Perennialist movement in Europe. Working with plant communities rather than individuals, matrix planting utilizes a “green groundcover” base layer that replaces bark mulch, and relies on flowering plant combinations for seasonal bloom sequences and fall color. Matrix planting makes a natural segue between a right sized lawn and an early-successional mix of taller shrubs, grasses and understory trees. It is also a functional choice in that it does not require irrigation, is relatively inexpensive to install and supports pollinators and songbirds.

design services

typically, our projects include the following:

Initial consultation

Site analysis and project goal identification

garden design

contractor selection 

garden maintenance management

We work collaboratively with homeowners, businesses, conservation minded landowners, architects, engineers, and building and landscape contractors.

I see so many more insects in my garden now, I feel like we're helping our little corner of the earth.
MATT
POLLINATOR GARDEN CLIENT

CURIOUS?

We’d love to chat.  Please call or email anytime.

PRESS

ARTICLES, PODCASTS AND EVENTS
We are far more innovative, creative, and powerful as gardeners than we imagine or give ourselves time for and together we make a difference.
Jennifer Jewell, Cultivating Place podcast
IN CONVERSATION WITH MEG