The Native Knoll
What was once a flat entrance has been revitalized into an experience that takes visitors around a seasonal and spatial “clock” that serves as habitat for birds and pollinators.
The Native Knoll
What was once a flat entrance has been revitalized into an experience that takes visitors around a seasonal and spatial “clock” that serves as habitat for birds and pollinators.
About this Project
Late Spring 2026
This North-Central New Jersey project took a difficult-to-navigate home entrance path, and created a much safer and beautiful way to approach the front door. The path made of locally sourced bluestone gently wraps around two mounds dubbed “the Knoll,” filled with dense layers of native perennial forbs and gramminoids, and a shrubby witch hazel.
This “seasonal clock” not only provides seasonal views to the living room, front porch, and driveway, it creates rich habitat for local birds, pollinators, and critters that make up this forested home to many.
Underneath all the beauty lies a stormwater management system that conveys rainwater collected from the sloped front yard to the downhill side of the home. Boulders that were originally onsite were re-positioned to complement the living beauty of the Native Knoll.
featured plant
Great Blue Lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica
Project Facts
Native Plant Count: 524
Planted Area: 625 sqft
Repurposed: 10 boulders, transplanted dozens of disturbed plants, infill with excess soil already on site
Plant Palette: Arkansas Amsonia, Columbine, False Blue Indigo, Wild Bergamot, Purple Coneflower, Swamp Milkweed, Threadleaf tickseed, Hyssop-Anise, Great Blue Lobelia, Sweet Goldenrod, White Wood Aster, Aromatic Aster, Gayfeather, Witch Hazel, Path Rush, Fox Sedge, Appalachian Mountain Mint, Purple Lovegrass
Ecosystem Services: Pollinator support, water runoff control, habitat and food source for birds
Hardscaping: Locally sourced multi-colored bluestone flagstone, mult-colored gravel, stormwater management system beneath path and beds.
Seasonal Interest: This knoll was designed as a “seasonal clock” to show drifts of early spring blooms (columbine), spring-summer (tickseed), mid-summer (goldenrod), late summer/fall (aster, amsonia), and winter (witch hazel).
“From the initial consultation, it was clear that they understood our vision and what was important to us. Their presentations were clear, educational, and thorough, and they were very patient as we went through a few design modifications.
They are masters with the technology that they used, and were perfectionists as the design was implemented.
It is clear they truly care about their work and they want their customers to be happy with the results.”
Client Testimony
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