Forests

Due to the shallow, rocky fill used to cover a marsh and ephemeral stream that had originally wound through the courtyard, we looked to an Alvar for our reference ecosystem. Thankfully Alvars are resilient ecosystems home to a wonderful diversity of trees and shrubs. In total, we planted 870 trees and shrubs. We also planted an Alvar inspired Pocket Meadow between the two Little Forests. 

This was a challenging site. It's a courtyard that's surrounded on three sides by buildings and on the fourth side by a stone wall and parking lot. It's baking hot and noisy in the summer thanks to the large air conditioning unit on the library situated to the south. Residents are excited to convert this hot, noisy courtyard into a soothing green sanctuary filled with the songs and birds and insects.