Although a green, golf-course-worthy lawn has been a point of pride for many despite the challenges of irrigation and chemical weed prevention necessary to maintain it, today’s concerns about climate change and chemical exposure shift the focus from manicured lawns to nurtured greenways and drought-resistant native plantings.
Maple Mews, a Merchantville condominium community, is making a concerted effort toward creating a more sustainable landscape. After a year-long campaign, the board, spearheaded by resident Janice Wilson Stridick, began exploring landscape alternatives with the advice and assistance of members of the Merchantville Green Team and Incredible Edible Merchantville.
Among the results:
• Planting gardens to replace empty mulched beds. These include a native pollinator garden along the parking lot and vegetable gardens.
• Removing invasive species
The community would also like to implement rain barrels and drip hoses for foundation plantings, both which conserve water and reduce water bills, and to reduce mulch volcanoes around trees to allow roots to breathe, moisture to be retained, and maintenance costs to be reduced. Under consideration is the addition of two picnic tables and benches, which invite outdoor gatherings.
Kudos to the board and residents of Maple Mews, for making the effort to build on Merchantville’s sustainability goals by finding ways to conserve water, planting native perennials and drought-tolerant groundcovers, and allowing the grass to grow an inch longer, all of which saves on maintenance costs while creating an eco-friendly landscape for all to enjoy.