BayScapes
Credit: USFWSBayScape at MD State Treasury Building
BayScaping: landscaping for the benefit of people, wildlife, your local stream and the Chesapeake Bay.
Would you like to save time and money in your yard, while improving water quality and habitat for wildlife? Then plant a BayScape!
What is a BayScape?
Simply, a BayScape is a beautiful landscape, planted and maintained to benefit people, the local environment, and the Chesapeake Bay.
A BayScaped landscape is great for the environment. It uses native plants to:
- provide habitat for local and migratory animals
- improve water quality
- reduce the need for chemical pesticides and herbicides
A BayScape is also valuable for the gardener or landowner because it:
- offers greater visual interest than lawn
- reduces the time and expense of mowing, watering, fertilizing and treating lawn and garden areas
- can address areas with problems such as erosion, poor soils, steep slopes or poor drainage
Installing BayScapes on properties in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed helps improve local streams and waterways, the Bay's waters and the habitat the area provides. The principles of BayScaping have also been applied to many other regions and you my have heard of it already under another name such as “xeriscaping,” “beneficial landscaping,” or “conservation landscaping.”
Creating a BayScape…
For residents of the Jennifer Branch Watershed, the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy will cover 50% of the cost for the first two BayScaped yards as part of our Jennifer Branch Preservation Project. In addition, we can provide technical assistance through the Baltimore County Master Gardeners program. Contact Heather Wight hgwight@comcast.net or 410-357-8285 for more information or to get your landscaped certified as BayWise!
BayScaping can be as simple as a few native potted plants on your balcony, or as elaborate as tearing up your whole lawn and replacing it with native planting beds. To explore BayScaping more on your own, follow these links from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:
- Use one of the Native Plant Guides to choose native plants.
- Know your site.
- Avoid invasive species.
- Emulate a natural area.
Remember, using native plants, it’s hard to goof. There are no right or wrong answers. If you plant something and later think it would look better in a different spot, move it. If you plant too much of something or a plant has spread more than anticipated, share with friends. If a plant dies, replace it. If you want more of something, collect its seeds and spread it around. Many natives tolerate a wide range of conditions, particularly in a garden setting where there is less competition from weeds and other plants. No matter what, you are likely to succeed. So have fun with it!
Material Credits: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
