Bristol Avenue
Silver Spring, MD
Small • In the Ground
2022 APLD Silver Award Winner!
What was once a conventional lawn is now a living, productive landscape designed to nourish both people and wildlife. The clients envisioned a front yard free of turf—replaced with vegetable gardens and native plantings that support habitat, seasonal beauty, and daily engagement with the land. Two existing bean-shaped rain gardens became the heart of the design. Rather than treating them as isolated features, we allowed their placement and hydrology to guide the overall layout of the site. From this emerged a radial garden configuration, with vegetable beds and pathways responding organically to the rain gardens’ form and function. The traditional front walk was decentralized and reimagined as a meandering sequence of large, natural stepping stones, inviting a slower, more intentional arrival. A hand-crafted willow branch archway marks the threshold, blurring the line between cultivated garden and wild refuge. The result is a front yard transformed into a magical Eden—one that celebrates water, food, habitat, and movement, and redefines what a welcoming, resilient residential landscape can be.
Design Tools: AutoCAD, Adobe Suite
Installation: Hughes Landscaping
Photographer: Jahnae Neal
Inspired by This Project?
Whether you're dreaming of an edible landscape, a rain garden, or a front yard that supports both people and pollinators, we'll help create an outdoor space that's as beautiful as it is purposeful.