WithersRavenel Landscape Designer Adam Walters has published “Waterfront Design Decisions: Residents Along Tidal Creeks Consider Options for Landscaping” in the Spring 2018 issue of Coastwatch. Walters, a member of our Raleigh studio and a recent graduate from NC State, was interested in how an influx of new full- and part-time residents in North Carolina’s coastal communities were driving landscaping decisions in ecologically importantand fragiletidal creeks.
As part of a student/faculty team from the NC State University Department of Landscape Architecture, Walters set out to evaluate what residents in two tidal creek communities in and near Swansboro think about their yards. Using a multi-part mail survey, the team asked coastal residents what kind of landscaping they prefer in their front yard, back yard, and along the waterfront; what kinds of native and non-native plants they have and desire in their yards; and what lengths they would go to in improving their landscaping.
Although this is just an early effort to probe residents’ landscaping decisions, the team believes the results could serve to improve efforts like North Carolina Sea Grant’s new Coastal Landscapes Initiative, or the NC Coastal Federation’s Living Shoreline Program.
Read Adam Walters’ full article or check out the other articles in the Coastwatch Spring 2018 issue, which focuses on growth, renewal, and expansion.