When we first visited this property, rain events were causing water from the neighbor’s yard to flood the lowest point of our client’s landscape - which happen to be where he was trying to establish a lawn for his young son to enjoy. Instead of doing what most landscape companies would do and instilling a french drain to send the water problem on to the next unfortunate person further down hill, we decided to turn the problem into an opportunity. We planted the hill with dozens of hardy native plants to slow down and soak up the water as it moved downhill and created a naturalistic rain garden to capture the rain so that it has time to infiltrate into the soil. We also planted the landscape with elderberry, blueberry, and serviceberry for the birds (and client) to enjoy, and multiple flowers, ferns, and grasses for year round interest.