Native Plant Landscape Design Corp

We suspect that you found this site because you are interested in designing a garden with plants native to this area. We live in Arlington, Virginia, and that’s what we did. We searched, and we found Native Plant Landscape Design, NPLD. We worked with NPLD since August last year and plan to do so in the future. Now we have a problem: how do we give proper credit here to such an excellent organization? We will try. Last year we searched for an alternative to what we had growing in the front of our house, which came from working with a major local garden center 10 years ago. We had tried ripping some things out, putting rocks around to increase interest, planting some trees — but it all lacked design and a sense of unity and purpose. They were not native plants. Why native plants? In our case, we wanted to create a native plant habitat for birds and pollinators that would be at one with its surroundings. With this in mind, we did some research and heard about NPLD through the Virginia Native Plant Society. We then contacted Elisa Meara, NPLD’s founder. We were impressed by the effort that she and her colleagues put into the planting design for our house. After walking the site together and discussing our hopes with Elisa, we received a detailed site survey and two-page list of specific plants complete with a landscaping map of their proposed placement sites. Because of the way our former lawn area wrapped around the house, three different micro-areas developed, one on the north side in an area shaded by tall conifers and holly, one exposed all day to the sun, and a smaller third area designed to slow rainwater run-off. Each has its own specific plants dedicated to the that micro-environment. Site preparation started in April. All old non-native plants were ripped out and new fresh soil put down. The plants came. Pots were placed carefully to check if earlier plans made sense. Then Elisa and her crew got down in the fresh soil and planted. The point in all this detail is our effort to describe how NPLD works from site survey to design to planting — and then installing an irrigation system used for a few minutes each day. As an example of the regard we hold for them, later this year NPLD will be designing and planting our backyard, a smaller project and less visible to those passing outside our fence, but very visible to us. And further, we now have a maintenance contract with NPLD, for these new beautiful plantings need care until they are firmly established. At that point, they almost won’t need maintenance and watering as, of course, the garden is native to our area. Our landscape is now a tough and beautiful garden, tough because nothing has been lost after the intense storms and heat we have had the last few months, and beautiful such that passers-by tell us how wonderful it looks if we happen to be out in the flowers. Thank you Elisa Meara and NPLD.

Mollie from Native Plants came to assess one part of our garden where a tree had died and was overgrown with crabgrass. She selected a great tree and native perennials that look beautiful. She has a deep understanding of where sustainability and natural beauty intersect. The installation crew was prompt and courteous. I recommend them highly!

We worked with Alex Thompson from NPLD on a design for our Silver Spring yard in 2022. Alex is incredibly knowledgeable and a delight to work with. She came up with a creative design that addressed our sometimes conflicting priorities, and NPLD installed the first phase of the design this spring. We could not be happier with the landscape work and plantings, and can’t wait to install future phases.

Lack of communication with client. Client emails detailed needs for landscape design and installation for several separate projects. Tried to push into design without adequate consult first. Then when follow up consult scheduled, after detailed email sent, company made erroneous assumptions and cancelled consult while client waiting at home. All they had to do was read my emails. If had questions, just call me. Don’t cancel assuming you know what I want without asking me!

It was truly a pleasure to work with Native Plant Landscape Design Corp from the initial consult to the final installation of my garden.The designers are amazing with their plant expertise and creativity. I was blown away by the complexity of the process and enjoyed watching the designers create a beautiful highly functional habitat. The entire process was done professionally and with great client services. I would highly recommend this company for anyone interested in installing a native garden!!!

Alex Thompson, Anbu Vijay and Elisa Meara are fantastic to work with! After removing the over grown landscape shortly after moving in, we had let the front yard sit for a few years because we could not decide on how to address the slope or balance the landscaping again the size of the house. We also wanted to reduce the amount of lawn maintenance and be more eco friendly as far as water use, run off reduction and creating suburban habitat for birds, etc. The team at Native Plant Landscape listened to us, did a through analysis of our yard, and developed a gorgeous, detailed plan that helped us find creative solutions in a lovely low maintenance native landscape style that is still in keeping with our neighborhood. They also worked with us to break the project into manageable phases and over saw plant procurement and installation of phase 1 using their own team of installers. We are so pleased with the results that we are eagerly awaiting phase 2. In the two month or so since installation, the plants have just taken off! The lush dense plantings are long blooming, tolerant of very hot weather and heavy rain, expanding to hold the slope and already drawing gold finches, butterflies and an array of pollinators. We are so pleased and recommend them to anyone looking for a break from their ordinary suburban lawn!

We had a large project done by Native Plant Landscape Design at our home. From the very beginning of the process it was evident that Elisa is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her field. She was patient in listening to our needs and interests and the landscape design plan came together very nicely. We had so many different types of trees, plants, shrubs, and grasses arrive at our home that it looked like a nursery. Anbu worked diligently to track the entire inventory and along with others placed it all around the lawn per the landscape design. Elisa was very involved in the process as well. The project was done in the summer of 2019. The results were evident even back then and last year the garden looked gorgeous. We went from a standard lawn in 2019 to an absolutely beautiful garden after this project. It's not just about the aesthetics. Most of the planting is native which is fabulous and many of the plants are magnets for butterflies and bees. Also, hummingbirds come all season long. Can't beat that!! As a separate project we had a long stream put in by a specialty company and the plants and flowers planted by Elisa and team are a wonderful complement to the water feature. As an aside, the stream attracts frogs which is great as they feed on pests and their singing/croaking is marvelous. Anyway, I would highly recommend Elisa and her team if you are considering a landscaping project.

My husband and I specifically wanted a landscape designer specializing in native plants and ecology when we decided to embark on landscaping our property. We have been thoroughly pleased with Native Plant Landscape Design (NPLD). To put in context, our property is about 1/4 acre and we had previously worked with a couple of other landscape companies for certain areas. NPLD has far exceeded our expectations and prior experiences in the level of detail and expertise with regard to options for native plantings that attract birds, butterflies and pollinators. We have been working with NPLD for about 6 months now on extensive designs (we are very detail oriented clients. so our process may take longer than other people's) and we planted phase 1 late fall. Elisa and her team are terrific to work with, extremely patient ( we ask a lot of questions and make revisions) and have beautiful, innovative and creative design ideas. I've been introduced to soooo many native species that other landscape designers do not use and which are beautiful! Because phase 1 was planted late fall, we have not seen it in full bloom (hence no photos), but already I can tell it will be gorgeous. We had Elisa and her team on site to oversee the installation, which was a big plus in lessening any hiccups that may occur during installation. I highly recommend NPLD. We are so excited for the spring to come so we can plant phase 2 and see all the blooms in 2021!

I commissioned Elisa to design and help install a native plant pollinator garden. My Del Ray Alexandria yard is very small, and mostly shady, so it's quite a challenge. Elisa is exceptional. She actually glows when she talks about her commitment to native plants and pollinators. She listens well, designs creatively, and makes helpful connections with installers and gardeners. She's incredibly knowledgeable about native plant species and how they perform in different seasons, and generous with her time in giving advice and following up on the installations. I was so happy to transform my scraggly backyard into a four season pollinator haven, with lovely surprises unfolding from February through October.

Elisa and her team were very helpful in listening to our goals for redesigning our property's plantings using more native plants and overcoming specific design challenges. We've also found it very easy to work with her team afterwards to source native plants, avoiding the hassle of having to hunt around area garden centers to find the right plants. Thanks Elisa!

We hired Elisa to design a native front yard with significantly less grass. I wanted color and texture and a seating area. She produced a plan that clearly reflected my desires and was good at giving me options to move around the patio to best fit our needs. Installation went smoothly, Elisa was on hand to place plants and answer questions. She has been available to answer follow up questions and had good advice on deer management. We're going to install phase 2 of the plan this spring.

We were very impressed and pleased with all our interactions with folks at Native Plant Landscape design. We very much appreciated their philosophy of creating "Functional gardens that are beautiful, low maintenance, and kind to the environment." This is one of the reasons we were attracted to their company, to help maintain local population of pollinating insects, and having a garden that, once established, we minimum maintenance. We worked with them through an initial design, then a phased approach to implementation, and ultimately, with a contractor they introduced us to, transforming our front yard into a "nature park." We recommend them highly. I Note that their philosophy is in line with the author Douglas Tallamy's ideas, as expressed in his book Nature's Best Hope, arguing that we each can help create a larger zone for nature by reducing grass and increasing native plants.