Bayscapes are beautiful and functional

BayScapes are environmentally-sound landscapes benefiting people, wildlife, and the Chesapeake Bay. BayScaping advocates a "holistic" approach to landscaping through principles inspired by relationships in the natural environment.

Where can you find BayScapes?

In backyards, business grounds, parks, container gardens, schoolyards, and more. The BayScapes principles described below can help you start BayScaping today!

Why BayScape?

• BayScapes are low-input landscapes, requiring less mowing, less fertilizing, and less pesticide use.
• BayScapes help to protect the water quality in our streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.
• BayScapes are attractive, colorful landscapes with hundreds of colorful and beneficial plants to choose from.
• Along with reducing pollution, BayScapes provide diverse habitats for songbirds, small mammals, butterflies, and other creatures.

How do I learn about BayScapes?

Homeowner's Guides on BayScaping principles: The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have produced a series of seven guides.

Additionally, a 20-minute BayScapes video explaining BayScapes principles and showing successful BayScapes across the region. $15.00

For more information contact: Rebecca Wertime (717) 737-8622

Related Projects

Backyard Streamside Buffers - Have You No Shame?: You can help protect your backyard waterway by adding plants along the streambank.

Bayscape at the ACB Baltimore office: Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay Baltimore office staff create a BayScape at work

Bayscapes - Maryland: Learn about environmentally sound Bayscaping projects that have been conducted in Maryland.

Bayscapes - New York: Learn about environmentally sound Bayscaping projects that have been conducted in New York.

Bayscapes - Pennsylvania: Learn about environmentally sound Bayscaping projects that have been conducted in Pennsylvania.

Bayscapes - Virginia: Learn about environmentally sound Bayscaping projects that have been conducted in Virginia.

Bayscapes - Washington D.C.: Learn about environmentally sound Bayscaping projects that have been conducted in Washington D.C..

S.E.E.D.S. : Stewardship and Environmental Education By Digging In Soil: S.E.E.D.S is an acronym for Stewardship and Environmental Education by Digging in Soil. The purpose of the program is to establish ecologically sound community gardens and BayScape demonstration gardens in traditionally low-income communities as a means for creating urban environmental awareness and teaching ongoing watershed stewardship.

Taking Care of Stormwater: A BayScapes guide to stormwater management (Revised edition 2009).

Press Center

New Homeowner Landscaping Template Can Help Your Backyard Attract Wildlife and Prevent Pollution (03/27/2003)

Tools

A Homeowner's Guide to Designing Your Property (1.1 MB) - This guide is designed to help you implement the concepts of BayScaping in your own yard. The enlargements on the inside pages show plant types and quantities for different areas of the property. The back page features a plant list for you to use to install this design.

BayScapes for Wildlife Habitat - A Homeowner's Guide (171.5 kb) - Forests and open spaces are rapidly giving way to development, to accommodate a growing number of people in the Bay watershed. Whether converted to businesses, shopping malls or houses, the results remain the same: natural habitat is destroyed and species diversity is lost.

BayScaping for the Long Term - A Homeowner's Guide (185.5 kb) - Most of us don't realize how daily landscape maintenance decisions affect the surrounding environment. The impacts of landscape decisions reach far beyond individual property lines, however.

BayScaping to Conserve Water - A Homeowner's Guide (205.8 kb) - In some households as much as 40 percent of the water used each month finds its way into the landscape, so future fresh water supplies depend upon wise outdoor water use.

Beneficial Plants - for BayScaping in the Chesapeake Bay Region (219.0 kb) - BayScapes are environmentally sound landscapes benefiting people, wildlife, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Use this Beneficial Plants list in conjunction with the BayScapes Homeowners Guides.

Conservation Landscaping - A BayScapes Homeowner's Guide (187.3 kb) - Conservation landscaping promotes landscaping management that works with nature to reduce pollution and enhance wildlife habitat.

Creating Landscape Diversity - A Homeowner's Guide (172.6 kb) - We generally consider the forests, fields, farms and wetlands when describing this watershed, but rarely do we think to include the urban and metropolitan areas falling within its boundaries.

Using Beneficial Plants - A Homeowner's Guide (70.8 kb) - Beneficial plants are plants that require minimal maintenance-such as trimming, watering and fertilizer or pesticide applications-because they are well adapted to local climate and soil types.