River-Friendly Yards Resource List
These resources will help you select a River-Friendly Yards practice and learn more about installing, maintaining, and enjoying them. This is not an exhaustive list of resources, but rather a carefully curated list of the most helpful resources that are specific to the Eastern Shore area and Maryland. This list will be periodically updated and added to. Information is categorized under “Practices,” “Plants,” or “Other Resources.”
PRACTICES
Bioswales
Bioswales, vegetated ditches, and grass channels are all practices that usually utilize existing channels and add in plants, underdrains, or check dams to filter and treat stormwater. They vary in cost and complexity, from adding a few plants to a ditch to increase its absorption rate, to using engineered designs and soils with piping and underdrains for maximum treatment.
Chesapeake Stormwater Network: Bioswales, Vegetated Ditches, and Grass Channels
Buffers & Critical Area
The critical area is defined as all land and water areas within 1,000 feet of tidal waterways and within this is the critical area buffer, which is the 100 feet from the mean high water level of waterways. These designations exist because of how sensitive and crucial these areas are to the health of the Bay and surrounding waterways. This helpful book will guide you through regulations and recommendations specifically for the Eastern Shore when it comes to improving and protecting your critical area.
Green Riprap
Many waterfront properties use bulkheads or riprap to hold the shoreline together and prevent erosion. These hardscapes do not provide the filtration benefit or habitat benefit that a natural shoreline or living shoreline provide. Rather than replacing bulkeads or riprap, which can be expensive and labor-intensive, a recent alternative has been planting plugs in between the riprap to provide filtration and habitat benefits.
Rain Barrels
One of the easiest ways to make your yard more River-Friendly is with rain barrels. Rain barrels connect to downspouts to capture the rain from your roof and store it so that you can use it to irrigate your garden, wash your car, and more. Capturing the water like this prevents it from immediately rushing into the nearest body of water. These resources will help you with installing, using, and maintaining your rain barrels.
Greening Your Landscape –Rain Barrels
Five Easy Steps to Winterize Your Rain Barrel
Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are considered the “Holy Grail” of River-Friendly Yards practices because they utilize all three tenets of effectively handling water on your property; slow it, sink it, spread it. These gardens can look like regular gardens but are specifically designed to capture and filter larger amounts of water. You can install these yourself or hire a contractor to help you. Rain gardens usually require some earth moving so be sure to consult with your local utility company before you start digging.
What Size Garden Do I Need?
Siting and Sizing
Maintenance
One of the great benefits to planting natives is that once established they tend to require less maintenance than traditional non-native ornamentals. These native species evolved for the local specific ecoregion so they will thrive when planted in the correct location. Every species has slightly different maintenance requirements, so keep those in mind when selecting plants. Native plants also do well when densely planted, which can help prevent weeds and reduce the amount of mulch required. Using integrated Pest Management principles is a natural alternative to herbicides or insecticides.
Maintaining Native Plants
Integrated Pest Management- How to ID, Prevent, and Manage Plant Problems
PLANTS
Soil Tests
One of the first things to do when deciding to plan natives is to test your soil so you can get a sense of your current site conditions. Certain plants do better under certain soil conditions so it is important to understand what you’re working with so you can select the best plants for your yard. Also don’t feel like you have to add lots of soil amendments or compost to “improve” your soil; there are plants that have evolved for every soil condition and often times amendments and compost only serve to increase the number of weeds.
University of Maryland Extension Soil Testing
Test Your Soil Brochure
Plant Lists
Once you have selected a location on your property that you would like to plant it can still be daunting to figure out what plants would do best there. There are several plant lists that take some of the guesswork out of what to plant and are organized by site conditions (sun/shade, dry/moist).
Native Plants of Maryland: What, When and Where
Cultivars vs. True Natives
There are several schools of thought about which plants are considered true natives (straight species), and whether or not cultivars (cultivated varieties) of these species are beneficial or harmful. These resources can help you decide which is right for you, as well as tips to distinguish between natives and cultivars. An easy way to tell the difference when looking at plants is that the true natives will have the regular Latin name (i.e. Lobelia cardinalis), while the cultivar will have an additional name after the Latin name (i.e. Lobelia cardinalis ‘Queen Victoria’).
How to Shop for Native Plants
Facts to Consider about Cultivars
Do Cultivars of Native Plants Support Insect Herbivores?
Native Plants
These tools will help you select which species of native plants to use for your yard or project. When navigating these resources be sure to select plants based on your site conditions (sun/shade, moist/dry), aesthetics (height, bloom time, bloom color), and what you’re interested in (wildlife value, water quality, pollinators/birds, deer resistance). Familiarize yourself with the common names and the Latin names as some nurseries only use one or the other. A few planting lists for different site conditions are also included as a starting point.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping; Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Native Plant Center Search Tool
Recommended Native Plants for Maryland
Maryland Native Plant Society -Landscaping with Native Plants
Trees
Planting trees is one of the best ways to improve water quality and habitat, but it takes time until they reach their full potential. Take into account the mature size of the trees when you’re deciding which species to plant.
The Right Tree For Your Lawn
Recommended Tree List for Maryland
OTHER RESOURCES
Other Rebate Programs
There are several other rebate programs available to Maryland residents that can cover additional items to supplement your River-Friendly Yard, including trees and buffer plants.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources TREE-MENDOUS Program
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Buffer in a Bag Program
Partners
These garden centers and nurseries partner with us for this program and are great places to go to find native plants, get advice for your yard & garden, and find inspiration from established plantings. Keep an eye on their calendars for great events and classes to learn more about native flora and fauna.
Natural Lands Project, Washington College
South Fork Studio Landscape Architecture
Annapolis Native Design
Adkins Arboretum
Unity Church Hill Nursery
The Mill of Kingstown
Site Plans
You’ve selected your native plants and River-Friendly Yards practices…now where do you put them? These example site plans will help you decide where everything should go based on the conditions of your garden or yard. They can also help you decide what plants to use and how to convert sections of turf grass back to a more naturalized area.
How to Convert Your Turf Grass Back to Nature
Butterflies Swale Low Maintenance Rain Garden Planting Plan
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay Yard Design Tool