East Avenue Wildlife Landscape & Classical Garden – Norwalk, CT
East Avenue Associates, a property owner and manager, hired us to improve the appearance of their class-A commercial office building with a formal landscape design responding to the building’s classical proportions and using hearty local species.
The building is located on a busy historic thoroughfare in the commercial district of Norwalk, CT, five minutes from the on-ramp to Interstate 95, with frequent pedestrian and bicycle travel. Current tenants include Advantage Human Resourcing, Skill Master, and Velez Graphic Design.
The landscape design showcases native perennial plant species affording year-round color and attracting songbirds and other wildlife, providing a building and community ammenity. Framing the building at the yard edges, two redbud trees add stature to the landscape. The gardens beautifuy the city street in addition to attracting and retaining tenants. Other project goals were to screen an accessible ramp and air conditioning units; to improve the visibility of the building sign; and to protect an existing City-designated ‘heritage’ dogwood tree. The front yard landscape is anchored on a semi-circular lawn evoking the building’s arched third-floor window. The lawn slopes upwards to a berm planted with rhododendrons, mountain laurel, pepperbush, hydrangea, and viburnum that screens the air conditioning units located along the building’s perimeter. The side yard landscape extends from the street-side dogwood to stately rows of hydrangea and azalea with ground cover of wild ginger, artemesia, and spirea.