West Town Woodland and Prairie Pollinator Gardens
By Clarence Davids & Co.
The client for this project desired an ecologically-driven landscape that supports pollinators for their new construction home. The scope included a parkway, a front garden, a backyard bed, and thirteen planters made from recycled rubber tires in the back patio and on the garage rooftop. The design philosophy was to provide an ecological stepping stone for urban pollinators. Because the site was devoid of any existing insect life, the goal was to attract them to the gardens using an “if you build it, they will come” approach. The plant palette, which includes carexes, flowering perennials, spring ephemerals, and a Eastern Redbud, is a microcosm of naturally occurring Illinois Woodland, Savanna, and Prairie plant communities. This project is a rare example of a residential garden in Chicago’s West Town community area that has successfully catered to native insects by incorporating a diverse plant palette that includes over fifteen native species.
