JRA Brings River-Friendly Landscaping to Habitat for Humanity Project

Over the past several months, JRA has worked with the Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity (RMHFH) to provide river-friendly landscaping to The Pillars at Oakmont in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood. This mixed-income community was completed last spring by RMHFH along North 33^rd Street between T and Kuhn Streets.

In February, JRA’s Watershed Restoration Team met with nine homeowners from the community to teach them how using native plants in landscaping creates a river-friendly yard that helps protect water quality. We worked with the homeowners to design landscapes for their yard that would not only meet the needs of their families, but also help the James River. 

GE volunteers gather before getting to work!

On Friday, May 9, an unusually hot Spring day, JRA was joined by representatives for RMHFH and 50 volunteers from GE for a work day at the Pillars to put the landscape plans into place Several local companies, including Yardworks, Luck Stone, Pete Rose Landscape Products, Glen Allen Nursery and New Line Hardscapes, provided assistance and/or in-kind donations for this project. Several members from the Central Virginia Landscape and Nursery Association (CVLNA) volunteered and taught volunteers the proper way to install plants. Members of the Old Dominion Chapter of the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI) came to lead volunteers in the installation of the patios.  

Mulching around our native Blueberry shrub!

Big thanks go to members Brad Swortzel from BWS Landscaping and Mike Hart from Homescapes Ltd for leading the patio install.

Teams of homeowners and GE volunteers worked together on the backyards to complete various landscaping tasks, such as installing paver patios, prepping garden beds and planting native trees and shrubs. Native plants are an important aspect of river-friendly landscaping because they are adapted to local soil, rainfall and temperature conditions. These traits allow them to grow with minimal use of water and fertilizer and help reduce stormwater runoff from your property.

Proud homeowners enjoying their new native landscape!

All nine homes at the Pillars at Oakmont will become certified River Hero Homes, which is a way to recognize these homeowners for successfully taking steps to improve water quality by reducing the amount of stormwater and pollution leaving their property. Anyone living in the James River watershed can become a certified River Hero Home. It is a simple way you can help protect the James River.

One of nine new native gardens at The Pillars