Here’s a gallery of a project I dreamed about for ages: turning my boring asphalt driveway into a green driveway where plants and moss can grow.

This included creating a rainwater catchment for my front yard garden. The downspout from my roof empties on the driveway, only, now into an underground set of conduits. This sends much-needed irrigation to my southwest-facing garden, and prevents runoff to the street by letting water percolate into the green driveway. One of the benefits of this water-saving measure is that it cools down the hot and sunny south-western front of my house. This reduces the urban heat island effect by retaining moisture. More plants grow where formerly, it was very dry. The city sewers get next to no water from me, and I use less water from the city!

The project worked in five stages:

  1. Design,
  2. Excavation,
  3. Creating the rainwater catchment,
  4. Building the new driveway, and
  5. Adding the fill and finishing touches.

One happy outcome of this project was the number of comments and inquiries I received from passersby, and moreover, bees, bumblebees, and butterflies often stop by for nourishment and rest. And my pet rabbits love it, which is also a public service – people just love stopping and watching and having a chat, when the bunnies are out.

If you would like to convert your driveway in a similar way, BCLH’s Rewilding service is available during the April – June migration and planting season.

If you’re considering making your driveway a green one, converting over a portion of your yard and garden to no- or low-mow native plants, or you’d like to take practical action to save the birds, contact me.


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