In this short course, Elyse Jurgen showed how to integrate native ground covers amidst your perennial beds to cut down on the time and energy spent towards editing out unwanted plants. Through mimicking natural landscapes in your home garden, you can cut back on time and financial resources used to apply wood mulch and spend more time enjoying the garden you created. Participants practiced skills acquired in this course, on the Homefields property.

Elyse Jurgen is a certified Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional and Permaculture Designer. She holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Education and a Civic Ecology certification from Cornell University. She has studied ecological landscape design at Mount Cuba and has studied with Claudia West and Danilo Maffei. She is an artist in residence with the PA Council on the arts and teaches urban schoolyard habitat design in schools. Elyse works with homeowners to incorporate native plants restoration in home landscapes.