From Bland to Blooming in Laurel Hill Community

Now it’s just an ugly stormwater drain and a big patch of grass outside the Laurel Hill community clubhouse. But when it’s finished, scores of colorful plants will bloom year round, beautifying the community hub while also helping the environment.

Its the area of focus for the Laurel Hill Grounds and Beautification Committee, which kicked off its 10-year master landscaping plan on Saturday, May 14, with the planting of a demonstration rain garden.

It’s the first step in a vision sketched out by the committee, which was formed in 2009 and even has a Facebook page. Its chairman, Diane Hampel, is a master gardener who once owned a nursery. Hampel initially thought of starting a garden club in her new community, but soon realized it really needed some spiffing up, she said.

Built after the Lorton prison closed in 2001, Laurel Hill, which has about 700 homes, had freshly laid grass and newly planted trees, but not much else in the way of landscaping.

So, the beautification committee wrote up a two-page plan for the Laurel Hill Community Association that spelled out what needed to be done. They emphasized that the community needed a plan, not haphazard efforts.

The homeowner’s association eventually agreed to hire a landscape architect to come up with the master plan, which was developed in 2010 after listening to stakeholders in community meetings.

“We not only wanted to improve the look of the community, but we worked to make it environmentally friendly and lower our maintenance costs,” said Patty Stratton, a member of the beautification committee, which has about 20 members and meets monthly.  

Stratton and Hampel also went to work seeking money to get things started. Their efforts have paid off so far in the form of a $5,000 Neighborhood Enhancement Partnership Program grant from Fairfax County.

“We were so happy to receive this grant,” Stratton said. “This gives us encouragement to keep going with our vision.” Searching for money and writing up proposals is very time consuming and they’re all volunteers, the women noted.

Laurel Hill has between 50 and 60 acres of common area to maintain, and the committee projects maintenance costs to run to about $1.5 million over 10 years.

Stratton said their goal is to reduce the cost of maintaining the common areas and use the savings to fund new projects in the master plan. “It’s a process,” she said.

The first step is the rain garden. Three bald cypress trees and close to 300 plants will be planted around the stormwater drain outside the clubhouse, which was chosen for the demonstration because it is the center of activity in the community.

Water that now flows into the storm drain will go to the plants. It will be in bloom year round, with plants chosen to look attractive in all seasons. And it will be better for the environment, because pollutants that would otherwise eventually flow into the Chesapeake Bay will be absorbed by the plants, according to Hampel.

The Fairfax County grant helped pay for the landscaper who will prepare the area for planting, as well as the plants. Laurel Hill residents will do the planting and the maintenance. Hampel and Stratton especially want to encourage high school students who need community service hours to help out.

Other projects in the plan include tree planting and turf renovation, which costs money, so Hampel and Stratton will continue seeking more grants.

Hampel said she would love to see the community’s 15 acres of dry ponds turned into meadows once again.

“It’s more environmentally friendly than mowing, weeding and fertilizing,” she said.