
“Before”: erosion, compaction, and exposed roots throughout the Magnuson Community Center landscape beds
- To restore the soil’s ability to infiltrate all the rain that falls into the landscape beds, and to absorb storm water runoff from the adjacent sidewalks and stairs.
- To use native plants, rock, and other soil-retaining features to prevent erosion from washing away the soil on the slopes, thereby helping preserving water quality in the Magnuson Wetlands and Lake Washington.
- To provide food, shelter, and nesting sites for the resident and migratory birds that inhabit the Magnuson Park Historic District.
- To inform and educate the public with a backyard-size demonstration of how to create an attractive, low-maintenance, low-water-use landscape on sloped ground, and on a scale that can be used as a model for home gardeners.
- To enhance the beauty of the Magnuson Community Center landscape in a way that will be sustainable over the long-term by volunteers and Seattle Parks grounds crew staff.
Partners and Funding:

Sheet-mulching what’s left of the lawn grass in fall 2011, to build healthy soil for spring 2012 installation of native plants. All plants used have erosion-controlling root systems, provide wildlife habitat, and are low-water-use once established, such as Low Oregon Grape (below).

Volunteers installed a drip irrigation system throughout the landscape to conserve water while getting plants off to a healthy start

Sword Fern, another native plant used because of its erosion-controlling root system, the shelter it provides for ground-feeding birds, and its low-water-use once established.

These bottom 3 photos are what the landscape looked like in the fall of 2015, a little over 2 years after being planted! This landscape, and the Bird-friendly Landscape are now under the care of the Seattle Parks/Magnuson grounds crew.