Fairlington Villages: Creating and Sustaining a Resilient Urban Landscape in a Condominium Setting

By Anne Wilson and Angela McNamara, Extension Master Gardeners*

Historic Fairlington Villages (FV) in Arlington, Virginia, seeks to be “the community of choice for diverse, multigenerational residents.” To that end, enhancing the sustainability, safety, and appearance of the grounds has been a central focus, including the preservation and protection of trees, erosion control, and effective storm management.

Tree Canopy

Fairlington Villages, also known as North Fairlington, includes more than 100 species of trees, mostly native, throughout its 93.3 acres. Native shade trees on the property include oaks, tulip poplars, and American lindens and hornbeams. A 125-year-old white oak (Quercus alba) on South Abingdon Street is a 2015 Arlington County Champion Tree. Since 2011 the association has received 253 landscape-quality trees valued at $113,850 through the Arlington County Tree Canopy Fund.

Each year the association’s budget includes funding for tree pruning, removals, and replacements. It has become significantly more challenging to stretch this funding to meet needs as the tree canopy ages and sustains increasing damage from more frequent storms, drought, and other climate changes. Numerous mature trees have succumbed to severe weather in recent years. The association tree succession plan replaces trees removed for whatever reason on a one-for-one basis and allows new trees to be planted on or near the sites of their predecessors or at other locations on the property after review by the Grounds Committee.

Stormwater Management and Erosion Control

The FV terrain is extremely varied. Uncontrolled runoff from increasingly frequent heavy rains not only erodes the grounds but also drains into Four Mile Run, the Potomac River, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay, increasing the importance of effective erosion control. Climate changes have shifted focus to preventive measures that work with the environment and result in cost reductions. Those include:

• Installation of 10 rain gardens since 2017 to support stormwater management. Arlington County’s StormwaterWise Landscapes Program paid a percentage of the costs of constructing the rain gardens as an incentive to adopt this best management practice.
• Construction of West Virginia flagstone, river jack stone, and coir log swales, retaining walls, and small culverts to control erosion and keep as much stormwater as possible out of storm drains. Increasingly stretched erosion control funds have been supplemented by two sources of government funding—Arlington’s StormwaterWise program and Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District grants.

Issues Related to Turf

In 2022-23 a special Turf Care Alternatives team collected extensive data on turf best management practices. As a result of their findings, the Grounds Committee recommended and the Board approved discontinuing the use of herbicides and pesticides, due to their cumulative toxicity.

With the approval of the Board in 2024, FV began using organic, nontoxic leaf compost tea instead of synthetic fertilizers. Herbicides are now used sparingly only in key areas such as sites where poison ivy is proliferating. The quality of the turf is already improving, with a greener color, thicker blades, and overall lawn thickness returning in areas previously thinning. Below the surface, microscopic organisms are waking up, multiplying, improving the soil, and strengthening the root systems of the turf grass. The frequency of mowing has been adjusted, as has the height at which mowing occurs.

Alternatives to traditional lawn turf are also being sought. On a steep hillside with a mixture of shade and sun, FV is piloting the use of Eco-Grass™ which creates a spilling or “flowing carpet” effect that requires mowing only one to two times a year, thus minimizing erosion and air pollution, while maintaining a pleasing look.

Environmentally Holistic Landscaping

Over the past decade the FV landscape design has shifted to respond to climate change and related issues, by introducing more native plants, shrubs, and trees while still striving for a unified appearance. In June 2022, the Grounds Committee developed and the Board approved a set of Environmentally Sustainable Landscaping Best Practices that are now used by management, the landscaping contractor, and the Board to track progress in this area. These best practices address stormwater management, soil and water quality, the challenges of dense urban development, pollution, climate change, and the benefits of significantly shifting to native plants, shrubs, and trees, which are hardier and generally require less maintenance once established. Ongoing monitoring of aging trees and shrubs enables continued successful succession planting.

FV has conducted numerous pilot programs to determine which landscape approaches are cost effective, durable, and aesthetically pleasing to most residents, while also protecting the health and well-being of children, pets, flora, and fauna.  Successes include:

• Becoming a certified Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary in 2014, one of the only condominium associations in this area to receive this certification.
• At the request of residents with young children 10 plus years ago, halting all herbicide and pesticide use in the Tot Lot play area.
• Establishing a native shade garden to showcase landscaping designed especially for shady areas and to determine which varieties are most “tried and true” for FV.  
• Where acceptable to residents, retaining “snags” (partial tree trunks left when trees require removal) to support birds and other wildlife.

• Chopping and storing leaves collected during autumn grounds maintenance to be used as mulch. Additionally, keeping some leaves around shrubs/trees, where no safety issues exist, to enrich the soil and provide space for beneficial insects.
• Replacing nonnative plants, shrubs, and trees whenever opportunities present themselves, and, as resources permit, implementing focal beds redesigned to include only native plants. Three of these focal beds were planted with natives in 2025. Planting natives rather than annuals which need to be replaced every year results in significant long-term cost savings.

• During the annual May plant sale featuring native plants along with education about them to encourage residents to participate in proliferating them.
• Publishing a landscaping-related article by the Grounds Committee in the FV monthly newsletter to continue educating residents.

Benefits from Partnerships and Education

The condo association’s annual budget provides most of the funds required to finance these initiatives. FV has also successfully pursued funds available through Arlington County and Virginia Commonwealth programs for more than a decade. In addition to receiving support from the Board, management, and grounds contractor, Lancaster Landscapes, FV has worked with Extension Master Gardeners, Arlington Regional Master Naturalists, Tree Stewards of Arlington and Alexandria, Plant NOVA Natives, Arlington’s StormwaterWise Landscapes Program and Tree Canopy Fund, Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon Society of Northern Virginia), and Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.

FV regularly hosts public education opportunities for residents, including presentations by Extension Master Gardeners and Plant NOVA Natives. FV is included in Plant NOVA Natives resources as a condominium success story.

The FV landscaping vision continues to focus on sustainability, aesthetics, and budget and maintenance resources. Goals include achieving 70 percent native species, fewer vs. more plant varieties to better accommodate pollinators, and groupings of plants for simplified care for the landscaping team as residents/owners change.                                                          

*Both authors are residents of Fairlington Villages and have each contributed to North Fairlington News where much of this information was first reported.