Matt Ciminelli, President and owner of Ciminelli’s Landscape Services, Inc. is one of an inaugural group of professionals to achieve the Green Roof Professional Accreditation developed by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a not for profit organization of the Green Roof experts. Their mission is to increase the awareness of the economic, social and environmental benefits of green roofs and green walls and other forms of architecture.
The GRP designation demonstrates that Matt has attained the level of interdisciplinary knowledge of the best practices associated with the successful design, installation and maintenance of green roof and green wall systems.
What are Green Roofs and Green Walls and why build them?
Green roofs and green walls are substantially covered with living plants. They offer significant long-term economical and environmental advantages. Read More
How do Rain Gardens improve water quality?
Rain gardens allow rain to slowly penetrate the soil as opposed to quickly running off into storm drains, carrying pollutants and particles into our creeks, rivers and Bay. They are designed to use an existing low spot in the landscape. Read More
How can we use Pervious Surfaces?
Pervious surfaces are used to reduce water runoff to improve and regenerate groundwater supplies and reduce pollutants in the waterways. Read More
Pervious Pavers
Pervious pavers provide a hard surface for vehicles and for walking while at the same time, allowing for the drainage of storm water directly into the ground. Traditional pavement does not allow water to drain through itself and this water must be drained via the storm water drainage system. The increase of traditional pavement over the years has caused an increased burden on our storm water drainage systems. Pervious pavers help to reverse this trend and help to improve the environment.
There are two basic methods of providing pervious hard surfaces. One method is to use pavers made from traditional materials that provide open spaces between the pavers. These open spaces can be filled with soil and grass or gravel to allow drainage of water into the soil below. The water flows into the spaces between the pavers and then into the ground. The other method is to use pavers made of pervious material such as pervious concrete. Pavers made from pervious material do not need spaces between the pavers since storm water can flow right through the pavers and into the ground below. Not only do pervious pavers reduce the amount of storm water that must be managed by storm water drain systems, they provide filtration to ground water and this improves ground water quality and the water quality of lakes and streams.
Patios, driveways and sidewalks are great places to use pervious pavers. Driveways are an especially good application for pervious pavers since driveways often are large surfaces sloped directly toward storm water drains such as street gutters. Driveways made of pervious pavers would significantly reduce the amount of storm water run-off to the storm water drainage system. Patios are another great place to use pervious pavers since they can reduce the need for a drainage system for the patio.
Ciminelli’s Landscape Services, Inc. specializes in pervious pavers and has installed a number of pervious driveways and patios throughout the Annapolis area. We strive to be on the cutting edge of environmentally friendly landscaping techniques to deliver beautiful designs that are sustainable.
