ECOLOGICAL CONSULTING · DESIGN · STORMWATER
We design landscapes
that give back.
Sustainable Landscapes One helps Maryland homeowners, businesses, and public agencies handle water well, plant native, and care for the landscapes they own — for the long term.Request a Consultation
For Homeowners
Rain gardens, native plantings, and water problems solved at home scale.START HERE →For Commercial Properties
Stormwater facilities and landscapes kept inspection-ready — and looking the part.START HERE →For Agencies & Institutions
Inspections, BMP care, and project support for public sites across Maryland.START A SERVICE REQUEST →WHO WE ARE
Most landscape problems are really water problems
Runoff that erodes. Beds that flood. Plantings that fail because they were never right for the site.We start with how your property actually works — the soil, the slope, the water, the light. Then we design and manage landscapes that fit: native plantings, stormwater best management practices, and practical plans you can maintain.We’re not here just to sell you a plan — we’re here for the long-term relationship.And you’ll understand every recommendation — because education is part of the job.
5 FIELD GUIDES AUTHORED · 6 PUBLIC-AGENCY PARTNERS
“Landscapes should be sustainable. We should take the environmental issues into account when designing, constructing and managing project areas to ensure balance with local climates as well as the environment.”— Sarah Coleman, Founder
WHAT WE DO
Services that start with your site
Six ways we help a property work the way nature intended — each starting with your site, not a template.
Sustainable Landscape Design
Site design and consulting that start with your soil, slope, and water — and end with a landscape that belongs where it’s planted.EXPLORE →
Stormwater & BMP Care
Stormwater facilities and best management practices maintained so they keep doing their job, season after season.EXPLORE →
STORMWATER SWALE · BEL AIR, MARYLANDStormwater Facility Inspections
Got a county correction notice? Start here. Thorough inspections with findings in plain language.EXPLORE →
Native Plantings & Riparian Buffers
Reforestation, riparian buffers, and native plantings chosen for your site — and for the wildlife that depends on them.EXPLORE →
NATIVE PLANTING · ABINGDON, MARYLANDConsulting & Project Management
Comprehensive project management from conception through completion, so what gets built matches what was designed.EXPLORE →
Client Education
Sarah teaches everyone from high-school students to landscape contractors — because a landscape you understand is a landscape that lasts.EXPLORE →FEATURED WORK
Real work, real places
Public stormwater facilities and landscapes from SLO’s project work — courthouses and schools across Maryland, designed and cared for to work as well as they look.
BEL AIR, MARYLAND
Bioretention Facility
An established planted basin filtering runoff in the middle of town — proof a stormwater facility can read as a garden, not infrastructure.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
School Campus Rain Garden
Ornamental grasses, shrubs, and young trees manage runoff across a school campus, right where students walk every day.
BEL AIR, MARYLAND
Native Plantings
A mature native planting wall inside a working town basin — Joe-Pye weed, goldenrod, and sedges standing at full height.“We start with the soil, the slope, and the water.”
HOW WE WORK
A method, not a one-off plan
On-Site Assessment
It starts with a conversation on your property. We take photos and measurements, sketch what’s there, and talk through how water actually moves across your site.Design
A detailed, site-specific design follows — typically about three weeks — delivered as a PDF that is yours to keep, with a walkthrough call to explain every choice.Installation Support
When you’re ready to build, we coordinate the moving parts — scheduling, utility marking, and a final site visit — so what gets installed matches what was designed.Walkthrough & Care
We walk the finished work together before it’s final, and you leave knowing how to care for it. Designs remain valid for three years if the property doesn’t change.
MEET SARAH
The firm has a face — and it’s on your site walk
Sarah Coleman — President, CEO, author, and podcaster — founded Sustainable Landscapes One after years as a contractor at Aberdeen Proving Ground, where she saw the piece missing from landscape work: honest education alongside the consulting.She wrote the firm’s field manuals, teaches stormwater science to local high-school students, and still walks the sites herself — clipboard in hand, explaining as she goes.
FIELD GUIDES
Written by Sarah Coleman
Sarah turned years of field teaching into five plain-language guides — the same references our clients and project teams work from, identified plant by plant.
Field Manual to Grasses & Turfs
Field Manual to Invasive Plants
Field Manual to Ornamental Trees
Field Manual to Perennial Plants
Technical Landscaping GuideFEATURED IN
The voice of the firm, out in the world
PODCAST
“Environmental Care Starts With Us”
Sarah joined Conversations with Rich Bennett (Harford County Living) as Sustainable Landscapes One’s CEO to talk about caring for the land we live on — and returned for a follow-up episode.MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Center for Watershed Protection
Profiled as the Member Spotlight in Runoff Rundown, the Center for Watershed Protection’s newsletter, in January 2022.IN THE CLASSROOM
Teaching the Next Generation
Sarah brings stormwater science into local high-school classrooms — the same plain-language teaching our clients get, aimed at the watershed’s next stewards.PUBLIC PARTNERS INCLUDE
Baltimore City Bureau of Procurement · Baltimore City Bureau of Purchases · Harford County Streams & Restorations · Harford County Parks & Recreation · Harford County Public Schools · Harford County Water & Sewer
Start with a conversation about your site.
We’ll walk the property with you, explain what we see in plain language, and outline clear next steps. Consultations begin with our site form.
Call 443-659-2837 · 443.65WATER
Stormwater pond photo by Michael Barera via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.