At the Edge of Everything
Finding Abundance in the Margins
There’s a kind of wisdom in the places where things meet.
Where saltwater fingers into the Skagit Delta and eagles rise from cottonwoods to hunt over the flats. Where forest gives way to meadow near the Stillaguamish River, and where fog slips across farmland on a November morning, softening the lines between soil and sky.
These are edge places—alive, dynamic, and impossibly rich. In permaculture, the principle “Use Edges and Value the Marginal” reminds us that the most fruitful zones are often the ones that straddle difference. Edges are not boundaries so much as invitations—transitional spaces where change and growth are always underway.
If you walk along the tide line at Padilla Bay this time of year, you’ll see this principle in motion. Flocks of shorebirds pick through the wrack, feeding on the tiny invertebrates that gather where land and water overlap. That same abundance can happen in a garden—whether you’re working on a city lot in Everett or tending a small homestead outside Mount Vernon. Edges are where the magic happens.
Why Edges Matter in Your Garden
Ecologists call these zones ecotones—the meeting grounds between two ecosystems. A forest edge, for example, receives the shelter of trees and the sunlight of open ground. It’s where blackberries tangle with ferns and the hum of pollinators never quite stops. These intersections are inherently diverse, which makes them resilient.
In your own garden, creating or nurturing edge spaces invites this same vitality. A pond that feathers into meadow grass, a hedge that buffers vegetable beds from the wind, even a mulch path that separates annuals from perennials—all are opportunities to increase productivity and ecological balance.
Ways to Incorporate Edges in a PNW Garden
Shape Your Water Features Thoughtfully
If you’re building or expanding a pond, don’t settle for a clean circle. Curve its edges. Add shelves or small inlets. Every contour becomes a habitat, every irregularity an opportunity for life—dragonflies, frogs, and sedges all find their place here.
Design for Layered Relationships
Consider alley cropping, where strips of annual vegetables grow between young fruit trees or nitrogen-fixing shrubs. This creates living edges of shelter and diversity, while improving the soil over time.
Plant Shelterbelts and Hedgerows
November is a perfect month for planting windbreaks. Try native species like red osier dogwood, Nootka rose, or snowberry to create textured edges that protect your garden and welcome birds through the winter. In a few years, these living walls will soften the bite of a north wind while sheltering pollinators and songbirds alike.
Mulch and Protect Transitional Spaces
Even small gardens hold edges worth tending—the strips between paths and beds, the margins of raised planters, the shaded spots beneath perennials. Add a layer of organic mulch this month to protect soil through winter rains. Beneath that blanket, worms and fungi continue their quiet work of renewal.
Build Swales or Rain Gardens
As the rainy season deepens, notice how water moves through your landscape. Those soggy, overlooked corners? They’re not problems—they’re potential. A shallow swale or rain garden can turn runoff into resource, nourishing the marginal spaces where sedges, rushes, and native wildflowers thrive.
The Hidden Value of Marginal Spaces
Edges don’t only exist in the physical sense. They appear in the overlooked corners of our lives and landscapes—the narrow strip behind a shed, the shady slope beneath a cedar, the space between one garden vision and the next.
What if, instead of seeing these as leftovers, we treated them as invitations?
Could that dark patch under your laurel hedge become a home for native violets or sweet woodruff? Could the weedy edge of a driveway grow low herbs for pollinators?
The most extraordinary transformations often begin in these quiet margins.
How Eco-Restore Can Help
At Eco-Restore, we see the landscape through this lens—every slope, hollow, and corner as a potential edge brimming with life. Applying this principle takes more than inspiration; it requires an eye for soil, water, and microclimate. That’s where we come in.
We help homeowners across Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties design and activate their edges—from shaping ponds and rain gardens to establishing shelterbelts and restoring underused spaces. With small, intentional changes, your garden can reflect the same vitality you see at Padilla Bay or along the Stillaguamish—an ever-evolving dance between structure and wildness.
If you’re ready to explore what your garden’s edges might offer, reach out for a Garden Visit or consultation. Together, we’ll uncover the beauty and abundance that’s been waiting at the margins all along.
