Dixboro, Frain Lake and thirty-five square miles of farmland, woods and wetland edge east of Ann Arbor.
Request a ConsultationSuperior is the quietest of the townships we work in and one of the most rewarding. Thirty-five square miles, a population that has barely changed since 2020, and more than four in five homes owner-occupied. These are people who stay, which is exactly the client for a garden that takes a few years to come into itself.
The historic core is Dixboro, settled in 1825 and platted the following year. The Dixboro General Store, built in 1840, is still the oldest structure standing, and the Dixboro United Methodist Church of 1857, a nearly unaltered Greek Revival design by the Ypsilanti architect Abraham Cooper, is on the National Register. Gardens in and around Dixboro have a real architectural context to answer to.
The Huron River runs through the township and Fleming Creek drains a good part of it, so wetland and watercourse edges are common. The township's own wetland ordinance regulates non-contiguous wetlands of two acres or more and prohibits altering drainage patterns, but unlike neighbouring townships it sets no fixed buffer distances, requiring instead that impact be kept to a minimum. That gives a designer more latitude and more responsibility.
The township regulates larger non-contiguous wetlands and prohibits altering drainage patterns, but doesn't set numeric setbacks. Judgement matters more here than a tape measure.
Both run through. Riparian planting, erosion control and keeping sediment out of the water are recurring themes.
Schroeter Park's horseback trails aren't an accident. This is equestrian and large-acreage country, with the space and the sight lines that come with it.
An 1840 general store and an 1857 Greek Revival church set the tone. Planting near them reads better when it acknowledges them.
Every project is designed for the property it sits on. These are the services Superior Township clients ask for most.
Common Questions
Quite possibly. Superior Township regulates non-contiguous wetlands of two acres or more beyond what the state covers, and the state regulates all wetlands within five hundred feet of a lake, stream or river plus non-contiguous wetlands over five acres. Depositing material, removing soil or altering drainage patterns all trigger it.
It means the standard is minimum negative impact rather than a fixed line, which puts the burden on the design being defensible. In practice we treat a wetland edge the way neighbouring townships require by rule, a vegetated strip of deep-rooted native planting, because it's good practice regardless of what the code demands.
That's much of what we do out here. The challenge on acreage isn't filling it, it's structuring it: defined garden rooms near the house, a considered transition to the wider landscape, and a genuine destination worth walking to.
Well suited to Superior, and the township is on the same page. It's converting over three hundred and twenty acres into the BirdSong Nature Preserve and Community Farm, with butterfly gardens and wildlife viewing among the plans.
Yes. Dixboro, Frain Lake, Geer and the rest of the township.
Aaron works personally with every client, March through November, across Ann Arbor and surrounding areas.
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