About Sustainable Landscaping

I’ve been compiling a list of projects I want to complete before baby #3 makes his/her appearance, and near the top of the list (right below “paint the bathroom” and “redo master bedroom”) is this heavy-weight: “landscape the yard.”
Oh, yeah, I can do that all by myself. No problem.

Actually, I can do a lot of it by myself. It’s a matter of time and steady progress. Some things, such as digging large enough holes in which to plant trees, I need a little help with. That’s where my husband comes in.

Meanwhile, though, I’ve been planning. I want to design a sustainable landscape, which leads me to the next, obvious question: what is sustainable landscaping? In my little bit of digging (no pun intended), here is what I’ve found:

Sustainable landscaping produces an aesthetically pleasing and useful landscape design while conserving natural resources, minimizing use of chemicals, protecting ecosystems, and reducing waste.

That’s probably an oversimplification, but those are the goals I keep running into from different sustainable landscaping proponents. To break it down a bit further, here are some common goals stated more specifically:

• Sustainable landscaping seeks to conserve water by incorporating dense vegetation, using native plants that can thrive even in dryer weather, reducing water run-off, and collecting rain water.
• Sustainable landscaping seeks to use native plants that require less care, less water, less fertilization, and little or no pesticide use. Native plants have a much higher chance of survival with much less maintenance, and promote the area’s normal ecosystem. Most sustainable landscapers do not use native plants exclusively; they just seek to incorporate them into the design.
• Sustainable landscaping seeks to eliminate high-maintenance lawn areas in favor of ground covers, shaded areas, and less demanding plant collections. Suburban America has had an obsession with that shiny green patch of grass that must be fertilized, watered, mowed, dethatched, and aerated regularly. Downsizing or eliminating grass areas reduces the need for gas-powered equipment, fertilization, and water.
• Sustainable landscaping seeks to provide habitats for local critters, such as frogs, lizards, and beneficial insects, while incorporating natural pest control so that the need for chemical pesticides is eliminated or, at least, drastically reduced.
• Sustainable landscaping seeks to use local materials, such as rock, sand, gravel, and hard scape materials, in favor of materials that have been shipped in from outside the region.

I’d love to hear about any sustainable landscaping projects. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? I’ve got a bare yard full of grass that needs some help and I need all the ideas I can get.

For further reading on sustainable landscaping:

• New Hampshire Landscape Association on Sustainable Landscaping
• University of Colorado Cooperative Extension Service on Sustainable Landscaping
• Natural Home Magazine article: Sustainable Landscaping and Chemical-free Yards
• The EPA’s Resources for Landscaping with Native Plants

Image Credit: kafka4prez.