Create connections for the future

When looking to buy a new home, many would not consider a front yard with rusted chain link fencing and one solitary shrub as having much “curb appeal.” As a budding landscape architect, however, I was fascinated with the prospect of a “blank canvas” and the chance to apply a more sustainable and thoughtful approach to the landscape.

My wife and I began by replacing the chain link fence with a wooden one, integrated with arbors and gates using salvaged lumber. To continue the line of street trees and context of the neighborhood, we planted a large maple tree. We also chose from local sources a diverse selection of native plants that require less water and less maintenance, in addition to establishing water catchment for irrigation purposes throughout the yard. These changes to our landscape promote bird and wildlife habitat, and enrich ours as well. Every season we now anxiously await the fruits, berries, and greens produced on our little one-eighth of an acre.

Whether one lives in a cottage surrounded by forest or a downtown apartment, a subdivision or a farm, we all make important decisions daily that have an impact on our surroundings. As a landscape architect, it is my belief that our ability to live “sustainably” is defined, in part, by how we connect to the land. With all the mainstream media attention and constant debate about climate change (and wherever you fall in your beliefs about the validity of climate change), most can agree that the decisions we make today have long-term consequences, and collectively as a society, those decisions have a lasting impact on future generations. 

In making individual choices about sustainability, great emphasis has been placed on which car one drives, what one eats, and what products one buys; but equally important are the consequences of land planning decisions over the last 50 years and what decisions we will make in the future to improve and repair the built environment. Landscape architects are taking a leadership role in defining how we adapt as a society to whatever surprises our planet doubtless holds in the future. The goal of the profession is not to merely add trees and shrubs to an existing site, but to encourage and promote a more thoughtful, sensitive, and sustainable approach to human interaction with the land. In addition to influencing decisions on a residential site, landscape architects commonly influence sustainable decisions on projects such as large-scale community design, parks, greenways, open-space planning, city redevelopment, urban design, brownfield site redevelopment and wildlife corridors.

The more we recognize our individual decisions as incredibly important within the larger context of natural processes, the more we improve our own well-being, as well as the health of the global ecosystem. Ultimately, we can all benefit from enjoying the constant change of an evolving landscape, while finding inspiration and humility in the observation of nature’s varying splendor.

Sustainability principles for your landscaping

A central challenge to making successful decisions in one’s own residential landscape is the ability to appropriately evaluate and choose the most environmentally responsible options while also accomplishing aesthetic goals and meeting budget constraints. Herein is an abbreviated list of principles to consider in one’s own pursuit of residential landscape decisions that incorporate the core messages of sustainability (inspired from the book Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors by J. William Thompson and Kim Sovig; and The Sustainable Sites Initiative atwww.sustainablesites.org).

Minimize Impact

• Understand and define “healthy” areas of the site. Minimizing impact on these areas forms the basis for sustainable efforts.

• Make preservation of existing environmentally important features a priority.

• Avoid making changes that potentially degrade the surrounding environment.

Repair and Nurture

• Regenerate lost or damaged ecosystems by healing areas of the site that require repair.

• Grow healthy soil and restore microbial life and organic content through the use of composting.

• Minimize use of pesticides and high intensity fertilizers that can further deteriorate the health of your soil.

• Restore lost vegetation and introduce more ecological diversity.

Material Selection

• Understand the origin and fate of the materials you select. When possible use local, salvaged, or recycled materials.

• Favor materials that are living, flexible, and more easily adaptable to your site conditions and location.

• Select plants, such as natives, that are beneficial to the surrounding site ecology, provide habitat for wildlife, and reduce requirements for irrigation and maintenance.

Water Conservation

• Use rainwater collection and more efficient irrigation techniques.

• Understand, respect, and protect natural drainage patterns on your site. Avoid soil erosion that could carry sediment and pollutants off site.

• Balance the site’s water needs with regional conditions and select plants that match the varying microclimates.

Reduce Paving

• Reduce the amount of hardscape areas. These impervious surfaces lead to more runoff and potentially more erosion.

• Use alternatives to traditional hardscape paving that promote the infiltration of water into the soil. This replenishes groundwater and improves the overall health of your site.

Maintain and Sustain

• Use non-toxic chemicals and biological controls for pest management such as predator insects or scent traps.

• Use on-site resources such as the composting of grass clippings and yard waste as one of the most valuable assets for maintaining a healthy landscape.

• Expect your landscape to evolve over time. Pursue maintenance techniques that are appropriate to the pace of these changes and your evolving needs and landscape demands.

A well-planned and properly implemented approach that addresses these principles will take time, but once established, could reduce the amount of strenuous weekends maintaining your landscape. Beyond your home landscape, supporting local efforts that preserve and protect resources while promoting these sustainable principles on a larger scale is very valuable.