A terrific article from Hawks Nursery in Wisconsin....As concern for the environment increases, building a green home is becoming more common place. In the landscape industry many things are naturally green, but there are still things you can do to keep green green. Here are some suggestions for more eco-friendly land use. Which ones are right for your home?
A) When building a new home have your builder minimize the amount of disruption to the site during construction.
B) Reduce the amount of lawn areas you must mow by planting areas of woods, prairies, wild flowers , perennial beds or "no mow " turf .
C) Reduce run off into ditches or streets by using rain gardens or recovery swales.
D) Use rain barrels or rain recovery systems to both reduce run off and water usage.
E) Use plant material that once established will require little watering. If you need an irrigation system use the most water efficient type you can.
F) Consider using paving material that is porous, allowing water to soak into the soil rather than add to runoff problems.
G) Use plant material that is not invasive. Review the use of Norway and ginnala maple, burning bush and winter creeper, privet, St. johnswort, barberry, Siberian pea shrub, Scotch pine, , European mountain ash, wayfaring tree, European alder, and English ivy. Re-think black locust, Siberian and Chinese elm, buckthorn, honeysuckle, autumn and Russian olive, tree of heaven, multiflora rose. If you decide that you are going to use one of these plants check to see if there is a variety that seeds less.
H) Buy local plants, hardgoods and other materials.
I) Reduce the amount of materials going to the landfill. Concrete and asphalt can be recycled, some stone can be used as fill, wood material can be chipped and used as mulch, other organic material can be composted.
No comments:
Post a Comment