Dig This
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Sustainable Landscapes -- The Saga Begins

Over my past four years at Iowa State, the idea of Sustainable Landscaping has really caught my eye. So what is Sustainable landscaping.  Not using turf? Well that’s a place for some people to start.  I don’t loathe turf like some people, but it is way overused. Planting 100 sq ft of flower beds and 5000 sq feet of turf isn’t quite balanced.  If I had my way, it would be the other way around, but we don’t live in a perfect green world… yet.  Basically the idea of sustainable landscaping I like to use is low inputs and low maintenance.  Pick plants that don’t require regular pruning, don’t have a lot of disease problems, and will pretty much thrive once they’ve established themselves. But, some of the plants that work great for sustainable landscaping are impossible to find in commercial trade.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been out exploring Ledges State Park, just west of Ames.  We’ve found awesome plants like Hepatica, Trillium, Uvularia, and Mitella.  These are awesome spring ephemerals which pop from the ground and bloom within a short one to two week period.  These plants basically rock, but are impossible to find in our local nurseries and greenhouses.  Go ask your local retailers if they carry these plants.  If enough of us ask, we can create the market for these cool plants so we can all enjoy them, not just us rugged plant explorers.

The four plants I mentioned above would be great from a design perspective and guess what, they’re sustainable.  These understory plants work great for shade gardens and require little or no maintenance whatsoever.  Most of these plants spring up, bloom, and disappear within a short period of time, making them ideal for bringing color into the spring landscape. 

The low maintenance or low input idea is the second major part of sustainable landscaping.  Selecting plants and products that don’t require a lot of maintenance or upkeep are great ideas to use.  This is where the whole not using turf idea comes in.  I’ve spent the past three or four years of my life installing and maintaining landscapes.  I’ve seen it all, from the “grade A top notch” landscapes to the “what the hell where you thinking” landscapes.  A beautiful landscape that is impossible to maintain is really not a beautiful landscape.  Design with maintenance in mind and save yourself (and me) the headache in the future. 

Sustainable landscaping is one thing you’ll hear a lot about from me.  Over the next few months, I’ll be on the lookout for “dos” and “don’ts” in the landscape.  We’ll have some fun looking at some ideas that are well, just plain stupid, to put it nicely.  Get out there and do something in the garden this week. Plant, mulch, pull weeds, just get out and do it!

Josh