Investing in Sustainable Landscape Design

Today, everyone is looking for a ways to lead a greener lifestyle. This means adopting new ways of using water, exploring mass transit to get to and from places, eating local meats and produce, and even investing in smart landscape design improvements. All of these changes give people the satisfaction of having a lower carbon foot print. It seems to be very savvy to start living more sustainably.

You can now bring this ideology to your landscape design. Sustainable design aims to balance natural elements in your front or back yard. Not only are you consciously designing based on the natural habitat of your area, you are also keeping lawn and garden maintenance to a minimum, as everything is created to have a perfect natural interaction with the weather and ground conditions of your yard.

This is not a new idea, but it is one that has been used in more for homeowners in recent years. Before, it was a consideration of real estate developers, both commercial and residential. How can a neighborhood or office park be created so it has the least environmental impact on the conditions of the area? They focused on the ecology of the land and the habitats of wildlife and created spaces where people and nature could co-exist. They tried to work around natural water sources and plan to plant native vegetation.

Sustainable landscape design is part science and part art. A good professional needs to understand a number of factors when planning your yard. They need to know what kinds of plants are most appropriate and how to best situate them around your home so they get necessary sunlight and water. They also need to know how they grow, how they will fill out for an aesthetically pleasing yard.

If you are interested in sustainable landscape design, you will have to find a landscaper who is capable of planning and planting. Not all of them can offer you this kind of help. Most landscaping will require incredible upkeep. Constantly watering plants, replacing flowerbeds every year with new flowers, and the necessity of constant mowing, trimming, and upkeep is what keeps most landscapers in business. However, all of these practices are the opposite of sustainable. You may find that working with a sustainability-minded professional is more expensive at first. Understanding that they are creating a plan that is sustainable and easy to maintain is how you can justify these up-front costs.

If you are interested in being as sustainable as possible, you can also maintain your new vegetation by collecting rain water in clay rain barrels, a beautiful man-made landscape design element that can add to your yard. You can also take up vegetable or herb gardening and grow your own organic food right in your yard! There are a lot of ways to go green these days. Landscaping is just one way to be a more conscious member of the community.