Green Landscaping Techniques

Green landscaping techniques provide a range of benefits for commercial property owners, as well as reducing maintenance chores for commercial landscape professionals.

Green landscaping techniques are based on the rules of conservation: recycle, reduce, reuse, rebuy.

Reduce

Commercial businesses and properties can significantly lessen their environmental impact by reducing waste products, water use, energy, fertilizers and pesticides.

Selecting low maintenance plants and flowers, preferably those native to the Missouri climate, reduces waste and unnecessary planting and replanting.

Xeriscaping and employing water-retaining techniques, such as the use of compost and mulch can reduce water usage. Using drip irrigation systems rather than a full-blast sprinkler reduces water waste as well.

Using hand pulling for weeds, rather than "weed-whackers," can save air and energy. Placing plants strategically around buildings can provide insulation and create a cooler environment, reducing energy costs in the building.

Reducing the amount of fertilizers and pesticides through green landscaping techniques can help lesson environmental damage. Native plants require less fertilizer and often have natural immunities to predatory weeds. Using mulch reduces the need for weed-killing chemicals and using minimal fertilizer and water also reduces unnecessary waste.

Open paved areas often become unbearably hot during summer months, but planting trees in specific areas can reduce the "heat-island" effect, which is often most common in parking lots.

Reuse

When re-landscaping, moving healthy plants from one area to another can produce an entirely new effect. Healthy plants can often be easily moved from one property to another or even donated to nonprofit organizations.

Rather than using water which could be used to feed plants, gray water, reclaimed water, or collected rainwater can be utilized for irrigation and equipment wash-downs.

Recycle

Plastics from plants and flowers are rinsed and recycled. Parts and oils from machinery, including tires are recycled. Any composting that cannot be done on site is done in a composting center. Gray water is recycled for irrigation and equipment wash-downs.

Rebuy

Whenever possible, recycled products for landscaping are purchased, including: benches, sand, concrete and other non-organic landscaping materials. Watering materials are often purchased with green principles in mind, including hoses and irrigation systems. Rather than conventional fertilizers and pesticides, organic, biobased, or slow-release fertilizers and biopesticides are used whenever possible.

Green landscaping techniques help to enhance the outdoor environment of commercial properties as well as reducing the consumption of water, pesticides, and fuel and decreasing noise and air pollution.