Sustainable Landscaping

Principles and Practices

Marietta Loehrlein

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367250898
• eBook ISBN: 9781000195927
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Sustainable landscaping involves a set of practices implemented by landscape practitioners to help solve environmental concerns. Continuing in the tradition of its predecessor, the second edition of Sustainable Landscaping: Principles and Practices examines underlying landscaping issues that adversely affect the environment and illustrates alternative methods that result in positive outcomes. This textbook examines all phases of landscaping in both residential and commercial environments, from design to construction and implementation to maintenance.

Firmly anchoring landscaping practices in the context of sustainability, this book explores topics including choosing appropriate plants and using plants for specific effects, such as shading, water quality and quantity, soil health and optimal preservation techniques, pesticide usage and its inherent dangers, energy consumption, and resource management and waste reduction. Sustainable Landscaping also provides a thorough grounding in pertinent issues and terminology for each topic, followed by practical solutions applied by landscape professionals.

• Each chapter includes learning objectives and case studies of actual sustainable landscape activities.
• Contains updated government statistics and data, graphs, tables, and color photographs throughout.
• Provides background information and sustainable solutions for students, homeowners, and landscaping professionals to effectively design and manage landscapes.

Author

Dr. Marietta Loehrlein is a Professor Emeritus of Horticulture and Landscaping at Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL, USA. While there, she developed a new course, "Sustainable Landscaping," and wrote the first edition of this textbook, which was also the first of its kind to address the subject.

1 Sustainable Landscaping

Objectives

• Understand the history of current sustainability issues
• Identify the major issues of sustainable landscaping
• Name sustainable landscape practices
• Discuss the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES™) and its role in landscaping
• Compare and contrast the sustainable landscape audit with the conventional site analysis

Terms to Know

• Anthropogenic climate change
• Ecosystem services
• Global climate change
• Greenhouse gases
• LEED
• Non-renewable resources
• Renewable resources
• Sustainable Sites Initiative
• Sustainable landscaping

What Is Sustainable Landscaping?

In this text, sustainable landscaping refers to landscape practices that preserve our planet and our environment without depleting and damaging our air, water, and soil. In other words, it promotes practices that support and nurture all life forms and their habitats. Sustainable landscape practices address the issues of renewable and non-renewable resources; emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change; and air, water, and soil quality. Global climate change refers to a change in the average global temperature. Anthropogenic climate change is due to human activities, such as release of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.

Sustainable landscape practices address a number of different issues. They include the following:

• Proper plant selection and placement
• Using plants for energy efficiency
• Creating and preserving wildlife habitat
• Designing for energy efficiency
• Landscaping for wildfire safety
• Bioremediation, phytoremediation, and constructed wetlands
• Water conservation and aquifer replenishment
• Stormwater management
• Protecting, building, and maintaining healthy soil
• Responsible fertilizing
• Reducing or eliminating pesticide usage
• Reducing emission of greenhouse gases in landscape practices
• Protecting air and water quality
• The use of renewable and non-renewable resources in landscape materials.

History and Background

Sustainable landscaping does not have a single line of development that can be traced back through time. There are many individuals, groups of private individuals, governmental entities, and others who have developed ideas, engaged in and promoted practices, and educated others about the issues that comprise sustainability (Table 1.1). Doxon (1991, 1996) and Fretz et al. (1993) explored the idea of sustainability and how it applies to horticulture and landscaping. These papers are some of the earliest published in the academic horticulture literature on the topic.

TABLE 1.1
Events Related to Sustainable Landscaping Practices

Year	Event	Comments
1947	Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) passed	Federal law regulating the use and labeling of pesticides
1948	The Federal Water Pollution Control Act passed	The first major US law to address water pollution
1949	Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold published	Author proposes “The Land Ethic” idea
1962	Silent Spring by Rachel Carson published	About the dangers of pesticides on human health and the environment
1969	National Environmental Policy Act passed (signed on January 1, 1970)	An Act to establish a national policy for the environment
1970	Rabb and Guthrie	Coined the term “Integrated Pest Management”
1970	The First Earth Day	Marked the beginning of the “environmental movement”
1970	The Clean Air Act signed	Established air quality standards to protect the public
1972	DDT banned in the United States	High-profile case of pesticide toxicity and persistence in the environment brought to the public’s attention by Rachel Carson
1977	The Clean Water Act passed	Major amendments to the Water Pollution Act of 1948
1978	Permaculture developed by Bill Mollison	Provided a systems approach to sustainable agriculture
1984	Life Cycle Assessment	Provided a framework for evaluating environmental impact of products and materials
1987	Our Common Future (Brundtland Report for the United Nations) published	Released report with definition of “sustainability”
1987	Audubon International founded	Fosters environmental awareness and practices in communities and golf courses through certification programs
1992	The first Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil	Laid international groundwork for sustainable practices in many facets of human activity
1993	Forest Stewardship Council founded	Developed standards for sustainably harvested lumber
1998	US Green Building Council establishes LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)	Provides guidelines and points for energy efficient buildings
2002	“Xeriscaping” coined by Ken Ball at the Denver Water Department	Developed a structural framework for water conservation in landscaping
2005	American Society of Landscape Architects begins discussions about the Sustainable Sites Initiative	Developed a system to reward sustainable landscaping practices

There are various approaches to sustainability in landscaping practices. Over the years, there have been differing parameters included in what constituted sustainability. There are also, by necessity, regional differences. The term sustainability has not always been used to discuss the concepts that this book addresses. Some of the other terms that apply to certain aspects of the umbrella term sustainable landscaping include organic practices, ecological design, energy-efficient landscapes, regenerative design, and water-wise landscaping. There are some who prefer to use words other than “sustainable” because they feel it has been overused, or may have negative connotations. Nevertheless, sustainability is a widely used term, and has proven to be flexible enough to incorporate many different issues and practices. Table 1.2 shows some of the developments occurring in sustainable landscaping at state and regional levels.

TABLE 1.2
Select Developments That Promote a Broad Range of Sustainable Landscaping Practices

Arizona	In 2010, The Arizona Landscape Contractors Association officially adopted the standards in the book Sustainable Landscape Management Standards for Landscape Care in the Desert Southwest by Janet Waibel
California	Rob Maday, landscape architect, developed website resource for sustainability http://www.landscaperesource.com/site-features#feature1
Colorado	Front Range Sustainable Landscaping Best ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Author
• Chapter 1 Sustainable Landscaping
• Chapter 2 Sustainability in the Plantscape
• Chapter 3 The Sun and the Sustainable Landscape
• Chapter 4 The Wind and Energy Conservation
• Chapter 5 Water Issues
• Chapter 6 Water Conservation
• Chapter 7 Managing Excess Water in the Landscape
• Chapter 8 Soil Health
• Chapter 9 Sustainable Fertilization
• Chapter 10 Improving Landscape Soils with Organic Matter
• Chapter 11 Pesticides in the Landscape
• Chapter 12 Integrated Pest Management
• Chapter 13 Energy: Sources and Uses
• Chapter 14 Tools and Equipment
• Chapter 15 Sustainable Landscape Materials and Products
• Appendix A: Sustainability Audit
• Appendix B: Important Websites Used as Resources in this Book
• Index