Sustainable Landscapes Pittsburgh

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What is a Sustainable Landscape?

According to the Sustainable Sites Initiative, sustainable landscapes enable natural and built systems to work together to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. They are likewise thought of as functional landscapes because they provide benefits beyond aesthetics.

Recent changes in public perception and awareness including air and water quality, land development, fossil fuel consumption, climate change, and energy costs have created drivers for change needed to transform the purpose of landscape design from single function to multi-functional systems that mimic the intricacies of natural systems and incorporate environmental, economic, and social factors, together as a whole.

Native Plants

Native plants have adapted over the course of geological time in response to biological conditions and systems that are characteristic of a specific region, such as climate, soils, rainfall, frost cycles, and interactions with other species of flora and fauna in the geological community. Native plants are equipped adaptively to these local conditions and therefore are primed with resilience compared to non-native species. With these special qualities, native plants provide both practical and ecologically valuable solutions for landscaping, conservation, and environmental restoration projects. By incorporating native plants, we are implementing solutions that are restorative to our local ecosystems, and thus, are more sustainable and responsive to the geological needs of now.

Numerous benefits exist and encourage the appeal of sustainable landscapes that incorporate native plant palettes, such as biological diversity, reduced maintenance inputs, economic savings, aesthetic beauty, and experiential harmony with Nature that infuses a greater sense of human well-being. Native plantscapes are not necessarily “wild” landscapes – and, can be designed with intention and aesthetic principles. There are over 2,000 native plants in Pennsylvania, with many “nativars” – cultivated varieties derived from native plants – that offer exceptional benefits and beauty in the home garden and landscape.

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Landscape Design Pittsburgh; Woman creates landscape design on the computer

Biodiversity

Biological diversity describes the totality of all flora and fauna species, including their variations, and the habitats or ecosystems in which they live – and the interdependent communities that they form. Ecosystems depend on plants as their foundation to sustain the balance of the food chain. Native flora intentionally planted in the home garden help to increase biodiversity, meeting the needs of creatures in their basic needs of food, shelter, and a place to raise their young. Incorporating a native plant palette in the home garden and landscape helps to restore biodiversity and wildlife habitat that may have been lost otherwise and attempts to mimic the existing natural systems that surround it. Increasing biodiversity in the garden results in more resilient landscapes, diverse populations of creatures, and the beauty of a landscape that is always changing in its cycles of life.

POLLINATOR GARDENS / POLLINATORS

Pollinators gardens, designed for pollinators or the creatures that pollinate the flowers that compose their designs, are an important niche of sustainable landscapes. Providing food, pollen, and nectar resources for birds, bees, and butterflies – and other beneficial insects – pollinator gardens typically incorporate a native plant palette that features a diverse array of flowering plants. Color, flower structure, nectar availability, and bloom sequence and cycles are also considered to extend the food resources for pollinators. Additionally, water features are considered as well as additional plants that provide shelter, nesting areas, and places for insects to overwinter. Not only do these types of gardens serve numerous beneficial creatures, they also serve as enjoyable focal points for people to observe and to be entranced by their serendipitous changes and visitors. Host plants are also integrated into the plant palette, such as milkweed (Asclepias), which is the host plant for Monarch butterflies and a valuable plant in monarch butterfly conservation efforts. Most any garden style can extend a benefit to pollinators by incorporating plants that provide nectar sources, and gardens can be designed with pollinators in mind, to encourage their visitations and the enjoyment that observing them provides. They also function as “teaching canvases” for families and children to have fun and engage with Nature as they observe and learn about the creatures that visit them!

Landscape Design Pittsburgh; Landscaper measures brick wall
Landscape Design Pittsburgh; Woman creates landscape design on the computer

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES, MAINTENANCE & HUMAN WELLBEING

Sustainable landscapes, in their inherent design, require different but less inputs over time. Often, this translates to economic savings as well. Typically, a sustainable landscape is adapted and appropriate to its region with specific factors considered, such as, parameters of soil and water conditions, pest and disease processes, pollutants, and weather conditions. Sustainable landscapes also incorporate native plant palettes, which require minimal human intervention, such as excesses of watering, fertilizing, and chemical applications. Furthermore, replacing conventional manicured landscapes with native plant communities reduces the need for mechanical human outputs and emissions and thus contribute to better air quality and the reduction of noise disturbance. Sustainable landscape maintenance operates on a different paradigm compared to conventional landscape maintenance whereby it focuses on the holistic, interconnected landscape and cyclical “sweeps” of maintenance services, with a mindfulness of flora and fauna life cycles and more intensive monitoring of pathogenic processes, pests, and invasive species that may invade the system. Organic approaches are taken firstly, and the “readability” and scale of the intended design is maintained with the allowance given to Nature to help in creating the unique composition. Sustainable landscapes – because their objective is to work with Nature, not against it – often lend a perceivable, visual harmony, refuge from daily stress, opportunities for land stewardship, and simple relaxation for the homeowner who is looking for a way to contribute positively to the environment in which they live and share.

Driving Forces

  • Climate Change
  • Water Quality Degradation
  • Increased Impervious Cover
  • Reduced Biodiversity

Guiding Principles

  • Preservation, Conservation, and Regeneration – decision making hierarchy
  • Systems thinking approaches
  • Environmental Stewardship
  • Supporting a Living Process
  • Design with Nature and Create Regenerative systems for future generations
Landscape Design Pittsburgh; Landscaper measures brick wall
Landscape Design Pittsburgh; Landscaper measures brick wall

Driving Forces

  • Climate Change
  • Water Quality Degradation
  • Increased Impervious Cover
  • Reduced Biodiversity

Guiding Principles

  • Preservation, Conservation, and Regeneration – decision making hierarchy
  • Systems thinking approaches
  • Environmental Stewardship
  • Supporting a Living Process
  • Design with Nature and Create Regenerative systems for future generations
Landscape Design Pittsburgh; Woman creates landscape design on the computer

Benefits

  • Augmenting Air Quality
  • Disaster Mitigation
  • Protect and Encourage Pollinators
  • Protect Wildlife Habitat
  • Augment Biodiversity
  • Reduce Inputs and Waste
  • Protect Water Resources
  • Improving Human Community with Nature
  • Protect and Improve Soil Quality
  • Minimize Disturbance and Preserve Vegetative Cover
  • Stormwater Best Management Practices
  • Bio-retention and Rain Garden
  • Economics of Sustainable Landscapes and Applicable Environment Regulations
  • Green Infrastructure and Low-Impact Development
  • Sustainable Site Design
  • Native Plants
  • Invasive Monitoring and Management
  • Measurable environmental and societal improvements