Sustainability Isn’t a Plant List

First published in Ornamental Outlook, June 2008

Horticulture experts expect similar plant questions seasonally – it’s what we do. With the new landscaping trend of “Florida-friendly”, I’m finding one question germinating the same way: “I can’t find this plant on THE plant list!” Government planning departments, builders, homeowners, and landscapers trust that if it’s on the plant list, it’s sustainable and could, no, should be used. That’s not the point of sustainable landscaping. Suitable, sustainable landscaping isn’t a plant list, nor is it the mandatory turf grass, five trees, fifty shrubs, for every lot.

There are three basic needs of sustainable landscaping: knowledge, efficiency, and proper maintenance.
Deciding on a plant palette doesn’t require an adherence to a plant list. It requires knowledge of the site, which includes sunlight, soil contents, site percolation, and pH conditions. When plant lists are used, the ugliness of cookie-cutter landscapes, less diversity, and higher maintenance properties becomes the norm.
Designing a landscape entails knowing how the site is going to be used and what the building will look like, specifically where the doors and windows, sidewalks, driveways, etc will be placed. This information is crucial to which plants are selected and how the owner of the property will eventually maintain it. Selecting improper plants for a site can mean high maintenance bills with necessity for using chemicals to curtail insect and disease problems, the usual symptoms of an overstressed landscape.

An on-site inspection before the landscape is designed, then again - before the landscape is installed is also necessary. If the site is undeveloped property, depending on how it was graded with roads, swales and utilities installed, the soil conditions may have been impacted since the landscaping plan was designed and need adjustments to the plant recommendations.

New environmental aficionados still want a plant list. “Just tell me what I need to plant” is a familiar plea and when you depend on someone’s expertise, you’re hoping they know what they need to do. The plant list is only a tool to use but just like the familiar adages “the right tool for the job” and “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” – plants lists are not the end-all and frankly, shouldn’t be used except for suggestions for specific plant needs, i.e. xeric, hydric soils or shade loving plants. Recommending a plant list without knowing the site conditions or having a variety of site conditions is tantamount to having an unsustainable landscape.

Getting an efficient irrigation system comes with a price. That can be a hard sell to builders, developers, and homeowners who have become quite comfortable with Florida’s low-cost lifestyle. Water, labor, and materials are cheap compared to other parts of the country, especially when it’s not being correctly done; so changing the mindset of what efficient is can be tricky. Having irrigation systems with 15% to 47% effectiveness isn’t sustainable but it’s usually what the homeowner gets when the bottom line means not informing the end-user of the cost of not installing irrigation correctly.

When improper plants are selected, crammed into an instant landscape , compounded with an inefficient irrigation system, you have an unsustainable landscape. The results are less drought tolerant landscapes, usually more weeds, insects, and diseases resulting in an overuse of chemicals, leading to stormwater runoff issues and a vicious cycle of expensive and high maintenance. High maintenance details of constant pruning, usually with unsterilized or infected tools can lead to spreading of insects and disease, with hedges succumbing to inevitable bare-bottom syndrome and ornamental trees falling prey to crape murder. I’m always amazed at homeowners and businesses settling and paying for these landscape disasters thinking that these disastrous methods are best management practices.

There are plants, shrubs, and trees for every lifestyle and landscape design. There are plants that thrive with shearing and there can be a need for deadheading and pruning after flowering to ensure a vibrant and healthy shrub or tree. Forcing high maintenance and instant landscapes on unsuspecting homeowners and commercial properties that trust that the builders, developers, landscape architects and landscape companies are installing a low maintenance, sustainable landscape, is not good business.

Sustainability is not a plant list but a philosophy. In gardening, sustainability’s philosophy is way of living so that landscape plants, irrigation, and the post-upkeep is efficient, uses resources wisely, and allows for proper maintenance. As more and more sustainable development is achieved, the lower the market costs for the plants, labor, and materials will become.

Researching the property for proper plant selection, determining the seasonal attractiveness so that there is lusciousness and beauty, combined with installing an efficient irrigation system that in the future will mean lower bills for the homeowner and a better use of our precious water supply will benefit the entire state of Florida.

Want to find the right plants for your landscape?  Check out SJRWMD's Waterwise Landscapes.

We Didn't Have That Green Thing

Making its way around the Internet is a story of how wasteful older generations were... What do you think? If you know who the author is, please let me know.

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building.

They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana .

In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not polystyrene or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

I have to add that with older generations, nearly everyone grew their own fruits, vegetables, and meat locally. They fished for their seafood. In the wee hours of the morning, you got up and took care of the farm chores before you went to school or work. When you got home, you had to take care of the farm animals and any chores that needed to be finished. We didn't have much need for mental health therapy or psychiatrists. Digging in the dirt was cathartic enough.

At our house, we've gone back to drying our clothes on the clothesline. Its been amazing how easy it has been to get into a routine of washing and drying on a daily basis.