Green home landscaping is an important part of planning and building your green home. Landscaping uses a lot of water, and maintaining your yard can produce a lot of carbon monoxide. Green landscaping means selecting plants that reduce the amount of water used to keep them alive.
For the lawn, plant grass that grows very slowly and requires very little water to survive. By planting this type of grass, you won’t need to mow every week, but perhaps only a few times during the summer, reducing the amount of exhaust fumes from your mowing activities. Also, since water bills are typically calculated on a per usage basis, the less water the yard requires, the lower the water bill will be.
For house plants and shrubs, select hardy plants. Hardy plants are less susceptible to harmful diseases and pests, allowing you to forgo or eliminate pesticides and fertilizers. The less of these chemicals that are used, the better for the environment, reducing the amount of chemicals that run off plants during a storm and sink into the ground. This type of pesticide and fertilizer runoff has the potential to contaminate groundwater and drinking water.
Another important consideration with green landscaping is the heat island effect. The heat island effect is the heat of the home, the man-made surfaces around the home, and the lack of proper landscaping. The combined heat from these sources can greatly increase the temperature in a community. Heat islands can lead to increased use of air conditioning, increased air pollution and greenhouse gas production, and lower water quality.
For your green home, this effect can make your heating and cooling systems less effective. The right types of landscaping can help prevent the heat island effect. For example, planting our hardy trees, shrubs, and plants at least 24 inches from the house can break the heat transfer mechanism. Also, planting deciduous trees on the west side of your green house or along driveways and sidewalks can be very effective in cooling your home and yard. However, plan ahead. Tree and shrub growth over time can interfere with the effectiveness of any installed solar panels.
When planning your landscaping, plan to also install a rain barrel. Why not store some of the runoff rainwater for free, green water to water your lawn, plants, shrubs and trees? In addition to a rain barrel, soil can be molded to direct water coming from the roof and ground during a storm to collect around plants, shrubs, and trees in the landscape. This allows the soil to do its work for you. As storm water drains into the ground, the last part of the soil to dry is the part of the lawn that received the most water, reducing the amount of tap water needed.
By taking the extra time to address these issues during your green home design, you can achieve a beautiful, very low-maintenance, environmentally friendly yard.
