With the world of interior and exterior design becoming far more ecologically oriented in the last decade, sustainable landscaping is now a top priority for private and commercial landscapers.
Referring to landscaping that factors in the environment and serves to protect it, sustainable landscapes are designed to be responsive, regenerative, and supportive to the environment, with several methods being undertaken by architects to achieve this.
We’re going to look at three of the most popular methods below and discuss how they work to conserve natural resources rather than diminish them.
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Decreasing Heavy Environmental Impact
Over the last five years, concrete has been trending amongst emerging, commercial landscape designers – specifically those working in social and amenity areas, such as cities and large municipal projects.
This is mainly due to its versatile, hard-wearing capabilities, and its ability to be implicated into anything from patios, barbecues, board-formed walls and worktops.
While the creation of cement is carbon-intensive, precast retaining walls and other bespoke concrete elements have proven to be a vastly more sustainable alternative, built-in factory-controlled environments with high-quality materials and far less wastage.
Controlling Erosion
According to recent statistics, around 50% of the Earth’s fertile soil has been lost in the last 150 years, with erosion being one of the biggest factors.
Not only this, but landscaping-aided erosion also contributes to polluted rivers, lakes, and streams, as stormwater runoff is contaminated with toxic fertilisers and pesticides.
This can subsequently harm aquatic organisms, clog fish gills, increase water temperature, and even raise water levels to increase the risk of flooding.
While this has been countered with silt fencing and sandbags, more efficient practices have been implemented in recent years. These include, as we mentioned, precast retaining walls, but also rain gardens, dry creek beds, French drains, swales, and ground covers.
Replacing Greenery With Permeable Hardscapes
While you might think that green landscapes are, in essence, ‘ecologically green’, this is not always the case. In fact, most turfgrasses in 2023 integrate non-native plants, which increases the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
One of the most popular ways to counteract this is with permeable hardscapes – with materials such as pea gravel, river rock, porous asphalt, and decomposed granite.
Compared to solid hardscapes, these materials help water to soak into the ground and enter the soil underneath – rather than running off and causing pollution – which helps to reduce erosion and provide natural drainage across the outdoor space.
Sustainable Landscaping in the Future
There are plenty of other sustainable practices being implemented into landscaping, including xeriscaping – creating visually appealing landscapes with drought-tolerant plants, sand, and mulch – rain harvesting –conserving fresh water for droughts – solar-powered lighting – connecting lighting to an energy source to accentuate architecture – and compost reservation and recycling – allowing nutrient-rich trimmings to decompose and be reintroduced into the environment.
These are all evident to see in plenty of properties now, but over the next decade, their implementation will only continue to grow. It’s likely that we will begin to see even more examples of this across private and commercial sectors, as more people begin to understand the risks of traditional landscaping and work to prioritise a better, greener future.