Lawns, Gardens & Landscapes

Your landscape includes your lawn, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetable garden, and groundcovers. The lawn is likely a prominent part of your landscape. While the lawn may need watering and frequent care, it adds beauty to the community and a well-maintained lawn offers many benefits:

absorbs rain water runoff
decreases soil erosion
promotes neighborhood pride
reduces the urban heat island effect
increases property values
provides space for recreation and relaxation

Green Roofs

Green roofs help manage stormwater by capturing rainfall.

Key Tips for Reducing Pollutants

Water pollution can come from a variety of sources. Soil, grass clippings, fertilizer, pesticides, paint thinners, and motor oil can pollute water if picked up by stormwater runoff.

Sustainable Landscapes

Landscapes which are sustainably designed, installed and managed conserve water, lower the rate and volume of runoff water from rain, snowmelt and irrigation, and help reduce the amount of pollutants reaching surface water. Water related benefits achieved with sustainable residential, business, and community landscapes include:

How and Why to Separate Turf from Ornamentals

Regardless of the mix, the goal for green minded gardeners is to grow, plant and care for healthy landscape plants and turf. One of the most important factors in the success of these endeavors is getting to know specific needs of the plant material and how they can be combined effectively in a landscape without compromising the needs of each component.

Nutritional Value for the Landscape

Processing lawn clippings and tree leaves into the lawn provides nutritional value as well as reduces waste. Generally, turf clippings contain 6-7% nitrogen, 0.5 to 1.0% phosphorous and 2-4% potassium; when returned to the lawn, they can account for a fourth of the lawn's fertilizer applications each year.