Five landscaping ideas that are beautiful, great for the environment, and will provide long-term value to your property.
If you want your landscape to be on the forefront of design, it needs to be environmentally conscious. Studies show that the younger generations are putting more and more weight on the value of eco-conscious design, from everyday products to the homes they buy. This means that one day your property’s value is not only going to be considered aesthetically, but on its environmentally conscious attributes.
The good news is, if you have the right landscape architects to inform your design choices, an eco-friendly landscape can be just as beautiful and enduring as any other manicured design.
To get you started, here are our top 5 environmentally-friendly ideas to make your luxury landscape a little piece of heaven on earth.
Introducing Native Plants
Plants native to the Midwest boast a variety of beautiful, seasonal colors and sometimes unique shapes! These flowers, shrubs, bushes, and trees support natural biodiversity in your landscape, providing much needed food and shelter for local insects and wildlife, and can be easier to maintain than plants suited for more temperate climates. They’re also an interesting topic of conversation with guests, who are sure to be impressed with these beautiful native plants!
Planting a Pollinator Garden
A few years ago, bee populations around the world suffered a sharp decline, sparking the important conversation about adding pollinator gardens to residential and commercial landscapes. Pollinator gardens are essential food sources for bees and other pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds, and without these important creatures, nothing green would grow in our world. When you create a pollinator garden, you’re not only maintaining the health of your landscape with local insect and animal populations, you’re also playing a key role in how we can combat the global effects of pollinator habitat loss.
Rainwater Collection
Water is the most important substance on Earth, and despite our accustomed ways of using it in our daily lives, it isn’t an infinite resource. Become part of the global shift towards using water more consciously by adding rainwater harvesting systems in your landscape. From vintage wooden rain barrels to delicate garden irrigation pipes, collecting and facilitating the distribution of rainwater is an easy way of nourishing your landscape, adding to the value of your property, and protecting our world’s most precious resource.
Growing a Food Garden
Nothing tastes better than herbs, berries, and vegetables picked straight from the garden! A food garden is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser by providing fresh ingredients for meals – it doesn’t hurt that it can save you money, too! And with more and more homeowners adding food gardens to their landscapes, there are now so many beautiful and innovative food garden ideas to be inspired by.
Composting + Mulching
Composting and mulching keeps your landscape’s soil nutrient-rich, reduces your household’s food waste, and reduces local pollution by keeping trash out of your city’s landfills. It’s an important practice for keeping the natural cycle of life in balance. Composting is also one of the fastest growing habits in the Gen Z and Millennial generations, so by sharing this tradition of nourishing your landscape with composted food with your family, you’re setting them up for a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle in the years to come.
Inspired to add eco-friendly elements to your property? Get in touch with our landscape designers for a free consultation!