It’s that time again when we are looking forward to the new year and making our annual resolutions. It is likely that eating healthier and getting more exercise are amongst our resolutions, and the good news is that, as a gardener, it is easy to achieve these goals!
The more challenging goals to think about are related to some of the changes we are experiencing with our climate and adjusting our practices to create gardens and landscapes that are friendlier to our environment and better able to sustain life and flourish in unpredictable conditions.
Here are some goals you can embrace on how to build healthy landscapes that effectively protect our watersheds, help keep our air and water clean and that support all life. How each of us manages our landscapes is important to us all.
A recent report from the Chesapeake Bay Program is concerning for water quality scores have dropped. Only 33 percent of the bay and its tributaries met established water quality standards.
The Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council has devised a list of Eight Essential Elements that represent the practice of conservation landscaping, which helps protect the Bay and the waters that flow into it. A conservation landscape:
- Is designed to benefit the environment and function efficiently and aesthetically for human use and well-being;
- Uses locally native plants that are appropriate for site conditions;
- Institutes a management plan for the removal of existing invasive plants and the prevention of future nonnative plant invasions;
- Provides habitat for wildlife;
- Promotes healthy air quality and minimizes air pollution;
- Conserves and cleans water;
- Promotes healthy soils;
- Is managed to conserve energy, reduce waste, and eliminate or minimize the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
To learn more about each element, including instruction on how to implement it see the
Eight Essential Elements of Conservation Landscaping (pdf).
Incorporating these conservation landscaping practices in the management of our yards and gardens can make a difference in preserving our region’s plants, wildlife and their habitats, while providing a safer and healthier environment for our use and enjoyment. Adopting these practices will also protect our watershed and help us live in harmony with our local natural resources.
The Piedmont Master Gardeners promote environmental stewardship with programs such as Healthy Virginia Lawns which helps homeowners establish and maintain their lawns in ways that reduce unnecessary chemical use that can harm the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. We are now working hard to develop two new programs we hope to launch in 2022, that will help local residents adopt conservation landscaping principles: Healthy Landscapes and Healthy Stormwater Practices. Stay tuned!
For gardeners, it’s all about the plants…
- plants that hold rain where it falls long enough for it to be absorbed through the soil and rock layers to be cleansed and replenish the water table;
- plants that intercept the excess nitrogen and phosphorus we have put on our gardens and lawns before they enter the waterways;
- plants that soften the impact of pounding rain to help prevent erosion and compaction;
- plants that help remove excess carbon from the atmosphere, pump carbon into the soil and release oxygen into the air;
- plants that are balanced communities of native plants, contribute to the biodiversity of the landscape and have co-evolved with associated animals to form interdependent communities, providing habitat, food and shelter, while requiring little extra water, fertilizer or pesticides;
- plants such as our native trees and shrubs, which when planted near buildings can give wind-protection and other cooling and heating benefits;
- plants that clean the air by filtering out particles or absorbing gases through their stomata and cuticles and store pollutants or break them down into other compounds. (Note that trees are most efficient at cleaning the air!); and
- plants that we recognize as invasive and alien and we manage by identifying and removing them.
To learn more about what plants do for us, check out #PlantsDoThat. You will see that it’s the plants in our yards and gardens and how we use them that will help us accomplish all of these sustainable landscaping goals. Plant choice matters!
In addition, these ideas on how to incorporate conservation landscaping into your yard and gardens will kick start your efforts!
And plan to join us at Albemarle Square on May 7 for the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ annual spring plant sale. You will have the opportunity to purchase and learn more about some great plants and conservation landscaping concepts. This is our annual fundraiser and it provides support for all the local Extension Master Gardener programs we offer in the Albemarle-Charlottesville area. Please put the date on your calendar.
Happy planting in the New Year!
