Building Green, Landscape Architecture

Environmentally Responsible Landscape Design

Being a good partner to the planet often begins right at home. If you’re curious about ways you can integrate sustainable design into your yard, garden, and other outdoor areas, there are many options! It’s an excellent place to start thinking about environmentally responsible landscape design.

Leslie Batten

May 9, 2024

Our yards and gardens are so much more than meets the eye. They are entire ecosystems and habitats for vital plants and wildlife. Investing in your outdoor areas through the lens of environmentally responsible landscape design is one of the many important ways an individual can reduce their personal carbon footprint and give back to the planet.

Environmentally responsible landscape design has many benefits. And the process of designing from this perspective can be inspiring, creative, and rewarding. If you’re unsure of where to begin, we’ll dive into the principles and best practices our design team uses to help create a comprehensive solution for the projects we design.

Start with your soil.

Investing in the soil around a home is one of the most important steps you can take toward achieving environmentally responsible landscape design.

Ensuring the soil is full of the proper nutrients, moisture content, and structural components is a key foundation in our planting strategy when communicating to the contractors what to install. It’s the first line defense to supporting your property’s overall ecosystem.

Post installation, taking care of the soil is something anyone with a yard or garden can do. You or a regular maintenance team can help enrich your soil by regularly layering it with wood chips, mulch, or composted materials to help retain moisture, suppress weeds, and build up nutrients.

To get a better understanding of what your current soil conditions are and what, if any, improvements are needed, you can also send a soil sample to King County for free testing.

Think about water efficiency.

Environmentally responsible landscape design should minimize water use and consumption. There are also sustainable solutions that maximize the efficiency of your water supply.

Using native or drought-tolerant plants and understanding their watering requirements can prevent over watering. Grouping plants with similar watering requirements can also help lower water use.

Improving irrigation systems and practicing rainwater harvesting can also conserve water. And, though it may be controversial, it can be perfectly OK to let your lawn die out in the summer. Lawn grasses regenerate during wetter seasons. It’s a natural part of their lifecycle!

Consider plants and vegetation.

A common practice when pursuing environmentally responsible landscape design is to use native, adapted, non-invasive plant life in your yard. These plants support the resiliency of local ecosystems because they are already adapted to the existing conditions.

Using native plants in landscape design supports local wildlife by providing familiar resources within their habitats. Plus, they require less of a learning curve for homeowners. Their maintenance often requires less water or other forms of upkeep such as special fertilizers and pesticides.

Plant lists are changing with climate change, but some basic criteria help in our selection of those plants. Our design team looks for hardy plants that can tolerate drought and heat, as well as a cold snap. Not to mention a lot of fall rain. And, again, we avoid invasive or aggressive plants.

Interestingly, California plants are looking more promising for the evolving weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest. And other non-native, but well-adapted cultivars may also be good options for your yard.

We also believe in selecting a range of plants to help add layers. This means selecting plants that create a range in the canopy height itself: from ground cover plants that protect the soil and provide habitat for small mammals, to shrubs and bushes, to various trees ranging in height for birds.

Choosing a mix of deciduous and evergreen plants will also help add layers of diversity and seasonal interest. Plus, an abundance and layering of greenery will have a cooling effect on your yard during hot summer months, while evergreen plants can deflect or absorb rain in the fall and winter months.

Choose sustainable materials.

The materials we select can have a significant impact on the integrity of the property’s ecosystems and the broader environment.

It may come as a surprise to learn that many common materials used in landscaping can be harmful to the environment. By looking for sustainable alternatives, we can reduce our carbon footprint and achieve environmentally responsible design goals.

Researching the selected materials and their impact on the soil, air, and wildlife is an important initial step in planning any landscape design. We opt for locally sourced materials when possible, such as reclaimed wood and recycled plastic. Instead of concrete, which contributes to elevated CO2 emissions, we like to consider natural stone and other low-impact materials.

For decks, patios, and other built features, we look for locally sourced wood from suppliers that practice forest regeneration. If locally sourced wood isn’t an option for your project, we look to confirm the product was not extracted from a rainforest. Thermally modified wood also has a longer lifespan than typical options like cedar, meaning it won’t have to be replaced as often.

Make informed design decisions.

Environmentally responsible landscape design doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice aesthetics. Instead, sustainable elements can inform and inspire the creative process.

We try to minimize hardscapes, instead replacing them with grass, mulch, or vegetation. Rain gardens and other water collection features can also contribute to the ambiance of your yard. Shade trees and lush vegetation, when designed properly, help keeps properties shaded and cooler during summer months.

When it comes to environmentally responsible landscape design, there’s a lot to consider. Our design teams stay on the forefront of how to be responsible designers who balance beautify with sustainability. We make informed design decisions and provide future directions and consulting to maintain and evolve to your yard’s ecosystems.

Environmentally responsible landscape design is an ongoing practice that celebrates nature’s beauty while giving back to the planet. By centering the balance of our backyard ecosystems and making informed design decisions, we can create spaces teeming with life and vitality.