Dan's Papers - June 5, 2009 - Landscape Design for Where You Live

Today the excitement to plan or design a garden meets ecological challenges and responsibilities. The use of the land, water, energy, native plants, recyclables and green products will determine the development of adequate, innovative, eco friendly landscaping. There are easy steps to follow to create sustainable landscaping.

When planning a garden try to reduce the total number of different plants and instead increase the number of each variety. The objective is to create a stage set with well-behaved, structural elements that will thrive throughout the season without excessive care, but with beauty. Look at the type of natural environment you have before selecting plants. In the Hamptons, there are three main areas: farm fields, seashore and woods. Analyze the property. Don't try to imagine you're somewhere else. Work with what you have. Ask yourself questions such as, how much sun does the garden get? Is it very exposed? Will it grow with minimum attention or will it need extensive care?

Creating a natural plant selection will allow the garden to run off in the direction it wants. Landscapes should not have excessive control, they should be creative and imaginative, letting things evolve. Researching for native plants, you will find that the landscape will develop faster and the overall picture will look healthier and bold.

Remember that no matter how much you try to change your soil, sooner or later it will slip back into its old way. Clay will turn back into clay and sand will become sand. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try to improve, but that your plant selection should be done according to the soil. The basic rule is: choose the plants for the prevailing conditions and if you want to go with exotics, find plants that work with the soil conditions.

Maintenance is vital for the existence and preservation of any landscape. Task such as weekly soil cultivation will keep the soil healthy and will eliminate the need for extra fertilizer or plant disease spraying. Fertilizing with organic compost, which means adding a layer of dehydrated manure around flowers, shrubs and trees will make your soil rich, your plants healthy and it will even help to recover stressed plants. Practicing good pruning and trimming will minimize and even eliminate the use of pesticides. Trees and shrubs should be pruned and trimmed at different times during the season according to their varieties.

To create a sustainable landscape means to create a landscape that is in tune with the natural environmental structures. It is important to have a clear vision of a garden that's perfectly in tune with its natural setting. The planning and research are very important. If you plant trees, shrubs or flowers in the wrong position, give them the wrong light, wrong soil or wrong grade you will essentially create something unnatural to maintain and improve. Historically, elaborate gardens were designed without the advantage of complex sprinkler systems and advanced chemicals. The goal is to create a unified environment with different sections, utilizing indigenous plants or exotic plants adapted to the same region. It coordinates with the natural environment as well as the house and interior design.

Landscape writer, lecturer and designer, Frederico Azevedo is the CEO of Unlimited Earth Care, landscape design and showroom in Bridgehampton. (631) 725-7551, unlimited earthcare.com.