Green Products in the Garden and Sustainable Landscape Construction
There are many garden products and landscape construction materials that promote Green or Sustainable construction. Some types of Green garden products conserve natural resources; others are products that come from responsibly produced or harvested natural materials or come from recycled materials.
The most green of all green materials to be found in any garden are the Plants. Nature has endowed plants with the ability to synthesize energy from sunlight through the process of photosynthesis; human made photovoltaic panels can only imitate this ability to a small extent. Plants clean our atmosphere when they remove toxins and carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In the urban setting, street trees dramatically lower the surface temperatures of pavement and the interior temperatures of south facing homes. Plants are essential to human health.
Among the garden products that conserve natural resources are low-flow irrigation products, soil conservation materials and products or construction practices that limit or reduce our use of petroleum and petroleum-based products in the landscape.
The garden can be the happy host of responsibly harvested natural and recycled materials. Rock, stone, used brick, reclaimed and certified lumber, plastic decking made from recycled milk jugs, agricultural waste materials, compost made with recycled materials from waste disposal companies and cogeneration facilities…the list is long.
Beautiful gardens around our homes and businesses may seem like extravagant luxuries at times, but they are a part of our essential connection to nature. And sustainable Landscape construction practices create the healthiest of gardens.