Sustainable landscaping

When she was a graduating senior from Medical Like High School, Danielle VonLehe was selected by the Cheney Garden Club, The Gardeners of Cheney, for the club’s recognition and a small monitory award.

This brilliant young woman is now a Sustainable Landscape Architect for Terremoto, a private firm in Los Angels, California.

VonLehe promotes the use of native plants in her designs.

VonLehe’s contributions to Sustainable Landscaping were recently featured in the Sunset Magazine. For more information and photos of private and public lands she has enhanced please contact her at [email protected].

Sustainable landscaping is not a new concept by any means, but it is often a discarded concept. We have become accustomed to seeing vast expanses of monotonous fields and lawns of green to equate with wealth and prosperity.

When in reality the wealth of the soil is being depleted and the prosperity of pollinating creatures is dwindling,

We need to redefine our understanding of a beautiful and prosperous landscape. What nature provides is what works.

Some of the benefits of sustainable landscaping to our bank accounts and our back muscles are less water consumption and minimal maintenance.

Ecologically, air quality and soil viability are improved. And in some cases, even climatic disasters are averted.

When developing a new landscape, what you are accustomed to in a former part of the country may not be the best choice for your new home here in the Inland Empire.

A little research into what was here before the excavators and loggers and famers cleared your land might be a wise use of your time.

Spending large sums of money on exotic plants will not ensure they will flourish or have the same requirements as established plants in your landscape.

The Ponderosa Pine in Eastern Washington is our signature plant and the communities of other flora that it promotes offer fascinating examples of how plants co-exist and why.

Communities of plants are like communities of people. They have similar needs and preferences.

Natural is pleasing. A contrived look often takes more work and more than a little time to be appealing.

The appeal of a sustainable landscape is comfortable, like not wearing a bra for a whole day!

How can you improve on the frosted tips of spruce needles and dew drops on Lady Mantle’s leaves?

We need to take in a breath of fresh air to help us appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature.

Where tall grasses once plagued you, now delicate fronds of their inflorescence enchants you.

The pine needles scattered across your lawn are but insulation for the life beneath the soil.

And the carpets of leaves on your walkways offer easy access for compost material in your garden.

Lets not make landscaping so difficult.

The wealth of native and acclimated plant life around us is often devalued. What grows naturally around us is usually best for everyone.

That is except for the plant managers of the big box stores who specialize on enticing us with exotic species from all over the world.

Conservatories are fun to visit but a real pain to maintain in our home gardens.

So, before you buy another lawn mower, weed-wacker or bag of weed-and-feed consider incorporating ground covers that thrive on neglect.

Many of which encourage native pollinator activity. A replacement plant such as Dutch White Clover is an excellent start.

More information about the work VonLehe is doing to promote Sustainable Landscaping will be forthcoming.

We will be introduced to how she incorporates Nonhumancentric Design in future articles.

Margaret Swenson is a Spokane County Master Gardener.