Green Landscape Design

Through well thought out design and creative thinking Pine to Prairie’s design team can create landscapes which help to decrease heating and cooling costs, provide little to no watershed from their properties, and increase native inhabitants thriving in natural settings. Let’s talk about some of these issues and solutions to overcome the problems.

First and foremost is fuel consumption. We are all aware that we should be decreasing the amount of energy that we use, but how can this be done? Next to driving our cars, heating and cooling our homes are the largest fuel drains humans cause. There are simple ways to combat this with proper landscaping. In the winter months cold wind comes pouring down from the northwest to strip Minnesota of all available warmth. As these winds wrap around your home they pull heat from the structure increasing the heating costs. Even with superior insulation, convective heat loss still occurs. This can be reduced with what is called a wind block. If a stand of trees is strategically placed on the northwest side of a house the winds are diffused and dispersed away from the house reducing the amount of convection. The same issues are dealt with in the summer months. As the sun blazes down upon the roof of your house, the roof starts to heat to very high temperatures.  This forces the cooling system to work that much harder to keep comfortable conditions inside the house. Again, with strategic placement of shade trees on the south side of the house the suns heat is blocked from the roof as well as any external cooling unit minimizing the sun’s effect. The design team at Pine to Prairie also tries to incorporate natural or indigenous products that are from renewable sources when ever possible. Materials like fieldstone are great replacements for manufactured products like wall blocks which require considerable energy to produce. Design is not the only way that Pine to Prairie is minimizing fuel consumption. During the installation process we try to conserve and reuse all materials from the site to decrease transportation. For example, if there is a large amount of brush to be removed we can shred it on site to use as mulch rather than bringing it to a dump site. This practice serves many functions, reduced removal, reduced amounts of new material brought in, and most importantly this reduces the overall cost of the project.

            Next, we address the issue of watershed. The Twin Cities sewer system has two destinations. All of the water from sinks and toilets gets sent to water treatment plants while all of the water from streets gets funneled straight into the Mississippi River. The storm water is a major hazard with all of the fuel, pet waste, and chemicals from lawn treatments. All of this gets dumped into the river and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico which has created a significantly large “dead zone” where very little is able to survive. While Minnesota is not the only contributor to this problem we are at the head of the system and can lead the fight to reduce the ill effect of water pollution. With a properly designed plan all water can be forced to stay on site and reduce the amount of water entering the storm sewers. Impermeable surfaces are one of the features that can be addressed with landscaping. Using materials that allow water to penetrate into the soil will reduce the amount of runoff. Permeable pavers, flagstone, and aggregates can all serve this purpose. Placing “rain gardens” in strategic locations will catch water that would otherwise head straight for the street drains. Implementing practices like harvesting rain water with rain barrels for irrigation of lawns and gardens will reduce runoff as well as reduce water bills. Through creative design 100% of storm water can be kept on site, giving the homeowner the peace of mind that they are at the forefront of saving a natural resource.

            Finally let’s discuss natural resources and our native habitat. Minnesota is on the verge of losing most of our native landscapes. Pine to Prairie is constantly making an effort to restore natural habitat for the benefit of the homeowner as well as for the wildlife of the area. We use native plants whenever we can which will provide homes and food for native animals and be assured of hardiness for the area. If the plant is native once established in the landscape it will be all but self sustaining. This will again reduce the cost of watering as well as reduce the amount of maintenance necessary to have a beautiful yard. The state is in a constant battle to prevent the introduction of invasive species of plants which displace natives. While all of the plants in local nurseries are not on the invasive species list, there are plenty of cultivated species that are not native and will out-compete those that are. The more native habitat that is available the stronger our ecosystem will be as a whole. In addition to using native plants, avoiding using limited resources like lumber is also a goal of Pine to Prairie. Whenever possible we will use lumber made from recycled materials or reclaimed lumber for structures like pergolas and decks. Our natural resources are a limiting factor to society's survival and should be considered whenever possible.

            Through knowledgeable and creative design Pine to Prairie can provide a homeowner with a sense of pride in that he or she is truly helping to repair our world. There are countless other ways to help the environment, but these are some examples of what Pine to Prairie can do and has been doing for years. The idea of designing Green friendly is not a new concept for Pine to Prairie but we are constantly creating new ways to provide sustainable landscapes for our clients.