Adding landscape plants to your yard, stoop or terrace is extremely gratifying. It adds beauty to your space and can be enjoyed by people, animals and insects and is beneficial to the environment.
Choosing the right landscape plants for your space is equally important. Choose plants that are sustainable for the site and wherever possible, try and select native plants.
Sustainable design is a key factor when designing your landscape. In order to do this you should ask yourself, "What plants would be beneficial to my space and the environment for the long term?' Doing research on the Internet, visiting local garden centers and county extension services will give you great sustainable landscaping ideas.
Landscaping provides many benefits that aren't necessarily seen to be good for the environment. Carefully positioned trees can reduce household energy consumption for heating and cooling by up to 25%. Computer models from the U.S. Department of Energy estimate that three properly placed trees can save an average household between $100 and $250 in heating and cooling energy costs annually. Source: U.S. Department of Energy.
Adding plants to the environment helps with absorbing carbon dioxide and exchanging it with oxygen. MillionTreesNYC is one of 132 PlaNYC initiatives, citywide public-private programs with an ambitious goal to plant and care for one million new trees across the city's five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest by an outstanding 20% while achieving many quality-of-life benefits that come with planting trees. The City of New York will plant 70% of trees in parks and other public spaces. The other 30% will come from private organizations, homeowners and community organizations. Source: MillionTreesNYC. http://www.milliontreesnyc.org
An average tree absorbs 26 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year and releases enough oxygen each day to supply a family of four. Source: Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association.
Plants also help to filter and trap dust and other pollutants from the rainwater. The plants will benefit from the rainwater and will cut down on water pollution through their natural filtering system. This will also prevent the pollutants from entering nearby bodies of water.
These are just some of the "green" benefits of plants. For more information, please email questions to [email protected].

Tom Walsh is the business development director at Parker Urban Greenscapes, Scotch Plains, N.J. Tags: