Native Landscaping Saves Money AND Water
Posted January 20, 2010 in Living Sustainably
Most Southern Californians know that gardening with native plants saves water. But here is something that might come as a surprise: it also saves money.
Journalist Emily Green shows the breadth of these savings on her blog, Chance of Rain. She explains that the City of Santa Monica did a demonstration project in which gardeners planted one yard with conventional landscaping and one with native vegetation (you can see side-by-side photos here).
The results are stunning. At first, the native garden costs $4,300 more to install. But over 10 years, it saves an astonishing $22,000 in maintenance fees compared to the conventional yard. Meanwhile, the native garden uses roughly one fifth as much water as the traditional one. A table from the City of Santa Monica’s brochure lays it out nicely.
Right now, about half of California’s urban water is used for landscaping. Think of the water--and now think of the money--we could save if we converted more private yards, commerical landscapes, and public green spaces to native plants like the ones used here.
I am convinced that more Californians will have this extra money in their pockets soon. Last fall, the California legislature passed a law requiring the state to achieve 20 percent reductions in per capita water use by 2020.
Water-efficient plants like the ones used in Santa Monica’s native garden will help get us there AND they will save us money in the process.
But wait, there’s more. An added benefit of native gardens is that they also save energy. Hauling water takes energy, and when you lower the amount of water you haul, you lower your energy use too.
Save water. Save money. Save energy. Help save rivers and our salmon fishery. And still have a bountiful, lush garden.
What’s not to like?
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Comments
Emily Green — Jan 20 2010 03:12 PM
Gracias Barry! California water managers use dry landscaping as feel-good window dressing in public relations drives, but privately shudder at it because they prefer plumbed solutions such as low flow toilets and changed building ordinances to calling on the public to change. These engineered solutions are important and one can understand the abhorrence of engineers to start dicing with public habits. Yet conservation can't be accomplished behind the public's back. Programs from Santa Monica and cities in other western states such as Colorado, Nevada and Arizona have shown what extraordinary savings can be made, and they are proof that the citizenry can and will change habits. And yes, saving on lawn grooming could put a kid through a good college. Thank you for pointing out the potential, which California has barely begun to tap. -Emily Green
Erik — Jan 20 2010 11:24 PM
Nice posting. Your links, however, don't seem to work with Mozilla. I would love to read the follow up.
Ian @ NRDC — Jan 21 2010 11:02 PM
Erik — thanks for calling our attention to the nonworking links; we've fixed 'em!