I’m not sure LA has any “native” grasses, due to the lack of rain. However, it does have native plants, that in my opinion, aren’t used frequently enough in most landscaping projects. Everyone wants the green lawn, which without year round irrigation, isn’t possible here.

A few people here take it to the next level and cover their “lawns” with concrete or blacktop. It’s very strange the first time you see it.

Speaking of Oaks, I love LA’s palm trees. There are so many varieties, some native, some not, but most can live with the climate here. I’m always amazed to see the different varieties.

Water conservation is, believe it or not, a lot of what we as Landscape Architects are striving to do. The big buzz word in the industry right now is “Sustainability” – the idea that man-made construction (Landscapes, Buildings and otherwise) should have a minimal impact to the envrionment. In the Landscape World, this means the use of native plant material. Why? Because it’s indigenous to the environment and requires less maintenance – irrigation, especially. Here’s a little known fact: Droughts are natural occurences. Average Rainfall is based on a very long period of time…some of those years might be overly wet, other times it might be dry. We of course have impacted the environment negatively to create more drought conditions. But we have also made ourselves more affected by drought because we have not carried out sustainable design for the full extent of human existence. We need to change that.

We Americans are especially guilty of cross-pollination of our ideals. Our nation is so large and so vast that many outside the profession aren’t fully aware of sustainability in the Landscape. Even people with great intentions suffer from proper education. A few examples:

1) Native Plants are assessed by your geographic, geologic and heartiness regions. A ‘Live Oak’ is native to the United States, but it is not native to the Philadelphia Region. The phrase “Think Locally” should also be applied to your thinking.

2) The favorite turf grass of the US is Kentucky Bluegrass for it’s aesthetic appearence. In the northeast, it is specified for nearly 7/10ths of all lawns. Yet it is not indiginous – it requires irrigation during the summer. If we stuck with native grasses (again, native to our region), we could completely eliminate the need for irrigation. How much water would that save? 30 Gallons Per Minute. To irrigate a one-acre lawn, you’re talking about 40 minutes in all: 1200 gallons of water. That affects your water bill too – so if you don’t do it for the environment, do it for your wallet.

3) Did you know that unless steep slopes are present, new trees should NOT be staked? Why? Because a tree’s growth is a response mechanism to its environment. The swaying of a tree in the wind tells it to grow a wider base. Wet conditions do the same. Staking prevents the tree from discovering structural implications of it’s new envrionment leading to tree stress or failure. Stressed trees aren’t as effective at cooling the envrionment. They aren’t as efficient with water consumption. And they surely aren’t helping with the atmospheric conditioning.

I could go on…but I think you get the idea.
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