Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden photo by Jonathan Windham

By Ellen Vincent, Clemson University Environmental Landscape Specialist

Between Barre and Lehotsky Halls tilled in to a depth of 8” prior to basic definition stems from the on the Clemson campus lay two planting. Plants were installed so 1987 report to the United Nations demonstration garden beds. that crowns or root flare were at by the World Commission on When school is in session the side- the soil surface. Three inches of Environment and Development, walks that intersect and border vegetative mulch was applied also known as the Brundtland these beds are alive with students to the soil surface after plant- Report. This report defines sustain- moving between classes; and ing. Mulch did not touch the able development as “meeting faculty, staff, and visitors traveling stems of the plants. Water was/is the needs of the present with- between buildings. The garden applied deeply by hand using a out compromising the ability of is visible from ground level and hose and hose end nozzle/wand future generations to meet their second story offices and class- whenever the soil feels dry 1.5” needs” (World Commission, 1987, rooms as well. The sustainable below the surface. Weeds are p. 8).The Brundtland Report iden- landscape demonstration gar- hand pulled from the interiors of tifies healthy environment, eco- den installation is designed as a the beds when the soil is moist nomic development, and social model of the urban environmen- (not wet). No commercial fertiliz- justice as the three issue areas tal education garden—a space ers or insect/disease products are that must be present in order designed to intrigue, invite, entice, applied to the area. To measure for sustainable development to and involve viewers in the hopes soil health pre and post installa- occur. Current perspectives and of eliciting behavior change. tion soil tests were conducted. To practices conveyed to students The practices we are demon- measure consumer perceptions are inspired by EPA GreenScapes strating are eco-friendly sustain- pre installation and post installa- materials (http://www.epa. able garden design, installation, tion perception surveys were con- gov/epawaste/conserve/ and maintenance. Students from ducted by student interviewers of tools/greenscapes/index.htm), numerous horticulture classes passersby. Not surprisingly, per- the Sustainable Sites Initiative (Sustainable Landscape Garden ceptions of aesthetics and main- Benchmarks and Guidelines Design; Horticulture Inquiry and tenance were significantly higher (http://www.sustainablesites. Discovery; and Landscapes after the garden was installed. org/report/Guidelines%20 + Health) were involved in all and%20Performance%20 aspects of the project-design, There are 25 labeled species/cul- Benchmarks_2009.pdf) and installation, maintenance. tivars in the demonstration gar- the publication Cradle to den. One bed is 1,400 square feet Cradle: Remaking the Way We Native plants were selected for and the other is 1,800 square feet. Make Things (McDonough and this environmental installation Green industry professionals are Braungart, 2002) along with the due to the recent trend in urban being asked to visit the site and Cradle to Cradle products inno- design that advocates creating rate the individual plants at any vation institute (http://c2ccerti- photo by Jonathan Windham corridors of native plantings in time of the year. The rating sheet fied.org/). order to provide food and habi- may be found on line at http:/ tat for native insects and wild- www.clemson.edu/cafls/demo/ Please be sure to rate the plants life. Native plants are still a bit or by e-mailing Dr. Vincent at each and every time you travel to hard to find in the local mar- [email protected]. Clemson-our project will certainly ket, perhaps due to consumer be enhanced by your perspec- perceptions that they are messy Plants that perform well in the eye tive. The rating form is available and untidy (Nassauer,1997 ). One of the public will stay in the dem- on-line at Clemson Sustainable major goal of the sustainable onstration garden while plants Landscape Demonstration landscape garden demonstra- that score poorly two seasons in Garden or can be emailed to tion is to properly install the plants a row will be replaced with new you. and deliver essential but minimal native selections. maintenance to the landscape Work cited: to see how these less used natives Definitions of sustainability are var- Nassauer, J. I. (1997). Cultural sus- 38 perform in the typical urban orna- ied and often these days used in tainability: Aligning aesthetics mental landscape. “greenwashing” –where a com- and ecology. In Placing nature: Culture and landscape ecology. pany makes claims that are not Washington, D.C.: Island Press. Six inches of leaf compost was supported by their practices. Our

38 39