Sustainable Landscape Collaborative
Some fantastic resources have emerged from the recent (October 2022) Conference. Finally, there are real efforts to protect Florida's ecology from the massive building frenzy. The President of The Villages Florida Native Plant Society attended the events.
Pattern Book
The New Yard Pattern Book (updated 2023), for Florida's Sustainable Single-Family Homes
Read OUTSIDE's introduction to this book. They are tackling one of the real issues - the big problems with America's love affair with non-sustainable turf grass. Do you want your progeny to have easy access to abundant clean water? Then stop wasting gallons and gallons of water to grow non-sustainable green grass in your front yard.
Keynote Speaker
Thomas Rainer is a registered landscape architect, teacher, and author living in Arlington, Virginia. Thomas, a leading voice in ecological landscape design, has designed landscapes for the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and The New York Botanical Garden, as well as over 100 gardens from Maine to Florida. Thomas serves as a Principal for the landscape architectural firm in Washington, D.C. with Claudia West and Melissa Rainer.
While passionate about design and focusing on details, Thomas is a specialist in applying innovative planting concepts to create ecologically-functional designed landscapes. His recent work focuses on the artful interpretation of wild plant communities into designed plantings that thrive in the context of towns and cities. His recently published book co-authored with Claudia West, Planting in a Post-Wild World, was released in the fall 2015 from Timber Press and was selected by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 2016 books of the year.
Thomas Rainer Rebuilding Abundance October 2022 Outside Collaborative
Video Series: Landscape Maintenance Practices
Let's see some changes in the landscape management industry.
List of all Videos
- Video 1 - Native Plant Conversion
- Video 2 - Spring Cut-Back Grasses
- Video 3 - Identifying Re-emergence and Spreading Mixed Wildflower Bed
- Video 4 - Irrigation for Natives
- Video 5 - Edging Groundcovers
- Video 6 - Mowing Alternative Groundcovers
- Video 7 - Mowing Tickseed (Coreopsis sp.)
- Video 8 - Internodal Pruning
- Video 9 - Darrow’s Blueberry Soil pH
- Video 10 - Deadheading Herbaceous Perennials and Wildflowers
- Video 11 - Mulching
Residential Native & Florida Friendly Landscapes at the Villages OUTSIDE Collab 2021 Starring someone we all know ... Stephen Turnipseed.
The Villages Conference Report, 2022
The Sunbridge Community is focusing on encouraging the use of Florida native plants everywhere. Tavistock, the developer, and his team realize that Florida will be facing a crisis of not having potable water by the year 2035. With the great influx of residents to Florida, this is a real concern. Currently, known solutions for creating more potable water are to pay for the desalinization of water (even though desalinization has been active in many parts of the world for decades, it remains a very expensive process) and/or governments may mandate a close loop system where we clean our own water to make it drinkable. The biggest user of water is turf – to ensure its survival. Additionally, turf maintenance increases global warming with CO2 from lawnmowers and trucks hauling the lawnmowers; fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides help it to grow thus further contaminating our waterways. It is the cheapest plant to install at a home site and many homeowners love it and expect it. However, the overriding issue is how we can make our landscapes sustainable, attractive, easy to maintain, and ensure the longevity of the community while making it cost-effective and maintaining bio-diversity.
