11 Apr Our 2024 Newsletter Theme: The Mechanics of a Sustainable Landscape

What is a sustainable landscape? It seems the word sustainable has been watered down, overused and mis-used over the years, so what does it really mean? In terms of a landscape, picture vibrant nature, in harmony, where chemicals aren’t needed because the ecosystem is in balance, with healthy soil, pollinators fluttering about, and birds being nourished by eating insect pests. Rich, lush, beautiful. 

I used to like tidy landscapes where plants didn’t touch their neighbors and each plant had its own separate space with visible mulch surrounding it. But the more I’ve learned about ecological landscaping and nature, I’ve gained the understanding that this is not the way that nature operates, and it’s certainly not the best that we can do as we strive to support nature in our home spaces.

I have a clear memory of talking to a friend about what Columbine does and how we are different and she said she had assumed that every landscape company was green or sustainable, when it is truly – sadly – just not the case. This helped me realize the work needed to educate people outside our industry about the differences, and what to look for when shopping around for help with their landscape when ecological integrity is part of their values. 

So I’d like to focus this year’s newsletters on this topic and break down the elements into bite size pieces. Here is a list of the topics I will cover this year:

• Regenerative/Permaculture
• Maximize the use of Water
• Design to Nurture Nature & Nurture Ourselves
• Ecological Maintenance
• Living Mulch to Create Habitat
• Lean into Native Plants
• Year-long Support of Pollinators
• Consider Your Resource Use

To the Glory of the Garden,

Eva Montane

President, Columbine Landscapes