Creating Sustainable Landscapes in Nebraska
Design, Plant Selection & Maintenance Recommendations

By Justin Evertson, January 2003

"We are only temporary stewards of the land. What we leave to the next generation can be either a gift or a burden."

Design & Plant Selection Recommendations

1. Good planning and design are very important. Thinking ahead will save time, money and mistakes.
2. Understand the planting site. The physical limitations of the planting site (soil, topography, climate, etc.) will help guide plant selection and design.
3. Let the landscape reflect a "sense of place" - the spirit of Nebraska and the Great Plains.
4. Diversity is good, but don't plant one of everything. Instead, try to balance diversity with repetition and massing (three or more of the same species). The use of a core group of species repeated throughout the landscape will create a stronger feeling of design continuity from one part of the site to the next.
5. Limit the use of cloned plants. Genetic diversity is important to a healthy landscape. Except where fruit production is important, grafted trees are generally not as desirable as trees on their own roots. Some grafted trees are more prone to disease, insect problems and injuries from weather events than non-grafted types.
6. Limit the use of over planted species and cultivars, including the following.
· Trees: Patmore Ash, Marshall's Seedless Ash, Red Sunset Maple, Autumn Blaze Maple, Norway Maple, Autumn Purple Ash, Greenspire Linden, Bradford Pear, Spring Snow Crabapple, Amur Maple, Colorado Spruce, Scotch Pine, Austrian Pine.
· Shrubs: Winged Euonymus, Red and Yellow Barberry cultivars, Yellow Spirea cultivars, Spiraea x bumalda, Little Princess Spirea, 'Nearly Wild' Rose, Tatarian Honeysuckle.
· Herbaceous Plants: Fountain Grass (Pennisetum), Feather Reed Grass, Maiden Grass (Miscanthus), Stella d'Oro Daylily, Moonbeam Coreopsis, Kobold Gayfeather.
7. Do not use plants that are invasive such as Common Buckthorn, Multiflora Rose, and Purple Loosestrife.
8. Limit the use of unusually shaped or colored species since they can detract from the rest of the landscape. Shrubs on standards (tall, bare trunks) especially look out of place and are usually not long lived.
9. Use existing elements in the landscape (structures, paths, trees, etc.) as anchors for plantings.
10. Natural, free-flowing designs are typically more appropriate for Nebraska. They are easier to achieve and easier to maintain than very formal designs.
11. Spacing plants close together is better than too far apart. As happens in nature, it is OK to let plants grow together, to touch and overlap, and to rely on each other for support.
12. Weeds will sprout in open areas. Fill bare areas with desirable plants or mulch them frequently.
13. Use annuals in areas where long-season color is desired and where bare spots need filled.
14. Evergreen trees and shrubs are especially nice in groupings. Use them as screens, framing elements and as backdrops to other plantings. Be careful when placing them in the foreground of a landscape (or in front yards).
15. DO NOT select ornamental trees and shrubs on flower effect alone. Flowers are short lived and it is important that a plant is beneficial the other fifty weeks of the year.
16. Fruit adds interest to the landscape. Walnuts, acorns, berries, samaras, crabapples, pods, catalpa cigars and many other fruits add another element of interest to the landscape and provide great benefit to wildlife.
17. Include native ornamental grasses in the landscape. We live in a grassland place and we should be proud to convey that in our landscapes.
18. A spot of wildflowers and grasses (or other natural plantings) can be a great way to add interest to the landscape. Always include grasses when planting wildflowers. Grasses add a great textural contrast and help keep wildflowers from becoming weedy and monotonous. Avoid off-the-shelf wildflower mixes, which typically contain few native plants and often look weedy after a year or two.

General Recommendations

1. Embrace the natural - native plants, native landscapes, and native ecosystems.
· Learn to enjoy native plants and how they grow.
· Let the landscape reflect our place on the Great Plains - Celebrate Nebraska!
· Don't expect perfection in the landscape - be willing to put up with some rough edges.
· Enjoy the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the landscape.

2. Reduce the need for supplemental watering.
· Water is a finite resource that will only become more valuable as time goes on.
· Emphasize plants that require little or no supplemental water to survive after establishment.
· Zone plants according to natural moisture requirements.
· Practice tough love with much of the landscape - be willing to let plants die if they can't survive in the moisture zone where you've placed them.
· Use drip and other low-output irrigation systems in place of high-volume spray heads.
· Keep turf-irrigation to a bare minimum and avoid permanent in-ground sprinkler systems if possible.

3. Reduce the reliance on fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.
· Nitrates in streams and groundwater are often traced to misuse of fertilizers.
· A vast palette of plants are available that require no supplemental fertilizing.
· Organic-based and green fertilizers are wise alternatives.
· The evidence is clear that many common pesticides do more harm than good.
· Insects and pathogens are a natural part of the ecosystem and should be tolerated as much as possible.
· The vast majority of insects and pathogens are benign to most healthy plants and landscapes.
· A wide variety of organic pesticides are available and should be favored over chemical pesticides.

4. Eliminate the negative consequences of turf-grass maintenance.
· America's infatuation with turfgrass has become ridiculous in the last 50 years.
· Mower and trimmer damage, excessive irrigation and misuse of pesticides in relation to lawn care are widespread and common problems in the landscape.
· The lawn should not be considered as the most important element in the landscape, but rather just one of several pieces to a bigger puzzle.
· Where possible, replace high-maintenance turf with lower-maintenance alternatives or landscape plantings.
· Resist the "perfect carpet" approach. The lawn does not need to be perfectly green, uniform and weed-free all the time. So what if it has a few rough spots?
· As is its natural tendency, let the bluegrass go dormant in the hot and dry part of summer.
· Most turf grass species do not grow naturally under trees - especially where shade is heavy. Don't fight it - mulch it, or plant shade tolerant perennials and ground covers. The trees will be much healthier.

Maintenance Recommendations

1. Keep the mowers and string trimmers away from trees and shrubs. Mower blight causes more harm to young trees in towns than most insects and diseases.
2. Mulching is beneficial when done properly. Trees and shrubs should be mulched with a layer of organic material (wood chips typically) three to four inches deep and in a five to six foot diameter circle around the trunk (or to the drip line). Avoid burying the base of the trunk in a deep pile of mulch. Trees and shrubs in groups should be mulched together in one large bed. Mulching should be considered a yearly and ongoing activity.
3. Use only organic materials for mulch. Avoid the use of rock mulch as it reradiates heat back onto the plants.
4. Plastic weed barriers and edging are often unnecessary and can cause more problems than they solve. Never use plastic sheeting as a weed barrier since it prevents the exchange of important gasses in the root zone.
5. Don't over-prune. There is no law that says all trees must be single-stemmed or pruned to eight feet above the ground. The natural growth habit of trees and shrubs should be considered when pruning. Leave lower branches on evergreens unless there are visual/safety issues that need be addressed. Leave lower branches on young deciduous trees until they are well established in the landscape.
6. Prairie and/or wildflower plantings need to be cut back at least occasionally which can be hard work if not prepared. A brush trimmer or mower will come in handy. If possible, take steps to burn prairie every few years.