March 22nd

By Mutt Mulligan

How living landscapes benefit your real estate investment

A living yard offers a host of benefits – not just to the environment, but also to homeowners and the real estate industry in general. Living landscapes – especially grass – retain rainfall and filter storm water run-off, provide habitat for pollinators and wildlife, sequester carbon, produce oxygen, and offer a number of other little-known benefits.

The bottom line is homeowners can be drought-responsible, good environmental stewards and keep their living landscapes. They just have to make the right decisions around their green space.

Here are some tips and scientific data to keep in mind.

Tip #1: Don’t be drought shamed! Learn the benefits of your landscape.
Ordinary grass, like what’s in our yards, provide numerous benefits: dissipating radiant heat through a process called evapotranspiration^[i], helping to cool urban “heat islands;” producing oxygen (a turf area 50′ x 50′ will produce enough oxygen to meet the daily needs of a family of four!);^[ii]; sequestering carbon; capturing and filtering water; and much more.

Tip #2: Plant the right grass, shrubs and trees.
Hundreds of varieties of turfgrass exist, and some of them are perfect for dry/drought conditions. When established, these grasses require very little water and also will survive foot traffic, children’s play and pets. Now that the El Niño rains have hit, these grasses will help capture desperately needed water and absorb it into the soil, limiting storm water runoff.

Tip #3: Add pollinator plants.
A living landscape is an ecosystem, and pollinators are a key part of its life cycle. Even in the desert, a host of plants flower. Add pollinator plants for bees, butterflies, and humming birds.

Tip #4: Mix native plants and drought-resistant adaptive plant and grass species.
We live in man-made environments, including cities and suburbs, where we must incorporate both native plants and drought-resistant adaptive plants to offset the concrete, asphalt, people and traffic.

And don’t forget! People receive health benefits from green space. A systematic research review concluded that “the balance of evidence indicates conclusively that knowing and experiencing nature makes us generally happier, healthier people.”^[iii]

Learn more about how to have a living landscape, even in a drought.

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[i] Source: Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/hiri/resources/pdf/TreesandVegCompendium.pdf

[ii] Source: The Lawn Institute, http://www.scienturficsod.com/growing-great-lawns/lawns-and-the-air-that-we-breathe/

[iii] Source: Annual Reviews,  http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-environ-012312-110838