Recently in Hardscaping & Surfaces in Landscaping Category

Community development techniques -- both commercial and residential -- have a major impact on fresh water supplies and the surface and underground water system. Pavement is a big contributor to the problem. Now it can provide a solution.

Sustainable Solutions with Low Impact Development

L.I.D. is in. That's Low Impact Development, the standards by which the local ecosystem is minimally impacted by development, and water is preserved as a precious resource.

West coast microclimates are interesting. From rain soaked areas like San Anselmo, to rain starved areas like Bakersfield, each zone presents it own challenges for water issues. With each water challenge comes difficulties that municipalities, developers, and home-owners have to adapt to, and manage.

California Water Conservation Solutions

For example, water conservation is critical in California's central valley where each gallon of runoff can be a precious resource, if properly managed. Other areas of California offer surprising challenges -- such as Marin county, which is more like Portland, Oregon, which receives over 40 inches of rain a year.

LID offers workable solutions that developers and home-owners can implement to manage water issues whatever their situation -- dearth or deluge. Whether the issue is drought conditions or excessive runoff, sustainable water management is important to California.

Permeable Pavement allows water to rapidly pass through the pavement into a cistern or natural underground water supplies.

Modular Pavers Used in Hardscape Applications

Permeable pavement is a relatively new concept and product that reduces "impervious" surfaces from driveways, sidewalks and other hardscapes by allowing water to run through the pavement and back into the soil - not follow the hardscape to the street and eventually into our waterways. This solution retains more rainwater for our underground aquafers - but it also allows plants and the soil to filter pollutants out of the water naturally.

Permeable Pavers

One LID product that can provide solutions for water runoff and infiltration issues, large or small, is permeable pavers from Permapave Northwest.

Different from traditional concrete pavers, Permapave NW pavers have an actual flow-through rate of over 1 gallon of water per second. The pavers are manufactured from natural rock, with an acrylic polymer binder similar to the clear coat on your automobile. The finished product is a completely inert paver which returns water directly to the soil, or underground storage, without adding alkalinity, zinc or hydrocarbons to the runoff.

When permeable pavers are installed over properly prepared secondary filtration in the sub-grade, they will capture and filter 100% of gross pollutants and up to 70% phosphorus, 80% of heavy metals and 98% of hydrocarbons from the water that flows through them.

Residential Applications Alleys, Driveways Walkways Patios Camper Parking High Traffic Grass Areas Pools / Hot Tubs Courtyard Rooftops Sidewalks / Pathways Foundation Drainage

Commercial / Industrial Applications Parking Areas Pedestrian Walkway Bike Path Plaza / Entryway Bioretention / Rain Garden Rooftop Tree Grates Rooftops Roadways / Median Strips Large Public Spaces

Modular Permeable Pavers for Sustainable Landscaping

Modular pavers over an advantage over "poured" pervious pavement by allowing edges of permeable pavement to be installed in many locations - under downspouts, along sidewalks, along driveways, around trees, around rain gardens, and on or around patios.

Modular Pavers Used in Landscape Applications

• Permapave NW pavers are available in a number of colors/aggregates to enhance building and landscaping aesthetics.

• PermapaveNW's Permeable pavers come in a modular, 12x12x2" standard size, with widths up to 16" and thicknesses up to 4" for heavier vehicle loads.

• The pavers, while extremely pervious, provide the hard surface needed for normal urban activities.

The surface not only performs well for sidewalks, biking paths, parking lots, and driveways but also handles water efficiently in both drought and flood conditions.

The EPA has long noted the benefits of pervious pavers, highlighting them in their Best Management Practices: "depending on the design, pervious pavements (pavers), when used in combination with other techniques such as vegetated swales, or vegetated filter strips, may eliminate or reduce the need for land intensive BMPs, such as dry extended detention or wet retention ponds." (EPA Best Management Practices- porous pavements)

Both residential and commercial developers may find that the use of pervious pavers, which can range up to $8 per square foot, can actually make money for them, by eliminating detention ponds and increasing the amount of land that can be developed.

Home-owners can install the easy-to-use permeable pavers themselves, providing drainage areas for driveway or patios that may be puddling, or as a pervious cover for an underground water storage cistern.

The pavers can also be used as stepping stones, in pet areas, in gardens, along walkways, as parking areas for RVs -- the landscaping possibilities are endless.

Some municipalities are offering rebates for the purchase of LID products like Permapave. Check with your local city or county city and county governments, as well as water providers (ie: Metropolitan Water District) to find incentives and rebates to improve water quality, reduce runoff, or retain stormwater.

Sustainable Solutions to Stormwater Runoff

Retaining rain water for your landscape can be especially helpful during California's prolonged droughts. By protecting your landscape with adequate water supplies from a cistern, and from focusing the available rain into specific rain gardens, your plants will not suffer as much - and your water bill will thank you, too!

Sample permeable pavers by Permapave Northwest

CONTACT:
Permapave Northwest
Distributor for Western US
1-877-694-0141
815 NE 172nd Ave
Vancouver, WA 98684
www.permapavenw.com

On Lincoln's 200th birthday, Feb. 12, 2009, the new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "broke pavement" on The People's Garden during a ceremony on the grounds of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) commemorating Lincoln's birthday.

Green for Watershed Protection

Secretary Vilsack declared the stretch of pavement permanently closed and returned back to green, and encouraged other Administration officials and the general public to join in to protect the Chesapeake watershed.

"It is essential for the federal government to lead the way in enhancing and conserving our land and water resources," said Vilsack. "President Obama has expressed his commitment to responsible stewardship of our land, water and other natural resources, and one way of restoring the land to its natural condition is what we are doing here today - "breaking pavement" for The People's Garden."

The dedication comes on the 200th anniversary of the birth of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln founded the Department of Agriculture in 1862 and referred to it as "The People's Department" in his last annual message to Congress.

Green for Beneficial Gardening Promotion

Secretary Vilsack announced a goal of creating a community garden at each USDA facility worldwide. The USDA community garden project will include a wide variety of garden activities including Embassy window boxes, tree planting, and field office plots.

The gardens will be designed to promote "going green" concepts, including landscaping and building design to retain water and reduce runoff; roof gardens for energy efficiency; utilizing native plantings and using sound conservation practices.

Green Space for Runoff Reduction

The USDA People's Garden will eliminate 1,250 square feet of unnecessary paved surface at the USDA headquarters and return the landscape to grass. The changes signal a removal of impervious surfaces and improvement in water management that is needed throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Demonstration Habitat for Backyard and Green Space Applications

The new garden will add 612 square feet of planted space to showcase conservation practices that all Americans can implement in their own backyards and green spaces.

As a component of the garden, pollinator-friendly plantings will not only provide important habitat for bees and butterflies, but can serve as an educational opportunity to help people understand the vital role pollinators play in our food, forage and all agriculture. The garden plot is adjacent to the site of the USDA Farmer's Market.

Watershed Protection of the Chesapeake Watershed

About 100,000 streams and rivers thread through the Chesapeake's 64,000-square-mile watershed, which is home to almost 17 million people in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New York and the District of Columbia. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, with a length of 200 miles and 11,684 miles of tidal shoreline, more than the entire U.S. West Coast.

The Chesapeake Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals.

Reduce Pollution on Wildlife Habitat, Forests and Water Resources...and Improve Community Natural Resources

USDA leads efforts on public and private lands to help reduce the impact of nutrient and sediment pollution on wildlife habitat, forest lands and water quality, as well as supporting community involvement in managing natural resources, urban green space and land stewardship. For more information about USDA, the People's Garden, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and other conservation and agriculture related programs available in local communities, visit a USDA Service Center or go to the USDA Web page at www.usda.gov.

Complementary education materials such as the distance-learning project MonarchLIVE and partnerships with schools and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign which will extend the impact and reach of the USDA garden initiative are available at na.fs.fed.us. Backyard conservation and other materials also can be obtained by dialing 1-888-LANDCARE.

Containers are...and aren't... natural growing mediums for plants.  That's a puzzling way to look at containers, but in nature, you find small containers such as a tree growing in a little pouch of soil on the side of a cliff, and you find watersheds which are really huge containers snuggled into the subsurface rocks of the earth's very infrastructure.

So...let's talk containers on a human scale.

Pots on a porch are the simplest form of container gardening.  Then come larger potted trees indoors.  And porch boxes to decorate Mediterranean windows and railings.  And even larger concrete pots that are lavish planters for corporate entryways and shopping centers.  And indoor gardens infused with water gardens and even waterfalls.

Containers are practical ways to bring living plants up and close to where we spend our time.  And I'm assuming you've already heard that Americans spend as much as 95% of their time indoors...

Customized Container Gardens

A new trend in landscaping is to plant customized containers in their final location.  Add professional skills to create professional results -- and reduce the amount of transportation and injury to plants as they are moved from distant growers to retailers to final destination landscapes.

Just plant them in place.  What a novel idea! 

The novelty is really that local nurseries can grow these pre-designed pots in their well-tended facilities and then move them in one piece, with specialized lifting equipment, of course, to their home without any transplanting, trimming or damage from poor care.

Container Gardening for Scale

A hanging basked just doesn't provide the scale necessary for today's larger buildings.  Whether the third story loft apartment or the three story office building...or towering entryway to a MacMansion, larger plantings fit better. 

Environmental Impact of Container Gardens

LARGER CONTAINTERS:  A potential benefit of larger plantings is that larger, more mature plants also provide more greenhouse gas and clim ate change benefits.  Mature trees provide more air filtration than saplings, so the larger the container and the longer-lived the trees and shrubs, the "greener" they can be.

Larger containers also hold moisture better than small containers.  Less exposure to air reduces evaporation.  Mulching containers with decorative rocks, bark or other natural materials can also reduce water use. 

SPECIES SELECTION:  Some species of plants provide more air filtation and less water use than others. And desert plants such as cacti also require less water use.

RECYCLED MATERIAL:  The containers  themselves can be manufactured with recycled  content:  crushed concrete, rubber tires, recycled glass, etc. can be mixed into the container materials to use some of the landfill materials that cause problems in the wider community.

 Waste is the largest contributor to climate change -- be it wasted construction debris (C&D), used tires, wasted green materials that are put into landfills instead of composted back into the soil...or wasted water.

Many green solutions provide multiple benefits in this complex, interwoven world of ours.  Recycled content is one of those multi-benefit solutions...and large container gardens are a perfect application to not only use recycled materials in a beautiful way, but use them to grow environmentally hard-working plants! 



 

We can learn so much about simple function from ancient techniques.  Dry Stacked Stone Walls is one such elegant solution for landscaping.

Not only can you use your local supply of rocky rocks...you can put them to good use as HABITAT for small wildlife such as toads, caterpillars, skinks and other beneficial native wildlife.

There's a trick to building a strong, lasting dry stacked stone wall.  So it pays to read up on it a bit before tackling this back-bending work.

TIP FOR BEFORE YOU DIG: Before you start this (or any other) digging project, call 811 if you're in the U.S. This is a new, federally-mandated national "Call Before You Dig" number. 811 was created to help protect people from unintentionally hitting underground utility lines while working on digging projects.

How about a wikiHow: 
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Dry-Stack-Retaining-Rock-Wall

Here are some interesting  tips from experienced folks:
 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/700268/

Runoff is such a waste!  Not only does it flush chemicals and debris into our surface water system (streams, rivers, lakes and oceans...) it flushes good fresh water supplies away from the roots of plants that need the moisture.  Permeable or semi-permeable concrete is one solution to conserve water, protect watersheds and reduce runoff.

Pervious Concrete has been reviewed by the Federal EPA as a post construction Best Management Practice for parking lots and storm water management. The reduction of the “heat island effect” and the cleaning of “first flush” storm water events are two of the major benefits of the product.

If you have concerns for the environment you might like to visit the website of Environ-Crete to learn about permeable concrete: www.envirocreteinc.com 

Pervious Concrete is not poured like conventional concrete, it’s compacted in place. The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association recommends that only qualified contractors attempt to place this sustainable product. Enviro-Crete, Inc. is providing certified and experienced operations throughout California. We are professionals at assisting in the success of a construction project, and helping new buildings achieve valuable LEED points!

If your project parking lot is 10,000 square feet or 50 acres, we have the equipment and resources you need.

The Pervious Concrete parking lot we built in Lake Tahoe is the largest one there yet, but watch out for dwarfing projects coming soon.

CONTACT INFO:

 

Green landscaping reduces water runoff, can preserve native species, increase cooling greenery, and provide all the benefits of beauty!

Swales Are Just One of the Solutions!

Swales are densely vegetated drainageways with low-pitched slopes that collect and slowly convey runoff. They promote infiltration and reduce stormwater runoff volumes. Grass swales can replace curbs, gutters and storm sewer systems.

Grass swales typically cost less to construct than curbs, gutter or storm sewer systems.

Green Building Landscape Info Sheets

Swales Reduce Runoff

Alternative Driveway Design

Porous Pavement Reduces Surface Runoff

Natural Landscaping Reduces Runoff

Saving and Amending Topsoil

Tree Cover Provides Multiple Benefits

 DOWNLOAD these Info Sheets

When living green plants replace concrete driveways, retaining walls, sidewalks, and even planting bed borders, your  landscape becomes greenscaping!

Cost-effective solutions that provide beauty at the same time are worth checking out. Soil Retention Systems, Inc. is a Southern California manufacturer, distributor, designer and installer of plantable blocks. "Fewer blocks per square foot mean lower cost. This is the only 100% plantable block available," says Niklas Jansson, Sales engineer.

"Drivable grass", a permeable, flexible and plantable concrete pavement system that increases on-site water storage and minimized water runoff into rivers, lakes and the ocean. This helps solve one of the biggest environmental problems facing our country today.

The Oceanside Fire Station needed an environmentally friendly solution to their wash down area run-off problem and they solved the problem with "Drivable grass" -- which stood up to the heavy traffic of fire equipment.

See Pictures and Contact this manufacturer.