From Dallas Home Design, First Annual Green Design Issue, July/August 2007

from the garden

Green Gardens

Striking an ecological balance with lavish looks

Writer NANCY MYERS

Xeriscaping, sustainable landscaping, water-wise gardening…these recurring themes are all the buzz on the home garden circuit these days, and the talk’s hardly limited to cactus and rocks.  Gardening groups, landscape professionals, and earth-conscious corporations are doing their part to build awareness, and gardeners are quickly catching on to the fact that aesthetics need not be sacrificed in the name of environmental friendliness.

Systems that recycle rainwater are also becoming more mainstream.  “The creative solutions I’m hearing about and telling people about are rainwater harvesting and rain gardens, which are connected to dry stream beds and use free water to sustain our landscapes,” say Carrie Dubberley, local landscape designer and horticulturist.

“Landscapes should be useful” is Dubberley’s motto.  “I’m doing more perennial gardens where we remove the lawn and install herbs and perennials.  All are earth-friendly plants because they use less water and fertilizer and maintenance, plus the feed the beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies.”

Dubberley Landscape Design, 972-618-6177