A growing number of professional landscaping firms are embracing sustainable practices, using fewer chemicals, doing more work by hand to cut down on emissions and making more efforts to conserve water.
One of those companies is Signature Landscape Services.
The firm cut back on its use of synthetic fertilizer about 40 percent in the past two years.
And it’s marketing sustainable landscaping for a slightly higher price for commercial properties. Some customers that have signed on include Swedish Edmonds, Swedish Mill Creek and Zumiez in Lynnwood.
“If you are willing to go the sustainable route and you have a long-term management plan, expenses go up a little bit in the first one to two years,” said Will Bailey, Signature’s general manager. “But they go down during years three to five. When you can demonstrate that to a client and they get it, then it’s a win-win situation.”
Enough people have called to ask about sustainable landscaping that two state associations, Washington Association of Landscape Professionals in Edmonds and Washington State Nursery &Landscape Association in Federal Way, started offering a certification course two years ago.
“I think overall whether it be commercial or residential, more and more customers are requesting sustainable,” said Patty Anderson, executive director of Landscape Professionals. “Whether it’s in the design, construction or maintenance.”
Professional landscapers are finding it easier to market the service to homeowners and to condo associations where children and pets play on the greenery. It’s been harder — but not impossible — to market it to commercial properties and business parks.
Lawns cared for organically look better, said Linda Carroll who with her husband Jeff own Jefferson Landscaping.
“It’s very easy once they’ve seen the difference, but it’s hard when they’re just looking at bids, because the costs are higher to do things with more labor,” Linda Carroll said.
The Woodinville company has promoted sustainable landscaping since it started more than a decade ago. It does mostly residential work.
The company uses organic fertilizer and uses only battery operated or propane lawn equipment for almost all of its jobs. Jeff Carroll decided to make the switch to battery-powered equipment after he was out using a trimmer all day and couldn’t stand the fumes, she said.
Signature, which is based in Redmond, but has offices in Maltby and Kent, has 580 customers from Tacoma to Mount Vernon.
It’s been incorporating some sustainable practices for all of its clients.
The Quad I-5 business park at 728 134th St. SW in Everett is one of its newest customers.
Signature is tearing out some existing plants and shrubs and replacing them with native and dwarf plants that need less water, using propane-powered lawnmowers to cut down on emissions and is hand pruning shrubs instead of using gas-powered shears.
There are a number of ways to become more earth-friendly with landscaping, Bailey said.
For one, using organic fertilizer instead of synthetic fertilizer.
Lawn care using only synthetic products isn’t good for the long-term health of the landscape, said Bailey, who has a degree in horiticulture from the University of Washington.
He likens it to feeding a patient intravenously. For short amounts of time, it works well, but over time it can damage the landscape it’s supposed to help by pouring salts and sulphurs into the soil.
Another sustainable landscaping practice is to look at conserving water.
Often, minor tweaks to the irrigation system at a commercial property can lead to big water savings, said Tom Burgess, Signature’s regional business development manager.
One of the first things that they do at a new property is look at water nozzles and heads that could be leaking or need replacement, he said.
Sometimes plants have grown so much that they block water or redirect the spray from where it was intended.
A water stream may be pouring water out on the street rather than getting the plants and lawn, Burgess said.
For handling weeds, companies like Signature avoid putting out chemicals in a prophylactic way, instead treating problems when they come up.
For weeds, Signatures looks for alternatives such as clove oil instead of chemical sprays.
Both Signatures and Jefferson also use blow torches to kill other weeds.
Treating problems as they come up works for pests and funguses.
Tent caterpillars can often be addressed by trimming some infected branches of trees if they’re caught early. Funguses can often be treated by taking out shrubs before the fungus spreads to other plants.
Sustainable landscaping has grown on the West Coast, pushed along by law changes in California that have been adopted in Oregon and Washington, Bailey said.
In Washington, the state two years ago banned the use of fertilizers that contain phosphorus for maintaining lawns, although it allows the use for installing new turf.
“I’ve got friends on the East Coast where they’re aware of the term sustainable, but they’re not doing it,” Bailey said.
It can be attractive to commercial properties that want to attract tenants who care about sustainable practices. And some landscaping can be used for gaining points in LEED and other green certifications.
A lot of the sustainable practices require more labor.
And more labor means more costs.
Signature charges customers about 10 percent higher for landscapes cared for sustainably. It can be a difficult sale at times.
“Property owners and managers aren’t going to spend substantially more just to feel good,” Bailey said. “Businesses aren’t in business to lose money.”
But there are ways to offset the costs. While labor costs go up, the cost for materials actually goes down. Using organic fertilizer means that landscaping firms don’t need to replace plants as often.
And conserving water can lead to a substantial savings.
“If you can save up to 10 to 15 percent, you can do the math,” Bailey said. “You’re saving them a chunk of money especially year over year.”
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