Mission & Philosophy
PHILOSOPHY
I believe in the value of the landscape as a vital element for sustainability of the plant. The living landscape serves the earth in its functions as habitat, temperature mitigation, as well as cleansing the aquifer, soil and air of pollutants. Or it may harm the greater environment when practices are used which cause regular harm.
Plant roots are vital to stabilizing soil. Landscapes make an important positive contribution to our quality of life, our aesthetics and our human well being. I believe in creating and maintaining Green landscapes which contribute to sustainability of the planet.
The value of the home gardens and public landscapes are often overlooked. And often they become part of the problem. They should be part of the solution and contributing toward sustainability.
Consider those who remove trees to put in high water needs turf grass and contribute to pollution through the constant applications of pesticides, herbicides and the likes.
Yet trees are a very important part of landscapes while turf grass offer little to sustainability.
While palm trees serve to create beautiful architectural features in a landscape, from an ecological standpoint, they do not serve as large long lived canopy trees do.
The shade from tree canopies reduces air-conditioning costs and mitigates outdoor and indoor temperatures, cooling our neighborhoods, our environment. Trees canopies supply our oxygen. They remove carbon dioxide (the major greenhouse gas), trace metals, and other industrial pollutants from the air we breathe.
Rainwater is absorbed from frequent intense summer storms by tree roots which hold moisture on your property. Their roots also prevent storm water runoff which carries soil, often contaminated with fertilizers, and other chemicals such as pesticides and fungicides used on gardens and lawns, off of our properties and into storm drains, our bays and estuaries. The resultant algal blooms cloud waters, killing sea grasses, without which young fish, crustaceans, and other aquatic life have no where to feed and hide.
Lake Okeechobee, a water supply to local residents and a vital fresh water body which provides habitat for local wildlife and fish, contains an accumulated sediment base of phosphorus and nitrogen, and other pollutants, which has increased in the last century.
It is vital that we conserve and preserve our water supply and the health of our ecosystems for future generations. Through our landscapes and our landscape practices we can be part of the solution in our own neighborhoods, and reduce this trend toward pollution and disaster. For more information about Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades go to the South Florida Water Management website at http://www.sfwmd.gov/.
MISSION
It is my mission to with this blog and my website, www.pinkshovellandcsapes, to provide useful education and information which empowers gardeners and homeowners to create and maintain Green home landscapes through the use of Green gardening tenets in their home landscapes.
As a landscape designer, it is my mission to provide quality well thought out landscapes which serve these important Green functions in our environment making them Green landscapes which contribute to nature and sustainability, while providing for your needs, in a quality design with aesthetics that will please you and serve you and your environment well, now and in the future.