ANLA Executive Addresses Vermont Green Industry Group

A green landscape suggests coolness and tranquility, but in the current decade "green" has become a hot buzz word.

Robert Dolibois, executive vice president of the American Nursery and Landscape Association, spoke this week to a Vermont group with close ties to the topic, describing why "green" and "sustainable" signify much more than just a popular movement.

Horticultural businesses -- those that grow, sell, design, install and care for plants -- collectively are called the green industry.

At the summer meeting of the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association, held at Gardener's Supply Co. in Burlington, Dolibois said sustainability is a longstanding concept -- essential when farmers had to treat their land well because it would have to support future generations. Today, the green industry's challenge is to combine modern science and technology with the historical concept, while keeping businesses profitable enough to also sustain themselves.

Motivated by environmental and social responsibility and often by local permitting requirements or water restrictions, garden centers across the United States are installing water retention ponds and filtering marshes to clean the water coming from their businesses before it enters groundwater. Large production nurseries are finding ways to capture and reuse runoff from watering thousands of plants in containers.

In the landscape, planting "the right plant in the right place" is the best way to lessen or avoid use of fertilizer, pesticides and water, Dolibois said. Consider the natural habitat of the plant and install those from dry or wet areas in gardens with similar conditions, advice that also is given to home gardeners by University of Vermont Extension professor Leonard Perry.

The green industry already is a leader in water recycling and integrated pest management, Dolibois said. It needs to do more to inform the public about the economic and environmental value of plants and landscaping.

"When you do a cost-benefit analysis, you need to factor in the economic value of ecological services such as trees and interior plantscapes that scrub the air." Other benefits include the cooling effect of trees, reducing use of air conditioning; increased potential resale and rental value of landscaped property; and stormwater management through planting.

Industry members are exploring alternative products made from renewable resources. "The Horticultural Research Institute is looking at biodegradable pots made from chicken feathers," Dolibois said. The institute is cooperating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research center in Beltsville, Md., to develop pots made with keratin derived from feathers from the waste stream of the poultry industry.

Other material sources for pots on the market include rice hulls, composted cow manure and recycled paper.

Dolibois encouraged members to learn about the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a project that is developing a set of guidelines and standards modeled after the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system. The project will create a framework for site planning and plant selection at the beginning of a building's concept, with an eye to sustainability.