The availability of, and the demand for, eco-friendly products in
the landscape industry continues to flourish.
Rare and exotic woods, such as teak and redwood, are
either hard to fnd or not environmentally sound to harvest.
That is unless they come from reclaimed sources.
One supplier, TerraMai, gathers redwood from a zeppelin hangar in California as well as from vintage wine
tanks, olive tanks, overland water pipes, barns, bridges
and other structures. Also, they reap reclaimed teak
and other tropical woods from sources such as aging
structures in Southeast Asia, and underwater forests in
West Africa, fooded decades ago to create
reservoirs. terramai.com
Organic
bionutritional
products for plants are
designed to promote their health
while reducing the need for synthetic
inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides.
For example, Holganix manufacturers
a 100 percent natural "compost tea," a
liquid fertilizer to nourish soil ecosystems
and stimulate root development, thereby
fostering healthy plants while decreasing the
amount of nitrates and phosphates put into
the environment. holganix.com
A recent market research analysis by NPD Display Search, a global research and consulting frm, estimated that by 2016 LED applications will account for 26 percent of all light sources used in both
commercial and residential lighting applications.
The predicted increase is due in large part to continued growth
in commercial applications and consumer demand for energy-saving
and green technology. displaysearch.com
Mimicking naturally-occurring floating
wetlands, which are composed of peat
or other plant material and kept afloat
primarily by gas produced by microbes
within the island, BioHaven® floating islands, made of a matrix of recycled plastic
drink bottles and capable of supporting the weight of plants and soil, are designed to remove pollutants such as nitrates and ammonia, and increase the dissolved
oxygen in a water body such as private and public ponds. floatingislandinternational.com
Based on a study of coral structure, one
company is growing bricks with microorganisms and chemical treatments instead of
traditional, kiln-fred methods. The process, developed by BioMason, creates cement-like material in ambient sea temperatures with low energy,
eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from production. A hardened brick requires less than fve days
to materialize. The manufacturer claims it is comparable in cost and performance to traditional clay masonry.
biomason.com
The use of an allnatural water conservation agent when seeding
or sodding a lawn is a
relatively new technique
but according to James
Rafferty, horticulturalist and owner of Lawn
Wranglers of Belleville,
Ill., it can reduce the
amount of water, energy
and fertilizer needed to
grow a healthy turf. One
such product is H2OExcel. According to the
manufacturer, Brookside
Agra, it is formulated
from a blend of desert
plant extracts, and it
naturally reduces soil surface tension to allow soils
to absorb water three to
fve times faster, and give
fertilizers, nutrients and
oxygen a more effcient
path to the root zone.
brookside-agra.com/products/h2o_excel
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