Monday, February 27, 2012

Integrated Pest Management: What's the fuss all about?

UK agriculture has made a 35 minute video about Integrated Pest Management which gives a more complete picture for dealing with plant problems.  The first three minutes give a quick summary of what IPM covers:

Cultural – right plant for the right space

Biological – using insects and other animals to controls pests

Genetic – selecting cultivars with traits that are resistant

Mechanical – physical removal of the problem

Regulatory – controlling what plants (and therefore the pests) using quarantine or regulations to prevent the spread

Chemical – chemical treatment of the problem (right chemical at the right time)

The remaining part of the video covers the first four items listed above in more detail such as selecting quality plants, planting and maintaining them well, and how to deal with common disease/insect problems.

Posted via email from Verdant Design

Monday, February 20, 2012

Rain Garden animation

It can be difficult to visualize a change in the landscape such as how a rain garden functions.  The enclosed animation takes a photograph of a Highlands landscape island and shows how it can be transformed into a rain garden.  An existing “bee hive” inlet is raised to allow for the water to first soak into the ground.  If there is too much rain water, the excess goes down into the inlet before it is allowed to flood the parking area.  As the rain stops, the water in the landscape island recedes.  So the animation shows how the view from a photo can be transformed to illustrate an ecological change – infiltrating water in a landscape area.

Posted via email from Verdant Design

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Invasive Plants! Oh My!

Silvergrass

Invasive plants (or more correctly, non-native aggressive plants) tend to take over whether it’s a commercial landscape or a residential landscape.  These plants have proven to take over landscape areas, reproduce easily and can spread beyond their original location (making their way into our parks and natural areas).

Some plants are readily known to be invasive:

Honeysuckle (along I-64 around Cannons Lane)

Johnson Grass (taller grass found in roadside ditches such as River Road or along I-71)

Multiflora rose (thorny and ugly)

But some of the plants may surprise you:

Winged Euonymus (or “Cardinal Bush”)

Miscanthus (Silver Reed Grass, shown in the picture)

English Ivy

Kentucky 31 and Bluegrass (both are aggressive taking over native areas)

So what is being done in Jefferson County, KY?  Well, first thing is when a landscape plan is required in the county one does not receive credit for plants on the prohibited list such as the ones shown above.  And instead, other plants are preferred.  To learn more about our county plant lists, see our Louisville Land Development Code at:

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/PlanningDesign/ldc/LDCMarch2006.htm  (See Chapter 10, Appendix 10A and 10B)

General information on any state can be found at

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/main.shtml

Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Lists

http://www.se-eppc.org/ky/list.htm

Posted via email from Verdant Design