How You Can Help

Our living landscapes are important. They provide benefits to people, pets, wildlife and the overall environment. But in our community dialogues about water, landscaping and urban habitat, the rush to rip out living landscapes and replace them with deadened ground covers of rocks, mulch, gravel, and even plastic grass has taken root.

We must take concerns about water use seriously and respond responsibly. We may have to change how we approach and view our landscapes. But that doesn’t mean they have to be dead yards, parks or other outdoor spaces.

How You Can Help

  • Get Climate Smart. Identify your climate zone and plant more plants that do well in your area.
  • Seek Balance. Seek a good balance of climate-appropriate, drought-friendly grasses, plants, trees and shrubs.
  • Help our Pollinators. Add some “pollinator” plants that attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.
  • Share the Love. Share the value of living landscapes with your friends, neighbors, Facebook friends, customers and staff with our FREE materials.

5 Ways to Share the Love of Living Landscapes

  1. Share information with your neighborhood through a community newsletter, fliers or online community.
  2. Distribute materials to customers and staff at your business or place of work.
  3. Write a letter to the editor about the importance of living landscapes, especially when you see stories about drought, lawn removal, or climate change. Remind people about the benefits our living landscapes provide.
  4. Send a letter to your local legislator sharing your views on the importance of living landscapes and their impact on your life and community.
  5. Share infographics, links to our website and other materials on social media.

If you are an outdoor power equipment dealer, see our fact sheet on ways to support the program.

Note: To download files, you may need to right click with your mouse and select “save as”

FREE RESOURCES

Infographics

OPEI_LivingLandscapeMattersFINAL2015-194x300

OPEI_TM_LL2015-194x300

Hashtag: #LivingLandscapes

Twitter: Please reference @OPEInstitute on Twitter if possible so we can thank you!

Fact Sheets & Background Materials

Audio Files for Sharing

  • How it’s okay for grass to turn brown in low water scenarios. Brown is OK (mp3 file)
  • Important of living landscapes for Kids & Pets (mp3 file)
  • Why do we need living landscapes? Living Landscapes (mp3 file)