• Automatic sprinklers can cut down on water usage.Crop sprinkler image by Jim Mills from Fotolia.com
  
  Adding flowers and trees to your yard can be an important first step toward incorporating more nature into your life. Plants help support an ecosystem and can add beauty to increase the value of a home. But new landscaping doesn't always take advantage of the best environmental options.
  
  

Install Automatic Sprinklers

• One of the biggest environmental issues that landscaping poses is water usage. Manual sprinklers and hoses can spill gallons of water that drain away before plants can benefit, putting serious strain on the water system during times of drought. Automatic sprinklers give homeowners the option to use water at night when it will take longer to evaporate and may not be in such high demand.
  
  Automatic sprinklers also do away with the risk of overwatering. Besides providing an environmental benefit, automatic sprinklers can help save on utility costs, giving homeowners more money to invest in other green landscaping ideas.
  
  

Use Native Plants

• Many of the most popular or attractive plants require large amounts of water. Planting these in a dry region where they wouldn't grow naturally can put strain on water resources and may also risk bringing foreign plant diseases into the area. Sticking with native plants ensures that a landscaping design will only have plants that can tolerate the climate without excessive watering. It also removes the need to transport plants from far away, cutting down on oil usage.
  
  

Build with Concrete

• Concrete is an environmentally-friendly construction material for walkways, paving stones and retaining walls. Most concrete uses limestone, which is abundant and easy to work with. Specially-formulated eco friendly concrete contains items like slag cement and fly ash, which are made of the waste that factories and power plants produce, putting waste to good use.
  
  

Only Use Renewable Wood

• Landscaping construction projects, like fences and sheds, can be a good place to make eco friendly decisions. In particular, using renewable wood helps ensure that forests aren't disappearing for lumber faster than they can regrow. Wood like bamboo grows very quickly and provides a durable, attractive option for landscaping. Other types of wood can be sustainable when harvesting is done properly, so check the label or manufacturer guarantee to learn which wood does the least harm to the environment.