Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Class utilizes videos, internet sites, guest speakers and field trips to provide information and to stimulate class discussion of themes and topics.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an awareness of environmental systems impacted through landscape practices.
• Apply sustainable practices in the design, installation, and maintenance of landscapes.
• Explain the environmental impacts of landscape operations on soil health, water conservation, air and water pollution and energy  consumption.

The Instructor prepares hands-on labs before class (e.g. find sites, order and stage materials, prep site). During the lab period, the Instructor teaches Sustainable Landscape installation skills by guiding students through real-world projects. The instructor demonstrates sustainable landscape installation techniques and provides guidance in the installation process. Students then build sustainable landscape projects with the instructor’s guidance and verbal feedback. Students also work in groups to design sustainable projects for installation. The instructor evaluates the projects outside of class time—providing a score and feedback on the design and content, completeness and professionalism.

• Written paper explaining personal view of “sustainable landscaping” including support material from class lectures.
• Participation in class discussions

Themes, concepts and goals:

• Recognition of the landscape as an ever changing environment.
• Understanding that changing demographics, population and life styles require us to look at landscaping as part of the     “larger” environment and ecosystem.
• Landscape design, installation, and maintenance can be done in environmentally sensitive ways and still provide healthy,     useable, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor spaces.
• Understand the long term economic and environmental impacts of “older” landscape methods.

Competencies and skills:

• Discuss the concepts of hydrozones, microclimates and “xeriscaping”
• Select plants for sun/shade exposures, drought tolerance and soil preference
• Discuss use of plants to control wind and temperature, both outdoors and for structures
• Discuss water conservation through the proper selection and positioning of plants
• Discuss water conservation and plant health relative to proper irrigation techniques
• Discuss proper use of turfgrass and groundcovers in the landscape
• Discuss and explain the concept of “Integrated Pest Management”
• Discuss fertilization needs and methods relative to plant health, energy consumption and pollution
• Discuss landscape equipment selection and use relative to energy consumption and pollution
• Discuss recycling within the landscape including composting, use of mulches and yard debris
• Discuss the soil as an ecosystem and the maintenance of soil health