A beautiful landscape can help lower energy bills

Spring is finally here, and you’re ready to plant new flowers in the beds, trees in the yard and veggies in the garden. If you plan carefully, this springtime ritual can help make your home more energy efficient in both winter and summer.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, you can reduce your energy bills by $100 to $250 annually with smartly designed landscaping. A plan that considers how sunlight and wind affect the temperature in your home can help counter how those conditions affect your comfort and utility bills. Some helpful landscaping techniques include:

•Plant deciduous trees, ones that lose their leaves during the winter, in front of windows that receive significant amounts of sunlight. This helps block solar heat in the summer and lets it in during the winter when you need it most. A 6-to-8-foot deciduous tree will begin shading your windows the first year and your roof, depending on the species, within 5-10 years.

•Shading driveways and walkways cools the air before it reaches your home’s walls and windows. Cooling other public areas such as patios will also help. Hedges, trellises or large bushes and shrubs offer appealing sights and significant shade to help cool these areas.

•Winter sunlight is a welcome heat source, but the wind that can accompany it can reduce its positive effects. A natural windbreak will reduce or redirect wind speed. Evergreen trees and shrubs planted on the side of your house that receives winds will help reduce the wind effect. Teaming evergreen trees and an earth berm, a natural or man-made wall also will direct wind over your house.

Utilizing some techniques of Xeriscape, largely using natural precipitation to meet your landscapes watering needs, will cut your water usage. Keep like together; plant flowers and vegetation with similar water needs in the same beds or close to each other. Use plants that are drought tolerant even if you receive adequate rainfall; they don’t need much water and add variety to your landscape.

Now you can go to your local nursery prepared. Create a map of your property that marks trees, home, driveway, sidewalk and patio as well as:

•Wind direction and sun angles for both the winter and summer;

•Views you want to preserve;

•Areas where plant height and width could be restricted due to utility lines or public sidewalks;

•Areas where there is poor drainage or standing water; and sick or dead trees that need to be removed.

Choose appropriate trees and shrubs for your climate. Use a variety of sizes and shapes because some trees will be great for impeding summer winds, but not as effective against typically harsher winter winds. Growth rate is important, too. If you need sun protection quickly then get fast-growing trees, but remember rapid-growers generally don’t live as long as their slow-growing brethren.

For more information about energy efficient landscaping, visit the American Nursery & Landscape Association at www.anla.org or The National Arbor Day Foundation at www.arborday.org. If you need a professional landscaper for your project, visit the SHBA website at www.SHBA.com and use our online membership directory.