Connecticut crafts sustainable landscaping rules

New state regulations target water use. New state-funded construction must reduce by 50 percent the amount of water needed for landscaping, or install plantings that don't require a permanent irrigation system.

Contractors also will have to "promote biodiversity" by using native plants (or their cultivars), or those that are not considered invasive species. Lawn areas are supposed to be "minimized" to less than 10 percent of the building site landscape.

See all the rules here.