A different option

Stroll through many sprawling community associations and you're likely to see close-cropped lawns, beefy hedges, parkway tree canopies and shimmering ponds. The landscape may be beautiful, but it's expensive to keep up, and probably not very Earth-friendly.

Some associations are turning to sustainable landscaping, an emerging trend in landscape management.

Sustainable landscaping is a set of practices that save money, reduce energy usage, preserve natural resources and create a healthier environment for residents and wildlife, said Tom Lupfer, president of Lupfer Landscaping in Lyons.

"It's a new way of looking at how we manage our properties to create healthy, regenerative ecosystems that are economically viable," he said.

Some people erroneously believe that sustainable landscaping means tallgrass prairies and fields of wildflowers, he said.

"It's not a design style," Lupfer said. "You can have as formal or informal an appearance as you want."

Sustainability is a natural partner to associations because it takes a long view, which is what associations do when they conduct reserve studies, he said.

Reserve studies itemize an association's common elements, estimate their remaining life spans and calculate the cost to replace them when the time comes. They typically look forward 20 or 30 years.

Edith Makra, community trees advocate for the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, said that associations often face challenges to sustainability that park districts, municipalities and other entities don't. Among them: landscape installed decades ago by developers who built for aesthetics rather than easy upkeep, and volunteer boards that may or may not have expertise or interest in environmental issues. Also, many reserve studies don't include landscape replacement.

"Sustainability is easier to do from the get-go, but associations can become a lot more sustainable than they are," she said.

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