Technical Resources

Urban and Native Landscaping

Updated 07/11/2008

Arizona golf course with native plant landscaping. Urban communities are expanding due to growing populations nationwide. More homes, schools, shopping centers and roads are connecting people to desired services. Urban landscapes have different resource concerns than rural landscapes. Urban communities experience significantly more impervious surfaces.

Rooftops, roads, parking lots, and compacted areas increase surface runoff and deliver more sediment, nutrients, hydrocarbons and other pollutants to receiving bodies of water.

Urban landscapes often experience greater populations of invasive species and weeds that increase the potential of damaging wildfire. Many of the Plant Materials Programs 600+ conservation plant releases can and are used to create colorful low water-use, drought tolerant, sustainable landscapes. Native plants released by the Program are often more fire resistant and remain green longer than invasive species.

Publications

Features

Camp Creek Restoration: Homeowners, Weeds and Wildflowers - Tucson Plant Materials Center, Arizona - Sep 25, 2007
"Living Landscapes in North Dakota"- NBC - KFYR TV, Bismarck, North Dakota, March 20, 2007
Video interview - Dwight Tober, PM Specialist and Craig Stange, Forester, North Dakota NRCS
Leading by Example - NRCS This Week - June 26, 2006
Xeriscaping Living Laboratories in the Dakotas and Montana - Bismarck Plant Materials Center - Sep 27, 2005
Montana Native Plants for Pollinator-Friendly Plantings - Bridger Plant Materials Center - May 31, 2005
Community Garden Guides - Rose Lake Plant Materials Center, Michigan - Mar 14, 2005

Some documents may require Acrobat Reader.

Improving Urban Landscapes (PDF; 434 KB) National Plant Materials Program Fact Sheet August 2007

Technical Note 72 Publications Used to Create Native Landscapes in California. (PDF; 33 KB) Ilona Smith. 2005. Lockeford CA, Lockeford, Ca. TN-72, Feb 2005. 3p. (ID# 5882)

Living Landscapes in North Dakota: A Guide to Native Plantscaping. (PDF; 7.8 MB) North Dakota NRCS. 2006. USDA, NRCS, Plant Materials Center., Bismarck, North Dakota. June 2006. 38p. (ID# 6598)
Rain Gardens, Capturing and Using the Rains of the Great Plains. (PDF; 725 KB) Stange, Craig and Nancy Jensen. 2007. Bismarck, ND. (ID# 7278)

Creating Native Landscapes in the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. (PDF; 5.2 MB) Majerus, M.E., C. Reynolds, J. Scianna, S. Winslow, L. Holzworth, and B. Woodson. 2001. USDA-NRCS, Bozeman, MT. October 2001. 16p. (ID# 1734)

Technical Note 57: Landscaping With Fire Resistant Plants. (PDF; 973 KB) Dyer, D. 2000. USDA-NRCS Lockeford Plant Materials Center, Lockeford, CA. CA-TN57, Jan. 2000. 19p. (ID# 600)

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