The Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District sponsored a Low-Maintenance Landscaping Design Competition in May and June 2005. All residents of Louisville Metro area and the following Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency (KIPDA) counties were eligible: Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble Counties in Kentucky, and Clark and Floyd Counties in Indiana.

• Quick fact sheet 
• Details
• Frequently-asked questions
• Resources

Special Thanks

The District appreciates the contribution by the Advisory Committee of professional horticulture staff from the Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Service, Metropolitan Sewer District, and the Louisville Community Design Center.

Objectives:

• Reducing air polluting emissions from gasoline-powered lawn maintenance, creating healthier air to breathe.
• Providing property owners with design concepts to convert a high-maintenance lawn to an attractive and affordable low-maintenance landscape. The competition will accomplish this by creating a selection of user-friendly landscaping designs, which are practical, artistic, and economical.

Agency Contact Information:

502-574-5322 • Fax 502-574-5306

E-mail Lawn Care for Cleaner Air

Competition Details

1. Four categories of design projects were eligible for prizes:

   1. Sunny lot
   2. Shady lot
   3. Part sun/part shade lot
   4. Homeowner-designed and implemented landscape

   The first three categories were open to residents in the 9-county area. Only homeowners who are not professional landscape designers, and who have designed a low-maintenance landscape for their own home, are eligible to enter the "Homeowner" category. The landscape designs submitted may or may not have been implemented.

   A professional landscape designer is considered someone who makes their living designing landscapes, and/or has a certification in landscape design from a recognized landscape design institution.

2. The design should be for a lot, or portion of a lot, that is a maximum of 12,000 square feet in size.
3. Fifty percent of the plants must be native to the counties in the Kentuckiana region.

4. All submissions will be wholly contained on one side (except as below) of a poster board or foam core no larger than 24" x 36".

   Submissions were required to include the following:

   1. A completed application form.
   2. Name, address, phone numbers, and e-mail (if appropriate) of the person making the submittal, placed on the back of the entry.
   3. A drawing of the property, with buildings outlined, and landscaping plants clearly marked. You may use a numbering system to identify the plants, with the key placed as appropriate on the poster board, if desired.
   4. A narrative description of the property and plants, printed and affixed to the poster board at not less than 12 point font. Describe the plants in terms of hardiness and zone-appropriateness.
   5. For every plant used in the landscape, two alternative plants shall be listed to increase the transferability of the design, including the native plants. In the Homeowner category, only one alternative plant needs to be listed. List botanical names and common names of each plant.  Listing botanical names is optional in the Homeowner category. Lists of alternative plants must be stapled to the original plant list.
   6. Do not use exotic invasive plants, especially those that appear on the Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Council's list of invasive exotic plants on the Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council website.
   7. Identify the topographical properties and history of the lot: flat, slopes, orientation to the sun, new subdivision lot, established neighborhood, existing landscaping plants, etc.
   8. Describe the soil, including a history of what has grown in the soil (if established), or whether it is a subsoil. What is the soil pH, physical and mineral characteristics? What amendments, including quantity and method, must be added to make the soil appropriate for the plants used?
   9. Describe how the design is low-maintenance, especially in terms of water use and how mowing or maintenance with gasoline-powered equipment will be eliminated.
      1. Estimate the quantity of water that will be needed if there is no rain for 21 days.
      2. Estimate the amount of time (hours per week) required for mowing or maintenance during the growing season.
   10. Approximate cost of implementing the landscape: cost of plants, soil amendments, grading, tilling, etc.
   11. The narrative and drawing shall also be provided in electronic form on either a 3½" floppy disc or a compact disc attached to the back of the 24" x 36" board with removable tape. The narrative should be in Microsoft Word format (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). The drawing may be in JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), AutoCAD (.dwg), or ArcView (.apr or .mxd) format.

Resources

• Quick fact sheet 
• Application form 
• Application form in MS Word format
• Frequently-asked questions

At bottom right are links to the websites of other organizations provided for your information.  APCD has no control over the contents of these websites.