• Rubi Reyes •
• Originally published January 21, 2009 at 5:18 p.m., updated January 21, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.

These days everyone seems to be concerned about money and how to stretch each dollar. More families are planting vegetable gardens to help save money at the grocery store. Growing your own produce can help you save some, but have you ever thought about letting your landscape help you save on your utility bills?

With a bit of planning, you can have a landscape that will actually help to lower heating and cooling bills. Let's see how our landscapes can help save money.

Think about this, a mature tree that shades the roof of a house can lower the indoor temperature by 10 degrees. That could make a big difference during the heat of summer. Any home that has a tree to shade its roof, and has shrubs placed in the right locations, can be heated and cooled for 20 percent less energy than a home that's not landscaped as wisely.

Having an energy-efficient landscape doesn't take any more time or money to maintain than any other landscape. But, you need to start with a good plan. Careful planning now can save you money next time you have to pay a utility bill.

The first step to having a yard that will help ease utility costs is to walk around and evaluate all your plantings. You want to determine what climatic or landscape conditions are present, and if they help or hinder the comfort of the home. After your evaluation, sit down and put a plan on paper. In your plan, show which way the summer and winter sunshine hits the house. Then draw arrows to indicate which direction the prevailing winds blow.

Trees, of course, are the biggest plant of any landscape, and one of the most important. One properly placed tree can do a lot to help lower utility costs. The most energy-saving trees will be deciduous. They will block the summer sunshine with their leaves, and let the warm winter sunlight shine through their bare branches.

Evergreen trees can be more energy helpful if the lower limbs are kept trimmed. This will help with air circulation near the house, providing some cool summer breezes.

Trees will be the most helpful if planted on the west or south side of a home. If planting new trees, know their maximum size so you will know how much space they will need. Planting too close to the house could be less effective.

To help cool southern or western facing walls, consider vines or espaliers. Growing these on a wall will help to shade it from the heat. This would then reduce the amount of heat the wall would absorb in the summer, and also provide some insulation from cold temperatures in winter.

Planting tall, evergreen shrubs on the north side of your property can help to lower the wind velocity by 40 to 60 percent. Cutting back on the cold north winds can mean lower heating bills.

In addition to the tall evergreen shrubs, planting shorter evergreens, three to four feet from the base of the north side of the house, can add additional warmth to the home. Shorter growing shrubs, next to the house, could allow spring breezes to circulate through the windows.

When the time comes to select plants for your landscape, try to choose plants that are native or plants that are well adapted to your area. You can usually depend on native plants to require less maintenance and live longer.

Until next time, let's try to garden with nature, not against it, and maybe all our weeds will become wildflowers.

Laurie Garretson is a Victoria gardener and nursery owner. Send your gardening questions to laurie@vicad.com or in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77902.

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