The purpose of Remkes Environmental is to create habitat where it has been lost. Many of our yards used to host diverse and productive plant communities that supported many different types of wildlife. Now most yards are dominated by one species, namely Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). This plant provides little to no benefit to our native bugs, birds, and animals. It is also a species that requires 1”-1.5” of water per week to maintain the dense green turf that most people desire in their landscapes. Sandy City, which receives the most precipitation on average of any city along the Wasatch Front, still only gets 20” annually. In order to sustain a growing population, our water consumption practices need to change and our landscapes are a great place to start.
It is easy to see how environmentally detrimental it is for us to keep installing and maintaining lawns across Utah. As our population grows, more and more of our native and wildlife sustaining habitats are being bulldozed and paved over with only a few of those areas being replanted, mostly with non-native plants. We can mitigate some of this damage by opting to only plant lawns in areas where they will be used and planting the rest of our properties with a variety of native species.
Native Pollinator gardens are becoming popular and these essential areas are easy to maintain. Unlike lawns, they can be a vital habitat for many bees, beetles, moths, butterflies and birds. They grow much like a wildflower meadow that we can see in our mountains and do not take much supplemental irrigation to keep them thriving and providing critical habitat to our native insects and birds.