Sustainable Design
Our focus at Tikotsky & Associates is environmentally sustainable design. This means whenever practical, we recommend proven, sustainable practices and materials such as water recharge of ground water, efficient technology in sprinklers and lights, and native and climate adapted plants. And our approach is to reduce as much as possible the use of petroleum-based landscape products by ecological pest management and composting to keep soil nutrients on site.

Water Management
Modern technology continues to advance the art of sprinkler design. Buried drip systems eliminate spray evaporation and intelligent sprinkler controllers actually monitor the weather to give just the right amount of water without waste or runoff. The natural rainfall is captured by groundwater recharge basins and permeable paving and not sent down municipal storm drains. House water can be recycled in the landscape using grey-water irrigation.

Appropriate Plants
One way to reduce the water needs of a landscape is to use native and climate appropriate planting material. Adapted to the rain and sun of a geographic area, they need mush less, sometimes no, water supplementation. And they are adapted to the native soil types, reducing the needs for amendments and fertilizers. Another method of sustainable landscape is to use edible planting material in the garden, creating local sources of fresh produce for the home.

Energy Conservation
Energy conservation can be achieved by using solar panels to power remote irrigation controllers and by recycling construction materials like broken concrete for use as retaining walls, seat walls and pathways. Reusing used landscape timbers and brick reduces landfill waste. We at Tikotsky & Associates pride ourselves in our systems-wide approach to sustainable landscaping. We think this offers benefits not only to our clients but the society at large.