By James Feichtner
Going green can mean a lot of different things. From buying a hybrid vehicle to recycling, there are many different ways individuals can lessen their impact on the environment. One local couple has taken the initiative to better their Zionsville-based business by making their facility more eco-efficient.
Jeff and Ellen Butz are longtime owners of Landscapes Unlimited, situated on Old 106th Street. For more than two decades they have been serving northern Indianapolis with their landscape, patio and gardening designs.
“We do plant installation, hardscapes, stone retaining walls, patios, water features,” Jeff said. “It’s all residential estate gardening. We’re personal gardeners to our clients.”
Not long ago Jeff and Ellen moved their business from its previous location to make way for the new FedEx building. It was this move that gave them an opportunity to make their business greener.
“When you work in a creative field you want a creative environment to work in,” Ellen said. “I guess we took a look at what could have been a pretty tough situation, to pick up and move everything, and turned it into a positive one, in my opinion.”
Being part of an already eco-centric industry, Jeff and Ellen said they believed they should represent their trade in an organic manner. Developed by architect David Rausch, their new building has several environmentally friendly features that help manage storm water and also benefit their business.
“We work in a green industry,” Jeff said. “We felt it was best that we represent the green industry and be the front-runner. We are currently harvesting rainwater that we use to water our nursery and our grounds. We have permeable pavers that catch and cleanses the water before it goes into the storm systems.”
The Landscapes Unlimited building uses recycled storm pipes, that would’ve otherwise have been rejected and destroyed by the state, as cisterns to collect the rainwater. These are located underground. The water is then pumped out to provide water throughout the property.
One of the unique features of their building is their recently installed green roof. The roof is dominantly covered by several species of seeding plants and acts as not only a source of water to the plants, but also as a way to conserve energy.
“With the green roof that we just installed, that also provides an environmental benefit to slow and capture rainwater,” Jeff said. ‘It serves a double function; it’ll double the life expectancy of the rubber roofing membrane and we should see increased energy conservation. Cooling in the summer and reduced rates in the winter.”
Greener methods are also implemented in the services they provide. They utilize water conserving methods and natural approaches in their residential work, as well.
“We practice water conservation,” Jeff said. “We do it not only at our office, but at our properties. We use organic fertilizer as opposed to synthetics. We use minimal chemical applications. We seed our lawns with turf that is more drought tolerant and requires less chemical applications to keep them looking green. There is all sorts of things that go above and beyond.”
They also practice their green methods at home by means of minimizing their trash output, recycling and changing out their windows and doors with more energy efficient designs.
“We harvest rainwater. We have our own vegetable garden. We compost. We generate about one paper bag of trash per week,” Jeff said.
Both Ellen and Jeff said they believe they are aiding in a greener community by leading by example. Landscapes Unlimited is a perfect model of how a business can lessen their impact while simultaneously benefiting from greener practices.
“Someone has got to do it first just to show people what we can do and that it can be done,” Ellen said. “It’s just getting people to think about how can you minimize your impact.”
For more information on Landscapes Unlimited, visit www.landscapesunlimitedin.com.
