Plant Confusion

Hi Elizabeth, There are no requirements regarding plant selection for this credit. I see in table 1 in the Reference Guide that non-native plants are identified as problematic in general, but you can still earn this credit if your project has non-native plants. Consider the following information from SSc5 in the Reference Guide under 'Related Credits' as confirmation of this: "This kind of landscaping (native and adapted) also contributes to achieving SSc3 and WEc3." There's no mention of SSc2.

This credit is all about equipment and landscape maintenance practices. So, it's not concerned with the types of plants you have in your Memorial Garden. But it's very interested in whether you use a electric-powered or manual hand tools and organic fertilizer versus a gas-powered mower and chemical fertilizer. Your plan should outline the equipment and practices that are employed to manage that garden space and should be very clear about the environmentally-preferable techniques that are used. Try to limit your equipment to hand tools and/or electric-powered equipment and avoid the use of gasoline-powered equipment if possible. You'll also want to show that you are avoiding chemical fertilizers in favor of more environmentally-friendly options. There is a good plan template in the "Documentation Toolkit" section of this credit that outlines the types of things that should be addressed as part of your maintenance, although some of these items are also addressed in SSc3, so check there as well.

Is fertilizer in its own performance category? i.e. would we demonstrate that 20% of the time we are using environmentally-friendly fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers? It's unclear how to quantify this from a performance perspective. It appears based on the rating system description for SSc2 that fertilizer is not addressed in this credit at all.

Hi Kim, SSc3 would capture Fertilizer. Im confused why Jason mentioned it in his answer above.

Sorry about that, everyone. Jeff is right - fertilizers are addressed in SSc3. It's not uncommon to track performance requirements for SSc2 and SSc3 in the same spreadsheet, log, etc., since it is most likely the same building personnel or set of 3rd party vendors who are providing these services. That being said, fertilizer is tracked in it's own performance category; the best way to track minimum 20% compliance is to track the number of applications and amount of fertilizer used each time. Sorry for any confusion.