Sustainable Practices
   

The Memorial Arboretum is committed to maintaining the formal integrity of older and more established landscapes. At the same time, we are:

  • Designing conservation-oriented landscapes that serve an ecological function and are aesthetically pleasing.

  • Creating gardens that thrive without continuous irrigation. Native plants often take center stage in these types of landscapes, but noninvasive, nonnatives can fill that niche as well.

  • Selecting trees not only for their aesthetic and wildlife qualities, but also for their disease resistance. This is especially important with dogwood, cherry and crabapple trees, all of which are particularly vulnerable to both diseases and insects.

  • Incorporating rain gardens to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff.

  • Striving for diversity in all plantings — a key factor in sustainable landscapes.

Native Plants

Landscapes that support local wildlife are key to the cemetery’s sustainability initiatives. Plants native to this area evolved alongside native wildlife, making them more palatable to local insects, birds and other fauna. 

Ninety-six percent of our birds, for example, rely on protein-rich caterpillars to feed their young. These migratory birds find caterpillars on more than 1,000 majestic native oaks (Quercus), like the one pictured on the right. The peeling bark of river birches (Betula nigra, first image), tucked in along Custis Walk, offers hiding places for wintering insects, which in turn provide fuel for hungry woodpeckers.

Rain Gardens

Rain gardens are constructed landscape depressions that allow water to soak into the ground instead of running into storm drains. The benefits of rain gardens are numerous: They reduce and filter sediment and pollutants, control flooding and erosion, and support native plants that feed butterflies, moths, bees and birds.

ANC has rain gardens located near the Administration Building, throughout Columbarium Courts 10 and 11, and at the Lewis and Gifford shelters.

Drought-Tolerant Plants

When selecting plants, a crucial factor to consider is the amount of water a plant will require. The ANMC Horticulture team selects plants that can not only survive on their own during droughts and hot summers, but also thrive over time.   

Vinca minor (periwinkle) that once filled the columbarium courts demanded four long months of watering, so it was replaced with drought-tolerant Delosperma (ice plant), Phedimus and Liriope.

Ornamental grasses, like Calamagrostis grass (right) are also incorporated into full-sun locations, where they bring height and movement to the landscapes.