ABSTRACT
Plants are integral to life, and a key component of successful landscaping. The intersection of these two aspects of plants is where sustainability in the plantscape comes into play. Environmentally, plants provide carbon sequestration, release oxygen, and cool the air through evapotranspiration. The carbon cycle describes where carbon is stored, such as in plants and the ocean, and where it is emitted, such as during cement production and burning of fossil fuels. Plants are part of an ecosystem, which is a plant-animal-microorganism community and their non-living environment interacting as a unit. Plants provide ecosystem services through regulation of global and local climate, cleansing of air and water, habitat functions, and plant-soil interactions. In nature, plants occur together in defined biomes, large communities of plants and animals which occupy a habitat, such as forest or tundra. Ecoregions are categorized by moisture and temperature, and include areas such as Eastern Broadleaf Forest, Prairie Parkland, and California Dry Steppe. Within a biome, categories of plants include the understory plants found in forests and xerophytes found in deserts. Fertile soils may be rich in humus, which is formed by the decomposition of other organic material. Landscaping for water conservation is called xeriscaping.
