Developed a national sustainable landscape rating system (SITES)

Tuthill Corporate Headquarters Campus. Photo from Conservation Design Forum.

If you’ve heard of green buildings, you’ve likely heard of LEED. Like LEED before it, SITES is set to transform the way landscapes are valued. SITES is a rating system and set of comprehensive guidelines that help landscape developers achieve sustainability – by making choices about ways to use less water, to use native plants, to opt for sustainable materials, to support wildlife and more while developing a site.

Forty-five projects across the country have received certification to date under a pilot program of SITES, which is now available for any landscape project team to use. The pilot landscapes already have collectively saved more than 400 million gallons of drinkable water per year.

SITES was developed by the Wildflower Center in collaboration with the American Society of Landscape Architects and the U.S. Botanic Garden. It was recently purchased by the Green Business Certification Institute, Inc., the very same organization that implements LEED and many other green building rating systems

Keep an eye out for SITES-certified landscape projects near you.

400 acres of Blackland Prairie restored

Bluestem Park in Alliance Town Center, Ft. Worth, Texas. Photo by John Hart Asher.

At the Mueller Development in Austin, blackland prairie plants grow again on land that had been airport runways for half a century. In Dallas, stretches of lawn at the George W. Bush Presidential Center feature this tall grass prairie. Down the road in Fort Worth, a meandering stream and blackland prairie plants have replaced what had served as a cattle pasture and pond for decades. And on a green rooftop in Central Texas, nearly 200 types of plants and blackland prairie grasses grow above bedrooms and kitchens, challenging our notion of where prairie restoration can occur.

All of these projects are part of the Wildflower Center's efforts to restore Blackland Prairie - one of the most endangered ecosystems in the U.S. Prairie once dominated Midwestern landscapes from Texas to Canada, but less than 1 percent remains in Texas. Lost along with it are deep-rooted grasses that create a fertile soil and a resilient ecosystem that improves the environment and provides habitat to wide-ranging wildlife.

To date, the Center has restored elements of Blackland Prairie on 400 acres in cities across Texas, providing people with a chance to deepen their connection to nature where they live, work and play. 

Helped create 90,000 acres of native landscapes

At the Bush Presidential Center near downtown Dallas, urbanites and bees alike enjoy lush native landscapes. Photo by John Clark.

For more than a decade, the Wildflower Center’s ecological designers have studied how to enhance landscapes with native plants and used those insights to help clients restore and create sustainable landscapes. The Center’s consulting work touches on all stages of a landscape’s development, from guiding the development of a site’s restoration plan, to providing detailed lists of native plants and materials for recreating ecosystems and using prescribed fire and other tools for maintaining a healthy landscape.

The vibrant work is showcased at sites as diverse as the Kennedy Space Center in Houston, a residential cliff dwelling in Austin, the Mission Reach in San Antonio and the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.