The St. Louis Green Business Challenge is a sustainability-focused program organized by Missouri Botanical Garden that Quiet Village has participated in for several years now. The program has seen over 250 local businesses like us take on the challenge, progressing from Challenge Apprentice up to Leader and Champion. It’s a perfect fit for our green-thumbed crew because it grows the Triple Bottom Line (fiscal, social, and environmental), which is at the very heart of our core values. If you want to become more environmentally responsible but don’t know how to get started, get inspiration from the Green Business Challenge Accomplishments & Innovations our team completed at the Leader Level. See what we did to complete last year’s challenge here for even more insights into what it takes to participate on a smaller scale. 

The St. Louis Green Business Challenge 

Now in our third year of Challenge participation, we wanted to find a way to bring our commitment to sustainability to our local community. Our landscape design work brings eco-conscious solutions to our clients, and now in our 20th year in business, we knew we wanted to do something to support the people that support the work we’re passionate about. 

Accomplishments 

• Eco-friendly 20th anniversary celebration hosted Garden Tour Party with refillable water stations (instead of plastic bottle use) and attendance gifts of native Aromatic Aster and Coneflower plants. Horticulturists were available to answer questions about eco-friendly gardening & landscape design solutions. 
• Engaged in Adopt-a-Highway Beautification project at the busy intersection of 170/Page. Project includes a four-year commitment to litter cleanup, landscape beautification, mowing and care. Logistics delays have our official signage on hold, but it’s anticipated to be installed soon so we can begin volunteer work. Wave if you see us there volunteering!
• Added a Pollinator Garden in two new areas serving as a Plant ID destination for our team. 

Innovations 

• Hosted volunteer day with Forest ReLeaf, pruning and trimming trees in North City neighborhoods. Approximately 30 trees were cared for. Several neighbors expressed delight with improved walkways and visibility. 
• Planted native-forward landscape design at client site Operation Food Search for volunteers, visitors, and staff to enjoy. 
• Annual participation in Operation Food Search Swing to Heal Hunger charity golf tournament. 

Earthways Center of Missouri Botanical Garden provides every participant with valuable resources needed to complete the challenge, with options to select from that would work best for you. Participation points can be earned for completing activities as easy as creating a green suggestion box up to tracking energy use or installing solar power or other eco-conscious upgrades. Each year Quiet Village has completed various challenge tasks, which inspire us to live, work, and landscape in a more environmentally conscious way. The St. Louis Green Business Challenge has become a way for our team to give back, volunteer, and spread eco-inspired ideas to our peers, team, clients, vendors and even at home. Working through the challenge fosters a connection to how business operations impact the environment, and how they can be changed. The challenge provides an excellent blueprint for reaching goals and tracking progress. Even if your company does very little in the way of sustainability, this program provides all of the support needed to enact real change within your organization. 

Several of the challenge participation points are focused on sustainable landscape design ideas, such as planting a Pollinator Garden or adding eco-friendly elements to an outdoor space. Adding native plants for increased biodiversity takes some research. Get ideas for native plants that look good together here. Many St. Louis properties are overrun with invasive Bush honeysuckle that can grow into thick, dense hedges. Properties with invasive Bush honeysuckle should come up with a plan for removal; either removing it all together or in sections if areas are particularly overgrown. See how to remove invasive honeysuckle yourself here. 

Register for the St. Louis Green Business Challenge or get more details: https://stlouisgreenchallenge.com/

Quiet Village Landscaping is looking forward to continuing to participate and encouraging our business partners to do the same! Sustainability in business isn’t just a trend, it’s a necessity. We’ll keep participating and hope to raise up our accomplishments next year. We send enormous gratitude to the team at Earthways Center; Jean Ponzi, Angelina O’Donnell, Jennifer DeRose along with Gary Mazdra at MoDOT for the support in finishing out another year of the eco-focused challenge.