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Create Disease-Resistant Ornamental Plants for Sustainable Landscaping

Ornamental plant production relies heavily on pesticides to maintain disease-free appearance, while landscape maintenance contributes significantly to chemical pollution and water waste. The challenge is developing ornamental plant varieties with natural disease resistance that can maintain aesthetic quality without chemical inputs or intensive maintenance. This requires advanced breeding for disease resistance, selection for low-maintenance characteristics, and development of sustainable landscape design principles. Current ornamental horticulture often prioritizes appearance over sustainability, while disease problems require frequent chemical treatments that harm environmental and human health. Technical barriers include breeding for multiple disease resistances while maintaining ornamental quality, developing low-maintenance varieties that still meet aesthetic standards, and changing industry and consumer preferences toward sustainable landscaping. Success would reduce chemical use in landscaping, lower maintenance requirements, improve environmental sustainability of ornamental horticulture, and demonstrate how aesthetic goals can be achieved through sustainable plant breeding and design.

Applied Sciences, Specialized Agriculture, Horticulture