Rancho Mirage saves green with new green: Rancho Mirage joining others in changing landscape to conserve

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 4, 2008 at 7:26 am

From MyDesert.com:

City Hall is undergoing a $480,000 landscaping renovation that city officials hope will conserve resources and set an example for other landscape projects. Trees may have been spared, but 90 percent of the 66,000 square feet of land surrounding the building is being replaced by desert landscaping. Once the project is complete, the remaining 6,300 square feet will have synthetic turf.

Water usage should decrease by 60 percent, bringing the monthly water bill from $2,000 to $800, Public Works Director Bruce Harry said. “We felt we were a bad example — we had all this grass around City Hall,” he said.

Electricity consumption should drop, bringing the $500 monthly bill to $150, Harry said. He said the city’s annual $25,000 maintenance cost should go down by 50 percent.

Several Coachella Valley cities and agencies are taking action to conserve resources by converting to desert landscaping.

Read more from MyDesert.com by clicking here.

September 4, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

When in drought … Homeowner turns to exercise in xeriscaping to save water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 14, 2008 at 4:16 pm

From the Antelope Valley Press:

How do you keep your yard the envy of the neighborhood with the Antelope Valley facing a water shortage?

Palmdale resident Robert Albrecht still remembers water rationing in 1991 and 1992 after California entered its fifth consecutive year of drought. Water conservation was mandated by the Los Angeles County supervisors in 1991, and residents were allotted 848 gallons of water per day with a target quantity set at 760 gallons.

“Los Angeles County Water Works gave us basic allotments,” Albrecht said. “If you went over the allotment it cost more money.”

Albrecht found out the lushly landscaped home he purchased in 1990 required not only plenty of Wwater, but plenty of Albrecht’s time and energy as well. “We bought the model home, so it had a zillion plants,” Albrecht said. “The maintenance was intensive and I did it myself.”

That August, Albrecht had front and side yard walkways installed, which eliminated some of the 82 sprinklers around his property and reduced water usage to approximately 722 gallons a day, he said.

Although water rationing eventually ceased, Albrecht said he felt the water shortage always would be a problem. “I had a feeling it would come back again and haunt us,” Albrecht said. “And sure enough - it came back.”

Albrecht was convinced by 2001 the extensive construction boom in the Antelope Valley would cause another water shortage, so he undertook a project to reduce his water usage even further.

Albrecht, a retired Los Angeles County building inspector who holds a contractor’s license, sketched out his vision of a low-maintenance back yard, including efficient planters, walkways and watering systems.

“I had to draw up plans so contractors would know what to do,” Albrecht said. “I visualized it. I thought long and hard about how to reduce water usage.”

Read more from the Antelope Valley Press by clicking here.

August 14, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Smart water: New, more efficient devices sense when to turn off

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 14, 2008 at 8:22 am

I found this article on San Joaquin Valleyfornia. It’s from the Fresno Bee:

We’ve all seen it before: It’s an autumn day, the lawn is already soggy as the sprinklers do their thing and water runs down the street. It’s the curse of the automatic sprinkler system that simply doesn’t know how wet the lawn is and when enough is enough.

Now there’s a solution. “Smart controllers” are being used increasingly by homeowners, golf course operators, farmers and others to save water and money.

And the Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University, Fresno, is playing a pivotal role that could result in the technology being adopted more universally — testing and studying various water-control devices for the Irrigation Association, a national industry group. Funding also comes from the California State University Agricultural Research Initiative.

At www.irrigation.org, you can find 14 “smart water application technologies (SWAT)” that were tested at the center. “We don’t recommend any particular brand. We don’t say, ‘Buy a Chevy or a Honda,’ ” said Diganta Adhikari, a database analyst with the center. “But we present the data on them so people can make their own choices.”

Check it out at the Fresno Bee by clicking here.

August 14, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Patt Morrison: Embracing the Golden State’s brown

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 14, 2008 at 5:55 am

From the LA Times, this column from Patt Morrison, who begins by summarizing the story about the Garden Grove homeowner who installed fake grass, only to find out that she was not going to receive the promised rebate, and that she was actually violating a city ordinance. Four other Southland cities have bans against fake grass.

Now at this point, you might be thinking that Ms. Morrison’s column is going to berate the cities for having ordinances against fake lawns, but you’d be wrong. Ms. Morrison points out:

Cities are already miserable hot spots. Every inch that we pave over, even with plastic grass, creates a patch of unnatural heat. The virtue of a grass lawn — however thirsty — is that it is a living system that helps the land keep its cool. It also allows what rain we do get to make its way into the soil, and the water table, not into the storm drains.

StuartGaffin makes a study of “urban heat islands” at the best place in the country to do it — New York City. He’s an associate research scientist at Columbia University. He’s studied the fake turf on playing fields, and when the air temperature hits 80 degrees, it can be 160 or 170 degrees on the turf. Even when it’s only 50 degrees out, direct sun can heat fake grass to 150 degrees. Sounds like you might as well tell your kids to go outside and play on a griddle.

“I don’t see why a suburban homeowner would like [it] around their house,” he told me. “You’re essentially putting a parking lot around your house.” And some of what you save in water costs, you may wind up paying in the air-conditioning bill to cool your place down from the heat generated by the fake grass.

At best, plastic lawns add up to a little something gained here, a little bit lost there. Why not make a real trade-off, a big one? Why not go native? Declare that brown is the new green.

This is California. Brown is one of our seasons. The sere, fallow contrast of high summer and fall, against the lavish recompense of early rain and spring.

Let’s embrace the brown, says Ms. Morrison. Or maybe rocks & drought tolerant California natives. Read the full text of Patt Morrison’s column in the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.

August 14, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Computerized systems make irrigation easy, save precious water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 9, 2008 at 7:12 am

From the Modesto Bee:

When Andrew Bolt designed and installed landscaping at his Modesto home, he also had workers put in an irrigation system that automatically waters the lawn, flowers, groundcover and bedding plants in the front and back yard gardens.

But instead of going to a timer control panel to punch in which days of the week he wants the garden watered — along with the time of day it should be done and for how many minutes —- Bolt heads to his trusty laptop computer. With it, he logs onto a Web site, enters his account information and, with a few keystrokes, programs his irrigation system.

One of the perks of his system, manufactured by ET Water Systems, is that Bolt can change or modify his home’s watering schedule from anywhere in the world, as long as he has Internet access. And if he doesn’t make the adjustment himself, the system will do it for him. So if Bolt and his family are out of town and an unexpected heat wave hits the Modesto area, he doesn’t have to worry about coming home to a heat-ravaged garden.

Welcome to the world of “smart” water control systems.

Smart watering systems, also known as self-adjusting irrigation systems, combine horticultural science and Web technology to automate watering schedules. Water gets applied to the landscape based on local weather conditions and specific factors such as plant and soil types, land slope, the amount of sun and shade the area receives, and sprinkler type, from drip irrigation to sprays. The system determines how much water to use based on user-supplied information and data it receives from a nearby weather station. Weather stations monitor an area’s climate and rainfall.

Read more from the Modesto Bee by clicking here.

August 9, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Orange County cities review ban on fake grass

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 8, 2008 at 6:15 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

Jean Orban thought she had found a simple solution to her green grass quandary. The Garden Grove resident considered having a healthy, pretty lawn the mark of being a good neighbor — plus, residents who let their lawns go brown can be fined by the city. But she wanted to spare her husband the Sunday morning ritual of mowing the lawn, and she thought it was a waste to use hundreds of gallons of water to keep the grass thriving.

So she had an artificial lawn installed. The blanket of bright green that stretches from her patio to the street always looks freshly mowed, and her water bill is about the price of a couple of bottles of Dasani.

Alas, Garden Grove doesn’t share Orban’s affection for her fake lawn. As she soon discovered, the city bans artificial turf. Although the city has yet to take any action against her, others who installed the lawns have been warned that they will be fined. And that regulation puts the city at odds with the Orange County Municipal Water District, which offers rebates to those who install faux grass.

“We want people to change their behavior and use more water-efficient products for landscaping,” water district spokeswoman Darcy Burke said of the rebates.

Because of the ban, Orban was denied her $300 rebate. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said of Garden Grove’s mandate. “Our governor says we need to save water.”

Garden Grove is one of five cities in Orange County — the others are Stanton, La Palma, Orange and Santa Ana — that for years have barred residents from putting in fake lawns. Although most of the resistance has to do with the look of fake grass — particularly the older imitations — there have also been concerns over the level of lead found in some artificial grass. A U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report focusing on athletic fields concluded, however, that young children are not at risk from exposure to lead in newer artificial turf fields.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.

August 8, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Drought tolerant Desert Willow features showy blooms

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 7, 2008 at 11:08 pm

From the Fallbrook Bonsall Village News:

Trees with showy blooms are always a valuable addition to any landscape, but it is rare to have good bloom quality along with drought tolerance and a summer bloom period peaking during the high heat of the season. How lucky we are to have such a beast indigenous to San Diego and Riverside counties!

The lovely desert willow, Chilopsis linearis, is not a true willow, but is so named because its long narrow leaves are reminiscent of a willow’s leaves. In fact, its closest common garden relative is the jacaranda tree.

At about half the size of the jacaranda, with pink or magenta blooms rather than purple and blooming much later in the season, you could be forgiven for not noticing the relationship. The main family resemblances are the large tubular flowers of both trees and the incredible show each puts on for the whole neighborhood to see.

The desert willow comes from desert washes throughout the southwest and does well in those extreme conditions but is also a fabulous tree in coastal and foothill areas of Southern California.

Read more from the Fallbrook Bonsall Village News by clicking here. Check out other drought tolerant plants and trees from High Country Gardens by clicking here.

August 7, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Steve Lopez column: Glendale yard cops are at it again

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 6, 2008 at 6:30 am

From Steve Lopez and the Los Angeles Times:

Here we go again, back to my favorite place in all of Southern California — the city where no good deed goes unpunished. Glendale.

This time it’s not about the ban on frontyard fences, or a threatened $347,000 fine for a little tree trimming. This time we’ve got a case of City Hall yard cops cracking down on a resident who has gone native, replacing a green but thirsty lawn with drought-resistant plants.

Socially responsible? Yes. In compliance with city code? Not on your life.

If this seems like déjà vu all over again, that’s because the case is quite similar to the one I wrote about in February. Back then, Pete Anderson and Sally Browder were threatened with “criminal charges” after switching from water-guzzling landscaping to native California plants and a rock bed.

“No brown, all green,” an ever-vigilant Glendale official had warned, but the city backed off after a little crusading here in this space.

With that in mind, Glendale resident Dvoshe Walkowiak wondered if I could make another house call. “Please,” she said in an e-mail. “Glendale is out of control.”

Always happy to help.

On Monday afternoon, I drove out to the house in question. Walkowiak lives on the western edge of the city, and as I approached, I saw one green lawn after another, with sprinklers running at some houses.

In a drought, shouldn’t they be the people who are cited?

The offending property stood out like a sore thumb. Instead of lush, neatly manicured grass, I saw decorative rocks, mulch and a couple dozen native plants.

Read the rest of Steve Lopez’s column in the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.

August 6, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Lawn begone: SF Chronicle readers share their best tips for getting rid of their grass

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 6, 2008 at 6:22 am

Okay, so you don’t live in Glendale (see previous story) and you want to get rid of your lawn? Here’s some great ideas from San Francisco Chronicle readers responding to a column which gave advice on how to get rid of your lawn (see original column here):

Reader: I read with interest your column about replacing lawns (”Some ideas for replacing lawn to conserve water,” July 23). We disposed of our sod by advertising it free on Craigslist. Several people responded to the ad, and the “winner” rented a sod cutter and took it all away. Better than it going to the dump.

Pam’s reply: For a lawn in decent shape, this is a slick lawn-vanishing trick. Drawback: Wouldn’t work for a lawn that is a sad and sorry sight.

For more reader advice and ideas from this San Francisco Chronicle column, click here. Get more grass removal advice from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

August 6, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Eco-Lawn defies drought, water rationing; Wildflower Farm blend ideally suited for thirsty California

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 5, 2008 at 6:18 am

From Market Watch, this press release:

California may be in the grips of its worst drought in 20 years, but homeowners won’t have to forego one of the major amenities of suburban life: a green, lush lawn.

Wildflower Farm’s Eco-Lawn, a proprietary blend of seven fine fescue grasses chosen for drought tolerance and minimal care requirements, provides an environmentally sound alternative to landscaping with native shrubs and cacti. Eco-Lawn allows homeowners to maintain a healthy green lawn while simultaneously conserving water and foregoing fertilizers, pesticides and frequent mowing.
“This is the logical landscaping choice for the 21st Century,” said Miriam Goldberger, the president of Wildflower Farm. “Eco-Lawn produces a thick, handsome turf, and it requires minimal effort and resources to maintain. It’s the right lawn for an environmentally stressed world.”

A standard Kentucky bluegrass or perennial rye lawn requires one to two inches of water a week. For a 1,000 square foot lawn, that amounts to more than 100,000 thousand gallons of water a year. Eco-Lawn, however, requires minimal watering. In central and southern California, no more than 17,500 gallons of water are necessary for a 1,000 square foot Eco-Lawn from April through October, and only 25,600 gallons for the whole year.

Like all turf blends, Eco-Lawn is best sown in the fall. In California, planting can proceed from November through early December. During its first year, Eco-Lawn will need some regular watering to help it get established; but by its second year of growth, Eco-Lawn will only require minimal watering - even during periods of drought.

Eco-Lawn is drought tolerant for two reasons. First, it produces grass blades that are extremely thin. Typical lawn grass varieties have thick, succulent blades that require a great deal of water to maintain turf structure and health. The thin blades of Eco-Lawn’s fescues are less susceptible to drought. Eco-Lawn also has exceptionally deep root systems. Most lawns support roots a few inches in length, necessitating frequent and copious watering. When established, Eco-Lawn’s roots penetrate up to nine inches in hardpan clay and 14 inches in sandy soils, siphoning up residual subterranean moisture throughout the growing season.

Read the rest of this press release, which includes a link to a video on the product, by clicking here.

August 5, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

If you have turf, use it or lose it!

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 31, 2008 at 6:38 am

From the Petaluma Argus-Courier:

Let’s get something straight; I don’t hate turf. I love playing on it with my daughters, camping out on it in the summer, and feeling green grass under my bare feet. What bothers me is the turf that just lies there wastefully soaking up water, fertilizer and fossil fuels with the only footsteps it ever feels being those of the person mowing and fertilizing it.

A perfect example of what I am talking about is the narrow strip of turf between sidewalk and street that has no purpose other than to fill space. Talk about a waste of water and resources! If your landscape has turf and you don’t use it, lose it! If you want to do more than you already are doing to conserve water, consider removing your unused turf and replacing it with something a little less demanding on our natural resources. You may develop a greener thumb in the process!

When the city of Petaluma performs a Water-Wise House Call — a free service in which conservation technicians evaluate indoor and outdoor water use at your home, apartment or condo and give you free water saving devices and recommendations (call 1-800-548-1882 to schedule) — customers frequently tell our technicians that they take short showers, have high-efficiency toilets, and are doing everything possible to conserve water. But when the technician takes the customer to the front yard and asks how often they use their large expanse of thirsty lawn, the answer is very often, “Uh, well … never.”

Aqua Blog Maven totally agrees! I have a neighbor, two doors down, with a beautiful, thick green carpet of grass out in front of his house, which he waters at least twice a day. It’s the perfect lawn, no doubt. One of the reasons why it is so perfect is because no feet ever touch it. He’s a single man with no kids, works a zillion hours a week, comes home and puts his car in the garage. I’m not sure he even looks at it himself, let alone walk on it. What a waste!

Read more from the Petaluma Argus Courier by clicking here. Check out options for low water lawns & more from High Country Gardens by clicking here.

July 31, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

1 Comment

Nursery sees shift by customers

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 13, 2008 at 7:28 am

From the San Bernardino Sun:

In June, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addressed the drought plaguing California. In short, he said California’s in a water crisis, and we had better start conserving now.

Dennis Morgan agrees with the governor. Morgan, a 30-year landscape contractor and owner of Morgan’s Creek Nursery in Calimesa, says if we don’t start conserving water voluntarily, we will soon be forced to. “It’s coming soon,” Morgan said. “We’ve created a (tropical) oasis in a desert.”

Most people agree that conserving water and planting drought-tolerant vegetation is a wise idea. But are they following through? Morgan said yes. He’s beginning to see a change of mind-set in his customers. “They’re coming in now asking, `Show us where the drought-tolerant plants are,”‘ he said.

In Schwarzenegger’s address on June 4, his message was dire: “For the areas in Northern California that supply most of our water, this March, April and May have been the driest ever in our recorded history,” he said. “We must recognize the severity of the crisis we face.”

Calimesa homeowner Le Faucette bought into water conservation years before the governor began pushing the issue. She has planted water-sipping creeping thyme, elfin thyme, and lots of verbena as ground cover. Mulch surrounds her roses to keep water from evaporating. In her backyard, raised planting beds bordered with concrete blocks stop water from running off. She also composts and waters many of her plants and with “soaker hoses.” Soaker hoses wind in and around her strawberries, green beans and carrots. They’re one of the most water-conserving measures a gardener can make, she said.

Read the rest of this article from the San Bernardino Sun by clicking here.

July 13, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Drought ignites artificial turf wars; Residents hoping to install fake lawns to save water and get rebate are hampered by city bans and restrictions

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 12, 2008 at 8:03 am

From the O.C. Register:

Strangers often pull over and admire Cookie Smith’s front yard. The lawn is green, plush and looks too good to be true. That’s because it is. “We’ve had a water problem for a long, long time in California,” said Smith, 60, a Garden Grove resident. “So, my husband and I decided to do our part by putting in artificial turf.”

But now Smith is caught in a bind. A Garden Grove ordinance that bans artificial turf on both commercial and residential property makes her beloved lawn illegal. At the same time, the Municipal Water District of Orange County’s water efficiency program offers a rebate to county residents who install synthetic turf in order to encourage water preservation.

Garden Grove residents like Smith who install artificial turf can’t get the rebate. That dilemma stretches across Orange County, where the cities of Santa Ana, La Palma, Stanton and Orange have similar residential and commercial bans, according to a water district document. Ten other OC cities have various synthetic turf restrictions and guidelines and many homeowners associations across the county ban and restrict turf as well.

Synthetic turf opponents often cite aesthetics as a primary reason for the restrictions.

So far, seven of 97 county households have been denied water rebate applications because of some sort of synthetic turf ban, said Darcy Burke, spokeswoman for the water district. Other households have not installed turf in the first place because of the bans.

Synthetic turf can save around 45 gallons of water a year per square foot of grass replaced, which can add up to thousands of gallons per household, experts say.

“Synthetic turf is just one option a homeowner or a business could pursue,” Burke said. “We as the water district respect that each agency and the city have unique needs.”

Read the full text of this story from the O.C. Register by clicking here.

July 12, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Get at the root of the task to remove a lawn

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 12, 2008 at 7:59 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

It’s the roots that really matter when getting rid of a lawn, says landscape designer and author Nan Sterman. “Either you have grass with fine roots or fat roots.”

Fine-rooted grasses include the fescues commonly planted in the Sacramento area. Ones with fat roots include Bermuda grass. They send rhizomes far and deep and can be difficult to kill. Many lawns have both.

Fine rooted grasses can be killed a number of ways. “There’s what I call the smother and cover method. Layer the lawn with newspaper, cardboard or mulch, and once the top growth is gone, so is the bottom. Or you can dig it out, or use a sod cutter if you have a bit of skill. Or cover it with clear plastic, a method called solarization.”

Finally, she says, there are organic sprays like horticultural vinegar or the citrus oil-based Nature’s Avenger.

Grasses with fat roots, such as Bermuda grass, are more difficult. “The only product that gets rid of this type of grass within a reasonable amount of time is a chemical product with glysophate in it – and that can take as long as six weeks. And it takes persistence and patience. Any tiny bit of rhizome left alive in the soil will grow back. It’s impossible to dig them all out.”

Read more on this story from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

July 12, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

They said goodbye to thirsty lawns

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 12, 2008 at 7:55 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

Neither days of blasting, furnace-like heat nor hours of relentless sunshine can harm the water-efficient, California native, Mediterranean landscape in Rick Soehren’s front yard. His plants can take whatever Mother Nature throws at them during long, hot California summers.

Even now, where there was once a broad lawn, Mexican sage is sending out long stems clothed with velvety purple flowers. Lantana covers the ground with its dark green leaves and round clusters of multicolored – orange, yellow and red – flowers. The thyme walk across the front of Soehren’s house is a haze of purple, and California poppies spread their cheerful orange blooms throughout the garden. Fat, shiny black carpenter bees visit flower after flower.

Despite setbacks like recurring patches of nut grass, Soehren applauds his decision to take out the lawn at his Land Park home.

“It’s a wonderful way to save water and resources, and have a more manageable workload. There will be things to learn, and don’t worry when an occasional plant dies. And there will be delights throughout the year, whether it’s beneficial insects you didn’t know existed, or the hummingbirds that hang around the Mexican sage flowers at Christmas time.”

According to the Department of Water Resources, “a homeowner in a warm inland area of California who replaces a 1,000-square-foot lawn with appropriate California native plants and other low-water using varieties can expect to conserve about 24,000 gallons of water per year, enough to fill a swimming pool.”

Read more on this story from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

July 12, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Modjeska Canyon garden’s water-wise ways take bloom

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 10, 2008 at 6:39 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

Sarah Sarkissian scrambles up a hillside charred by wildfire last October in Modjeska Canyon, in the dry wilds of Orange County. Charcoaled skeletons of century-old olive trees reach up around her like huge upended velvety spiders. She finds what she’s looking for.

“When are you ever going to see this again?” she asks, referring to a regenerated colony of calochortus. The elusive wildflowers, known as Mariposa lilies, are blooming lavender and the rare, blushing white. “We thought everything was gone. We never thought they’d come back.”

Sarkissian, whose nearby house was untouched by fire, is a passionate lover of dry landscape with the eye of an artist and the mind of an engineer. Talk to her about earth, wind, fire and especially water — she knows exactly what it takes to have a water-wise yet bountiful garden in Southern California.

If gardens are autobiography, Sarkissian has spent 13 years writing hers on canyon land. High school teacher, water harvester and amateur botanist, she lives with husband Geoff on a creek-hugging acre that includes a front garden that is 75% irrigation-free. The backyard too is carefully designed not to waste a drop of water with plenty of California natives and other dry-habitat plants that bring beauty and tranquillity with minimal use of hose and not one sprinkler.

Sarkissian is auteur and fierce editor of an elegant garden that echoes this canyon habitat. “The whole canyon is my garden,” Sarkissian says. “To me it’s the most amazing place in Orange County.”

Read the full text of this article from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here. Be sure to check out the slideshow by clicking on the small picture in the article, or by clicking here.

July 10, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Sacramento won’t fine couple who let lawn die

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 3, 2008 at 8:21 am

From the Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento city officials on Wednesday admitted their code enforcement policies may not be drought-friendly, and said they won’t fine the couple featured in Wednesday’s Bee who let their front lawn die to save water.

The story prompted a torrent of outrage from the public, who overwhelmingly supported Anne Hartridge and Matt George, the east Sacramento couple cited by city code enforcers after they stopped watering their lawn. More than 160 readers commented on The Bee’s Web site as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, from as far away as San Diego. Dozens called or e-mailed the city.

“When you think about all the water being wasted everywhere, it’s horrible they would go after that poor woman,” said Ursula Crabtree of Carmichael. “If this person is being persecuted, something is wrong with the system.”

Steve Caraway, a Sacramento sales representative for Forever Lawn, offered to pay the couple’s fine and sell them an artificial turf at cost. But he didn’t know the city’s codes forbid artificial turf in front yards. “That’s odd because we have quite a few of them in Sacramento,” he said. “That is pretty crazy.”

Ron Riola, who lives near McKinley Park, said he sees people gratuitously wasting water every time he walks his dog, which he does at least twice a day. He said he has reported more than 100 cases of water waste to the city in the past six years, and said none has been corrected. “I wish I didn’t have the time to do it because my blood pressure would be lower,” said Riola, who is retired. “It literally has to be thousands and thousands of gallons wasted every day, all the time. You see it and you just shake your head.”

The city’s director of code enforcement, Max Fernandez, told The Bee on Wednesday the front-yard rules allow more flexibility than the code language indicates. The code states explicitly that front yards “shall be landscaped, irrigated and maintained.” This would seem to preclude yards that are simply mulched, like Hartridge’s, or those that use cactuses or other drought-tolerant plants requiring no water. “The key word is a ‘maintained’ front yard,” Fernandez said. If a yard is being tended and is not a nuisance, he said, it’s OK.

Read the full text of this article from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

July 3, 2008 · Filed Under Conservation, Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Don’t spoil salvia: Cut back on food and water to get the most out of native sage

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 29, 2008 at 6:34 am

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“Know what you’re dealing with if you want to be successful growing native salvias,” said David Fross, owner of Native Sons Nursery.

This sage advice comes from a renowned native plant horticulturist who collects, propagates and sells plants through his wholesale nursery, located in Arroyo Grande. His specialty is water-thrifty plants for Mediterranean-style climates like that of San Diego.

Given Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s declaration of drought conditions earlier this month, gardeners here and throughout the state are increasingly in the hunt for water-wise plants. Native California sages are certain to be on everyone’s drought-tolerant list. The key to growing them is knowing how to care for them in gardens, a far different environment from their native habitats. Most gardeners spoil them with kindness, with too much water, too often. This defeats the point of their water thriftiness and also ruins their looks.

“Salvias native to California have evolved in this Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers,” Fross said. “They have adapted to become semi-dormant in summer. They drop their inner leaves and look woody. Too many people plant salvias and then treat them as ordinary garden plants and water them to death.”

There are 19 salvia species native to California, and an ever increasing number of selections and cultivars with this heritage in their botanical genetic makeup.

Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.

High Country Gardens has many different varieties of salvia to choose from, including a pre-planned xeric (very low water use) garden. They also carry multitudes of other low water use plants as well. Click here to visit the High Country Gardens website.

June 29, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

The water wise desert agave: California native with a southwestern flair

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 24, 2008 at 3:18 pm

From the O.C. Register:

The enduring desert agave is a long-living plant with a quick end. It will thrive for 20 to 40 years, and then die after mustering up its one and only bloom of flowers. This Southern California native plant will provide an excellent addition to any low-water-use garden, providing a southwestern flare for decades.

Considered an annual because of its one-time flowering, the desert agave could be the ultimate low-water usage plant. It is used to life in the desert, and spends most of its life storing water in the succulent leaves that ornament it. These large, fleshy leaves are barbed with spines on the edges, giving them a saw-like appearance. The desert agave forms a mound that is about two feet across, with varying leaf sizes.

For Native American tribes in Southern California the desert agave was a daily blessing. They used the plant for food, drink, rope, glue, medicines, dyes, needles, soap and many other purposes. Tribes in Southern California roasted the flowering stalk, leaves and blossoms into an edible form. Currently in Mexico, agave farming is big business. The plant is a major component in the production of tequila, and it is a very prized crop due to the length of time it takes for the plants to mature.

Read the full text of this article from the O.C. Register by clicking here.

June 24, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping, Uncategorized

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

A flood of drought-busting solutions for your landscape

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2008 at 5:20 pm

From the Sacramento Bee:

Gardeners probably didn’t need an executive order from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declaring we’re in the midst of another drought. But knowing that the state of California has ordered water agencies and districts to reduce water use makes the proclamation, Executive Order S-06-08, very personal and very serious.

Bottom line: We have to cut water waste and get used to using less if our lawns and gardens are to survive.

The proclamation didn’t set rules detailing how long sprinklers can run, for example, or when residents can water, but it demands that water districts use a variety of approaches to help folks use less water.

“One of biggest places to save water is in the landscape,” says Gail Tauchus, water conservation coordinator for Sacramento County Water Agency (www.scwa.net). “People overwater, and there’s a lot of runoff because they don’t know how to water properly.” Tauchus says a homeowner with a typical size lot can save about 127,000 gallons per year by being efficient indoors and out.

Click here for a list of outdoor water conservation tips from the Sacramento Bee.

Here in Southern California, plants from Australia are drought-tolerant and exotic, and are becoming popular, according to this article in the Daily Breeze:

With reports of water conservation on the rise, Australian and South African native plants are developing a fast following in Southern California.

On a recent bus trip sponsored by Digadirt Tours, a group of area gardeners visited Australian Native Plants, a nursery near near Ventura on a road leading to Ojai. This nursery has the largest selection of Australian plants in the United States. Its owners, Jo O’Connell and her husband, Byron Cox, import plants, seeds and cuttings, but mainly propagate their own plants from the huge inventory they have amassed over the past decade or so.

While the names of many Australian species may not necessarily be household names, you will be hearing more and more about these exotic-looking, often tall-growing plants and shrubs. They are becoming popular not only because they need little water once established, but also because they tend to be pest- and disease-free in our area.

Perhaps the best-known South African plants are South African proteas and leucospermum, both of which do well here. However, we need to raise our consciousness quickly with regard to other South African and Australian natives too, including Australian kangaroo paws, dryandras and grevilleas.

In general, to grow Australian plants in Southern California, plant them in well-drained soil and refrain from giving them phosphorus fertilizers.

Find out more about Australian plants that work well in Southern California from the Daily Breeze by clicking here.

June 22, 2008 · Filed Under Conservation, Drought Tolerant Landscaping

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

← Previous Page — Next Page →