Thursday, May 28, 2015

This week, I'm drilling deep into our raft of resources to help western region homeowners facing long-term drought and near-drought conditions creating havoc with water-starved landscapes and lawns.

Billy Goodnick in Santa Barbara, California (billygoodnick.com) says water is a huge issue in his neck of California, but he sees homeowners finding creative ways to conserve, such as the ‘laundry to landscape’ method of recycling greywater.

Goodnick says many are taking advantage of local government rebate programs that help offset the cost of replacing traditional lawns with water-wise landscapes. And he sees homeowners using more drought-tolerant South African, Australian, and California native plants.

According to Goodnick, with good design, you can use water-wise plants and still get any style and look that you want.

A few hundred miles up the left coast, the Santa Clara Master Gardeners (mastergardeners.org) say a water wise garden takes a tough love approach to plants. Their members' ideal water wise garden only demands water once every three weeks in late spring, summer and early fall using a drip irrigation system.

They recommend using no fertilizer except for a two-inch mulch of shredded leaves and stems spread on top of the soil in the fall. Most of their California native plants go directly into native soil. While non-native plants have been planted on one-foot mounds composed of a gravelly, well draining soil with little or no organic matter.

Even further up the coast at the University of Washington, where virtually no rain falls in the summer, the Dept. of Horticulture says its comprehensive list of from grasses, annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees should perform well in many other parts of the country where low water conditions prevail.

According to UW, the water saving plants on their site are:

• Need fewer waterings than typical lawn grasses.
• Can tolerate, resist, or avoid drought AFTER they are established.
• Have attractive ornamental features.
• Are relatively easy to grow.
• And they have not been invasive under Washington State growing conditions.

Source: http://public.wsu.edu/~lohr/wcl/index.html.
 

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