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Tips on how to find a professional to manage your garden

As days get longer and the weather gets warmer it’s time to start thinking about how to get your garden into the best shape.

But for those who don’t have time to trim their lawns or prune their roses the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) has published some advice on how to find the right professional to take care of your garden.

Tips include:

Ask around and get recommendations from friends, neighbours, colleagues or family. This is often the easiest and safest way to find a good landscaper.
Always get written quotes and if you cannot find a recommended landscaper then it would be advisable to get two or more quotes.
When comparing the written quotes, make sure that you are comparing like for like and ask for a breakdown to ensure that everything you want is covered.
Always use a written contract for your project as it offers you protection if anything does go wrong and always agree in writing any changes to the original cost that occurs during the work.
Ask the landscaper for an example of a recent local job and go and have a look at it before making a decision. Don’t just look at the quality of the work, have a chat with the householder and see whether the job was done within budget.
Make sure the landscaper has adequate public liability insurance to protect your property in case of damage (all APL members must have this as a condition of membership).
Check out who will actually be doing the work. Does the landscaper sub contract?

Time saving garden tips – North Shore News

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SOME days there’s just not enough time to get everything done let alone keep everyone happy and on those days the garden takes last place on the to-do list.

To help anyone else who has my sort of time crunch, here are a few of my tips and tricks designed for the out-of-time gardener.

Tip 1: Weeding has to be the least enjoyable and most time consuming task in garden maintenance. To avoid weeding I keep all of the soil in the garden mulched year-round. I even mulch my containers to avoid having to weed them which also help to prevent drought stress. I use wood chips for mulching which I obtain from my friendly neighbourhood arborist.

When wood chips are unavailable, I use leaves from my own trees or those found during fall in the nearby city park. The trick is to make sure that every last inch of earth is covered with a thick layer of mulch so weed seeds cannot germinate.

Tip 2: Lawn cutting for some people is a form of therapy. For me lawn cutting is work. So I have eliminated the time most people spend cutting lawn down to zero. How? I killed all of the lawn in the front yard and installed planting beds interwoven with a bluestone patio and walkway. In the backyard, there’s a small patch of lawn that I refuse to cut, so my wife cuts it. The trick is to change the design of the garden to a less labour intensive style and if that does not work, then delegate.

Tip 3: I like growing veggies but much of my garden is dedicated to hardy ornamentals, so I grow veggies in containers. Veggies grown in pots take half the time to plant and maintain because there are no veggie planting beds to maintain. I can also change my veggie selections each year and move them around the yard as desired. Yes I do need to obtain or grow new soil for my veggie pots each year but that is what compost piles are for. When planting veggies in pots, bigger and deeper pots are best to provide a deep, cool root run. A pot the size of a washing machine is ideal but hard to find. Try upcycling or repurposing a pot from some other sort of container. One tip for planting pots, do not add shreds of foam, broken pots or any other manner of shrapnel to the bottom of the pot for drainage. Adding shrapnel to the bottom of the pot is a myth and those pieces simply perch the water table higher and deny plants the full depth of soil.

Tip 4: Solving pest or disease problems can be difficult, time consuming and often the problem persists from year to year. Some plants are important and worth fighting for, some are not. To avoid pest and disease problems I use the following pest and disease strategies: Firstly, avoid the use of chemical fertilizer because it forces soft lush growth that predisposes plant to pest and disease attack.

Secondly, choose the right plant for the right place, not the right plant for the place I want it to grow. Thirdly, plants that have a chronic pest and disease problem are ruthlessly ripped out and thrown into the compost or green waste bin. A case in point, I recently found that thrips were overwintering on my hellebores. Thrips are tough, persistent and cannot be killed in one year by any means. So I dug out all of my hellebores and tossed them in the green waste bin. The tip: a good gardener knows how to kill plants as well as he or she grows plants.

Guide to gardening: Experts offer 13 lawn and garden tips for northeast Oklahoma

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Guide to gardening: Experts offer 13 lawn and garden tips for northeast Oklahoma

By BRAVETTA HASSELL World Scene Writer on Apr 13, 2013, at 2:25 AM Updated on 4/13 at 7:57 AM

In arriving to a new place, there’s much to do: find your way around town and not get lost on your way home; secure just the right people for everything from hair care to lawn services; build new relationships; set up house; acclimate to a new setting, and, if you are a gardener, orient yourself with your yard.

Two local gardeners, Tulsa Garden Center Director of Horticulture Barry Fugatt and Stringer Nursery’s Jeff McCants offer some advice that may be helpful to the new northeastern Oklahoma gardener and even be gentle reminders to those who are rather familiar with Green Country.

No. 1 Don’t be hasty ushering in spring

This past week has shown us that it’s not yet time to put in your warm-weather crops. “We have had frost in the first week of May,” McCants said, advising gardeners to quickly plant their cool weather crops if they haven’t already but wait a day or two past April 15 – our average frost date – to get in your annuals. Even then, “don’t dilly dally.”

No. 2. Walk your neighborhood

It can offer inspiration for what you may want on your property and also show you which plants appear to thrive in your area. Fugatt also recommends visiting Woodward Park to check out the many trees and shrubs growing in the arboretum and in the Linnaeus Teaching Garden before going to the nursery to buy plants.

No. 3. Know your soil, work with your soil

“We’re blessed, or cursed, with many different types of soils, some great for growing just about anything – the sandy types along the Arkansas River corridor – and very poorly drained clay types that make growing many plants a challenge.” When gardening in a clay zone, think about using raised planting beds.

No. 4. Get involved with Tulsa’s active garden community

From February until about November, there is a gardening class or other horticultural events around Tulsa. Many events are free, others may have a small cost, and all offer valuable information and people excited to help answer gardening questions.

No. 5. Be skeptical of plant tags

McCants said that while the plant tags are helpful in giving basic information about a plant and what it needs, the insight they offer falls short of what a knowledgeable nursery professional’s guidance on the type of sun exposure an individual species takes. A plant tag may recommend full sun for a plant, “which may not necessarily be true since our full sun is hotter than it is in the rest of the country,” McCants said. Also, the tags often under-rate the mature size on a lot of plants, and it’s common to find plants completely mislabeled, so talk to an expert before leaving the store.

No. 6. Mulch, mulch, mulch

It keeps weed competition down, keeps soil cool and retains moisture.

No. 7. Amend your earth

Adding organic matter such as compost to your planting bed area will tremendously help your garden work, McCants said. The incorporation of amendments shores up sandy-type soil, helping it better maintain water. For clay soils, in adding the matter, you’re loosening up the ground and letting in air, which your plants roots will need.

No. 8. Arm yourself with info

In addition to Tulsa’s Master Gardeners, Linnaeus Gardeners and local nurserymen, a wealth of information on gardening topics can be found online, as well as at any Tulsa City-County library.

No. 9. Seriously consider native plants

Many a seasoned gardener will recommend them to those who are experienced and those who are new to gardening especially in Tulsa’s climate. Native plants are hardy – tolerant of the area’s unpredictable weather and even its periods of drought. They require less water than exotics and are plants that are well-adapted to the region and how it’s changed over time.

No. 10. Know your common Okie plants

By now, you’ve fallen in love with those wine, lavender and white-blossomed trees that are showing beautifully in your neighborhood and just about everywhere in Tulsa right now. They’re Oklahoma Redbud, Floating Clouds Redbud and Texas Whitebud trees, respectively. McCants said the dwarf redbuds do extremely well, if you’re interested in bringing a couple closer to home. And if you were to ask him about some of his favorites to consider, dogwoods are on the list. “It’s a wonderful tree,” McCants said, adding that establishing transplants can be a little tricky but to not let that discourage you. Other trees bursting in bloom right now include crabapples, ornamental pears and really any nature of fruit trees. And who can mistake the yellow brilliance of forsythia.

No. 11. Visit your garden

Gardening is not a one-and-done hobby. It’s something that requires regular work and attention to yield anything you’re proud of. McCants said it is important to take some time to walk through your yard. Observe your plants. Don’t just check for weeds, also check for pests. Be weather conscious and be cognizant of how different weather conditions may be affecting your plants. “Get a feel for what your plants are experiencing,” McCants said.

No. 12. Diversify as much as possible

Gardening with only one type of plant – or a monoculture – is a sure way to throw all the time and money you’ve invested into your yard and garden down the drain if it falls prey to a pest that likes exactly what you’ve been nurturing. Not only will plant diversity ensure that you won’t sustain a total loss if disease takes hold, but also it creates an interesting yard and garden to look at, enjoy and call your own.

No. 13. Try, try, try again

“Don’t fret or give up on gardening when a few plants die,” Fugatt said. “It’s all part of gardening. If you don’t occasionally kill a plant or two, you’re not really trying.”

Handling henbit

The blanket of purple-blossomed weeds in your yard right now may make you want to reach for some herbicide, but Tulsa Garden Center’s director of horticulture and Stringer Nursery’s Jeff McCants says not so fast. Soon enough the henbit will die back on its own, McCants said. If it’s really a bother, mow it down or pull them out.

The biggest concern, their seeds, can be taken care of in the fall with some pre-emergent weed control. Putting it down then will catch the seeds in their germinating season.

Bravetta Hassell 918-581-8316

bravetta.hassell@tulsaworld.com

Home Garden

Garden calendar: SpringFest Garden Market set for Saturday

Did you know that in the 1600s,
northern Europeans referred to the
tomato as a “wolf peach” and suspected
it was poisonous? Or that the
debate over whether the tomato was
a fruit or vegetable was settled in
1893 when the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled it was a vegetable?

Russell Studebaker: Try colorful, tasty patio peaches

Who doesn’t delight in eating a tasty, fresh, ripe peach or some piping hot peach cobbler? Oklahoma’s peach capital at Porter, about 35 miles from Tulsa, is the state’s major commercial production of peaches. A peach orchard’s faint fragrance and mass of pink flowers is a wonderful sight to experience.

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Midday Fix: Chalet Nursery’s spring garden tips

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Chalet Landscape, Nursery Garden Center
3132 Lake Avenue
Wilmette
www.chaletnursery.com

Seminar:
“Tomatoes!”
April 19
10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Tony’s Tips:

Spring is a time of new beginnings and a welcome return to garden season. Enjoy some new plans and tools for the 2013 spring gardening season!

Check out new plants that debut this year, including the hardy Senetti.

New garden tools include a special shovel for women that fits best with their ergonomic needs and body structure.

Welcome spring with new garden accessories, like a colorful tote, a Dirty Dog Doormat perfect for muddy paws.

Have fun experimenting with new seeds this year.

Gardening past and present: How garden design has changed in the past 100 …

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The world’s top garden designers will be celebrating 100 years of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May this year with a mixture of old and new, demonstrating the glories of the past and the gardens of the future.

Award-winning Chelsea stalwart Roger Platts, who is designing the MG show garden, Windows Through Time, is aiming to capture the design trends and themes of RHS Chelsea Flower Shows past and present, showing how British garden design has evolved while reflecting many recurring themes that have stood the test of time.

“I believe that the three major reasons driving the development in garden design are ever-changing architecture, climate change and lifestyle changes,” says Platts.

“Extremes of weather have tended to kill off some new trends in planting in recent years.

“It’s not long since we were being encouraged to plant drought-tolerant varieties, only to find them frosted or rotted in cold, wet winters.

“It only takes a couple of years of extreme weather in close succession to remove gardeners’ confidence in certain plants.

“I have always enjoyed growing a wide range of silver-leaved plants but living on heavy soil and having wetter weather, I am reluctant to risk some of these.

“For the average gardener it will always be best to grow plants tolerant of a wide range of conditions. The enthusiast will always be trying to push the boundaries.”

Low maintenance and the need for neatness will always be a factor in gardens for the future, he predicts, especially in urban environments.

“The terms ‘disease free’ and ‘easy to grow’ and ‘uncomplicated’ are as much as I can predict for future gardens.

“It is impossible to know what other factors will dictate how gardens will look in the future.”

Award-winning garden designer Roger Platts

Platts’ 2013 Chelsea garden will embrace both new and traditional garden features, from modern sculpture to planting, threaded with historical shrubs popular in the 1900s.

His flair for planting will be apparent throughout the garden, from wild grasses and meadow flowers to cottage roses and nodding foxgloves.

He concludes: “The classic look we know today has been around for some time and I think and hope that it will be with us for many years to come.”

So, how much have our gardens changed in the last century?

Plant pots

In 1913 pots would have been made from clay. This then developed to plastic with a recent trend towards biodegradable materials.

Glasshouses

Back then, heating and propagation for glasshouses and growing frames relied on solid fuel and manure. Nowadays, electricity and bio fuels are used.

Fertilisers

One hundred years ago most fertiliser was organic. Over the years chemicals were developed for use in fertilising. There is now a trend for returning to organic fertilisers.

Construction materials

Then natural timber, stone, clay and iron and aggregates were mainly used. These would generally have been locally sourced. Now we use a very similar range of materials with a few additions, such as plastics, concrete, stainless steel (invented in 1913) and imported materials such as Indian sandstone.

Plants

Varieties we grew in 1913 are similar to what we grow now but with a wider range today due to sophisticated plant breeding and selection methods. A century ago most were raised in the ground after propagation, being “lined out” in the field as young plants, hence the term “liners”, which is still used in the nursery trade for young plants prior to final potting.

Lawn mowers

Were definitely in their infancy 100 years ago. Technology has resulted in garden machinery becoming more widely affordable. The basic principles of cutting grass using a cylinder mower have changed little over the century. Plastics, battery-powered strimmers and the rotary mower mean that small areas of grass are easier to maintain nowadays. Robotic mowers may be the way forward for lazy gardeners.

Food

Today we grow our own food at home more as a hobby than a necessity, whereas 100 years ago before supermarkets, refrigerators and fast transport, food was grown as a basic need.

The 100th RHS Chelsea Flower Show is on from May 21-25

Dig in to design wall at community garden

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Dig in to design wall at community garden

7:00pm Monday 15th April 2013 in News

By Fran Bardsley, covering Education, East Oxford and Cowley. Call me on 01865 425439

Annie Davy at Barracks Lane Community Garden, which is holding a competition for people to redesign a rotting wall

A CONTEST is being launched to design a new wall at a community garden in the heart of East Oxford.

Barracks Lane Community Garden is offering a £200 prize for the winning design for an innovative and interesting way to replace an existing retaining wall.

The wall, which is made of timber posts, is rotting and needs urgently replacing.

Annie Davy, one of the garden’s founders who is organising the competition, said: “The wall was put in place eight years ago and there was a bit of a design fault in terms of the material used so it is actually rotting.

“Also we need it for accessibility for disabled people to use the lower end of the garden, including the Parasol Project which meets here.”

In the past, the garden organisers worked with Oxford Brookes University architecture students on a design for a green roof shelter.

This time, it was decided to open the contest up to anyone who could come up with ideas on how to replace it.

Oxfordshire County Council has given the garden £3,500 to spend on the new wall, which must be in place by the end of August.

The garden will provide the prize money from its own funds, and has some extra budget to add to the grant if necessary.

Ms Davy said: “We don’t want to be too prescriptive about the design because we want to see what people will come up with.

“It could be a wall that could be added to with things growing on it or up it, or it could be a more artistic design with the community adding to it.

“We are looking for something in keeping with the garden’s objectives to encourage community involvement but also to encourage biodiversity and people diversity.”

While designs are welcomed from anyone, Ms Davy said the person would need to have technical understanding of landscape, design or architecture and would need to consider drainage.

She thought the contest might appeal to students building up their portfolio, or established architects or designers keen to have something in a prominent public location.

To get the criteria and design specification, email barrackslanegarden@yahoo.co.uk. Entries must be received by Monday, May 13.

Comments(1)

Myron Blatz

says…

8:02pm Mon 15 Apr 13

Barracks Lane Community Garden agonizes over how best to replace an old wall – meanwhile, thousands are being murdered in the Mid East and Africa, and North Korea continues on its perilous journey up the escaltor of global nuclear confrontation.
Myron Blatz

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Live Screen vertical garden presented during Milan Design Week – Gizmag

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During this year’s Milan Design Week we got to meet with young American designer Danielle Trofe, who showed us the “Live Screen,” a vertical hydroponic garden design. Trofe was promoting her work as part of the Salone Satellite, which ran parallel to the Salone Internazionale del Mobile and involved hundreds of emerging young designers under the age of 35 from around the world.

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Taking inspiration from the idea of having an indoor living wall, Trofe designed the Live Screen to offer regular households a self-irrigating planter system. The screen features a series of small oval-shaped pods that branch off from a central trunk, concealing the irrigation pump that distributes water to each plant.

“The system uses vertical hydroponic technology which allows people to create their own urban gardening at home,” Trofe told Gizmag. “And the self-watering system makes the process of growing your own plants so much easier. Hydroponic gardening is also one of the most energy efficient and sustainable practices in use today.”

The vertical hydroponic system which is incorporated into the Live Screen adopts a simple method which nourishes plants without the need for soil. An energy-efficient pump distributes water from an internal water tank up to the highest plant tier. From there, gravity delivers water to the lower plant tiers. Clay rocks can be put into the bottom of the pods to protect the plants’ roots and since the system doesn’t use soil, many soil-borne diseases can be avoided.

The system also allows plants to grow faster and thus yield higher quantities, making it ideal for growing edible plants such as herbs. However, Trofe does insist that the system is capable of producing larger fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes and capsicums. In addition, the Live Screen offers users easy access to the water reserve tank, allowing them to to check water levels, test the pH or add nutrients to help keep the plants healthy.

The Live Screen is not only an innovative solution for urban gardening but would make a great piece of furniture for a variety of spaces including offices, cafés and living areas – offering interior greenery without the fuss.

The promotional video below illustrates how the Live Screen could work in the home.

Source: Danielle Trofe

Lavender named plant of the month by association

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Lavender is the perfect choice for gardens according to the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) because of its fragrance and ability to attract essential pollinators.

It has been named as its plant of the month for April with gardeners being encouraged to grow the multi-purpose flower.

There is a variety of lavender plants that will let you choose from a full spectrum of colours to create a uniform hedge or just have a collection of different shades.

Lavender plants make an excellent edge to a rose border or herb or vegetable garden.

It will also help soften the lines of hard landscaping such as terraces or patios and wherever it is planted lavender brings structure, colour and most significantly its alluring scent.

Nominated and agreed upon by British growers and retailers, the HTA’s plant of the month campaign highlights the plants that are widely available and look especially good in garden centres and nurseries each month.

HGTV HOME Plant Collection Launches Nationwide – PRWeb

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HGTV HOME Plant Collection Purple Genius

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) April 15, 2013

The HGTV HOME™ Plant Collection is now available nationwide at retail locations across the U.S. and in Canada and features an expanded Expressions™ Annuals Collection. The innovative collection includes 23 solution based, pre-selected annuals mixes that have been coordinated to make container plant selection easy for consumers. HGTV, a leading home and lifestyle brand, and Agricola Management Group, developed the expanded annuals collection.

The Expressions™ Annuals Collection dovetails perfectly with the popularity of container gardening that feature thriller, spiller and filler plants for coordinated height, eye appeal and compatible growth. HGTV and Agricola have created consumer-friendly, pre-selected annual mixes that take the guesswork out of which plants go best together in a given container. The Collection also features of range of accent plants for each mix. It’s a whole new way to shop for plants.

By pre-selecting complementary annuals for the container garden and hanging basket mixes, HGTV and Agricola performed the planning and plant coordination for the consumer. Customers simply select their favorite Expressions mix, buy the components that are pre-selected to go together and the mixes will look beautiful and grow well with proper care for the entire season.

“The expanded Expressions Annuals Collection offers consumers a fresh take on gardening solutions and showcases the smart and stylish plant products offered in the HGTV HOME Plant Collection,” said Ron Feinbaum, general manager, consumer products, HGTV. “Consumers also have the benefit of HGTV Know How!—the plant care tips, landscaping inspiration and gardening ideas featured on the products, online and in stores.”

Expressions™ Annuals feature six separate collections – Confetti Craze™, Friendly Fusions™, Sassy Sweethearts™, Big Bold™, Pop-N-Polish™ Petunias and Chic Black White™ – available in gallons, decorative containers or hanging baskets and also as individual components in quarts.

Confetti Craze™

Confetti Craze™ mini-petunias offer a burst of brilliant color variety, thrive in full sun and constantly produce new blooms without deadheading. The varieties are low-maintenance and attract birds, butterflies and hummingbirds. The Confetti Craze™ varieties include Tropical Blowout™, Bold Primary™, Sunset Paradise™, Tutti Frutti Frolic™ and Color Parade™.

Friendly Fusions™

Friendly Fusions™ feature long lasting flowers, hardiness and a pop of color that’s great at front doors. The mixes include petunias, mini-petunias, showy and heat-tolerant verbena, hardy euphorbia, sweet potato vine and white-flowered bacopa. The colorful combos provide instant curb appeal, thrive in full to part sun and attract butterflies. The Friendly Fusions™ varieties include Orange Bliss™, Glow Yellow™, Purple Genius™, Lavender Sweet Tart™, Raspberry Raven™ and Savvy Sunshine™.

Sassy Sweethearts™

Sassy Sweethearts™ love full sun and offer high heat tolerance, making them ideal choices for patio pots and container gardens. Sassy Sweethearts™ mixes feature geraniums, petunias, mini-petunias, hardy euphorbia, sweet potato vines, showy verbena and aromatic artemisia. The Sassy Sweethearts™ varieties include Red Sparkle™, Pink Flirt™, Fashionable Fuchsia™, Pink Kiss™, Purple Passion™ and Fuchsia Flame™.

Big Bold™

Big Bold™ features large flowers for instant curb appeal and they perform well in full to part sun. The Dahlias in the mix are tubers so gardeners can dig up the roots after flowering and store for replanting the following spring. Big Bold™ mixes contain ivy geraniums, petunias, dahlias and starry-flowered bidens. The Big Bold™ varieties include Gorgeous Gold™, Brilliant Burgundy™ and Plush Pink™.

Pop-N-Polish™ Petunias

Pop-N-Polish™ Petunias are proven sun and heat-tolerant petunia varieties bred to produce blooms in both spring and summer. These superior petunias are popular “spillers” for container gardens and hanging baskets. The three Pop-N-Polish™ Petunia varieties include Electric Violet™, White Merlot™ and Fuchsia Queen™.

Chic Black White™

Chic Black White™ mixes are proven, tested mixes that feature the of-the-moment color palette of soft blacks and whites, which is on trend for Spring 2013. Chic Black White™ mixes feature hardy euphorbia, silver-colored sunflowers, showy verbena, black petunias, white bacopa and aromatic artemisia. The three Black White™ mixes include Black Magic, Midnight White™ and Black Tie Affair™.

Beginning this spring in the full launch, the HGTV HOME Plant Collection will be available at retailers and independent garden centers nationwide. For additional information on where to purchase plants and products from the HGTV HOME Plant Collection, visit http://www.hgtvhomeplants.com and click on ‘Find a Retailer’.

###

About HGTV

America’s leading home and lifestyle brand, HGTV features a top-rated cable network that is distributed to more than 98 million U.S. households and the HGTV website, HGTV.com, the nation’s leading online home-and-garden destination that attracts an average of four million unique visitors per month. The brand also includes the HGTV HOME™ consumer products line which showcases exclusive collections of paint, flooring, lighting, furniture, plants, fabrics and other home-oriented products. For more information on HGTV HOME branded products and to find a retailer, go to http://www.hgtvhome.com. In partnership with Hearst Magazines, the HGTV Magazine, a home and lifestyle publication, is currently available on newsstands. Viewers can become fans of HGTV and interact with other home improvement enthusiasts through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., HGTV is wholly owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI).

About Agricola Management Group

Agricola Management Group is the team bringing the HGTV HOME Plant Collection to market in partnership with HGTV. As the exclusive licensee for live goods, seed, sod, soil and other Plant Collection branded products, Agricola is responsible for the development, oversight, marketing and execution of the program. This spring, over 850 retailers nationwide and in Canada will carry the expanding line of plants and related products. There is room for additional retailers who appreciate the value of partnering with HGTV brand appeal, merchandising and marketing support. For more information, contact Agricola Management Group at 855.DIG.HGTV (855.344.4488) or info(at)agricolamanagement(dot)com.

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Expo offers water conservation ideas

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SIERRA VISTA — Resource conservation groups, businesses and government agencies teamed up to inform the public of an array of water conservation options available at the Water Awareness Month Water Expo at the Mall at Sierra Vista on Saturday.

Visitors were encouraged to think of water conservation at home by signing a pledge to save a gallon of water a day.

As they hoped to lure a variety of different people with different water habits to the event, so did the expo feature a number of ways in which residents could reduce water use.

Ranging from pamphlets outlining tips like not leaving the faucet on while shaving and a listing of grants and rebates available for various water-related projects, to more permanent solutions like low water use washing machines, rainwater harvesting and low moisture landscaping plants; there were plenty of ideas of varying degrees of commitment to help get residents started thinking about conserving water.

“We’re hoping that people leave knowing what’s available in this area for them,” said Cado Daily, coordinator for the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Water Wise program. “There’s just a wonderful array of many different ways that people can save a gallon a day. That’s the whole idea, to ask them to be more aware of their water use and then give them the resources to do that.”

Jim Koweek is the owner of Arizona Revegetation Monitoring Co. Based in Santa Cruz County, Koweek said his grass seed mixtures and flowers he sells are all native to the high deserts of the Southwest, and come with a range of benefits for residents, including water conservation.

“Because these things have evolved to meet our specific conditions, they’re drought tolerant, wind tolerant,” Koweek said.

When he first got into the business, Koweek said it wasn’t uncommon for new residents in the area to attempt to bring the plants and landscaping from wherever they came from with them.

“People would try to make their house look like California or back east,” he said.

Most of his customers, however, have since traded their old environment for a more ecologically-sound one that requires fewer resources and effort to maintain.

“They’re not trying to make this look like the old homestead in Kentucky. They want to keep it natural. That’s partly because it works, partly because of water usage, and it’s partly because it’s a lot easier to maintain and deal with,” he said.

Using native grasses not only means that the vegetation will thrive, but can help prevent erosion and runoff when it rains.

“It keeps it on the property and eventually a chance to get back into the aquifer,” he said.

Members of the Hereford Natural Resource Conservation District were also on hand at the expo to help educate those with problems like erosion and drainage on their personal-sized plots of land.

“We just try to put information out, and help people that have questions about what they can do for conservation, deal with erosion on their own property,” said John Lohse, director of the Hereford NRCD.

Their work also includes informing residents of grants and other financial support available to them to help shoulder the costs of these and other conservation efforts, he said.

Nearly two hours into the expo, more than 50 people had signed Water Wise’s pledge to reduce water use by a gallon a day, but Daily was aiming much higher.

“We’ve brought 500 of the fliers, so we’re off to a good start.”

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