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Two New Garden & Landscape Books Cover Water Shortage Issues
DRY CLIMATE GARDENING By Noelle Johnson ∙ Publishing March 7, 2023 Author and desert horticulturist Noelle Johnson, also known as AZ Plant Lady, delivers all the know-how you need to grow a breathtaking, colorful, and vibrant garden in low-water conditions. With water restrictions and the number of gardeners dealing with drought conditions on the rise, we all need to get more creative in the way we grow. Water-wise landscaping is a must for millions of gardeners. In Dry Climate Gardening, you’ll learn how to do it with care and style. With careful plant selection and thoughtful design, you can create a low-water landscape that’s an oasis for humans and wildlife alike. There are hundreds of plants well-suited to xeric conditions, and with the proper care, they create a living desert landscape that will stop passersby in their tracks. Let Dry Climate Gardening be your guide to crafting a climate-appropriate outdoor living. Inside you’ll find: The best arid-adapted plants to feature in your landscape Information on which plants struggle in dry climates and how to avoid them The five “desert seasons” and which are best for planting How to handle desert soils Plant care techniques specific to dry climates, including pruning, fertilizing, and more How to design a planting for maximum impact and minimal water needs Plant profiles and charts for every category, from trees and shrubs to groundcovers, vines, succulents, and perennials Sample garden designs and plant lists you can adapt to your own space Noelle Johnson is a horticulturist, landscape consultant, and garden writer who lives in the Phoenix, AZ, metro area. Popularly known as ...
Water Harvesting To Irrigate Landscapes
Rain water, gray water, and blackwater systems can aid arid areas. Reducing the amount of water used for landscape irrigation is challenging, yet extremely important to the drought affected areas of the U.S. Landscape watering needs within the U.S. vary greatly based on many different factors: local climate, soil conditions, native plants, plant selection, and micro-climates on the site. In many locales, rainfall can be nature’s irrigation system, while in drought affected areas precious potable water provides most of the source for landscape irrigation. Yet even with these differences, saving water is very possible. In most cases, simple changes can result in water savings between 10% to 20%. By reusing water, savings of 50% to 100% are achievable. First Steps The first step in saving water is maximizing the efficiency of the irrigation system. Once that is accomplished, incorporating a water reuse system (i.e., rain water harvesting, gray water, or blackwater) makes sense. (Efficient irrigation systems will obviously reduce the cost of any new water-reuse systems.) Irrigation System Efficiency. Obvious simple system fixes such as addressing leaks, adjusting heads to not over- or under-spray, getting the controller set right, adding a rain sensor, and upgrading the controller to an EPA WaterSense weather-based model will result in a reduced water bill and a less costly water reuse system. The EPA provides a water budgeting tool which is handy when determining how much water should be applied to a landscape. It can be found at epa.gov/watersense/water-budget-tool. Soil & Mulch. Another step to ...
Water Harvesting To Irrigate Landscapes
Rain water, gray water, and blackwater systems can aid arid areas. Reducing the amount of water used for landscape irrigation is challenging, yet extremely important to the drought affected areas of the U.S. Landscape watering needs within the U.S. vary greatly based on many different factors: local climate, soil conditions, native plants, plant selection, and micro-climates on the site. In many locales, rainfall can be nature’s irrigation system, while in drought affected areas precious potable water provides most of the source for landscape irrigation. Yet even with these differences, saving water is very possible. In most cases, simple changes can result in water savings between 10% to 20%. By reusing water, savings of 50% to 100% are achievable. First Steps The first step in saving water is maximizing the efficiency of the irrigation system. Once that is accomplished, incorporating a water reuse system (i.e., rain water harvesting, gray water, or blackwater) makes sense. (Efficient irrigation systems will obviously reduce the cost of any new water-reuse systems.) Irrigation System Efficiency. Obvious simple system fixes such as addressing leaks, adjusting heads to not over- or under-spray, getting the controller set right, adding a rain sensor, and upgrading the controller to an EPA WaterSense weather-based model will result in a reduced water bill and a less costly water reuse system. The EPA provides a water budgeting tool which is handy when determining how much water should be applied to a landscape. It can be found at epa.gov/watersense/water-budget-tool. Soil & Mulch. Another step to ...
