Winter

Editor’s Letter: In The Bleak Mid-Winter If you’re like me, you’d rather hibernate this winter under a sign reading, “Wake me when the pandemic’s over!” Since that’s not an option, we need to take comfort knowing it’s the beginning of the end. A friend of mine created a positive spin for her family by deciding to list what they’ll actually miss about the pandemic. For me, one thing will be the amount of time spent outside. I finally made real progress converting a narrow side yard from pathetic grass in poor soil to a compost enriched cutting garden. After 17 years of working in my yard, I didn’t perform a soil test. The moss, blueberries, and blue hydrangeas tell me it’s alkaline. The standing water tells me I have clay. But I see great value in testing, particularly for landscapers—if you know how to read the results. Enter Spectrum Analytic Chief Agronomist Bill Urbanowicz, who demystifies all those numbers and symbols for you. One of the plants added to my new garden is a gorgeous Blonde Ambition blue grama grass. Imagine my surprise when researching xeriscaping and discovering the expert I hoped to interview was actually the plant’s developer! David Salman is a horticultural rock star with over 30 years of experience in greenhouse production, perennial propagation, xeriscape design, and more. Founder of High Country Gardens, he currently runs WATERWISE Gardening, focusing on xeric plants. For Turf’s readers, he graciously wrote an article about emerging low-water choices for turfgrass in ...