Greene Gardens

Garden Design and Maintenance for Denver

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Emerald Ash Borer update

This is one of the best summaries I have read regarding this new pest in Colorado. Please click here to review the article by Susan Clotfelter in the Denver Post.

We are at the beginning stages of dealing with the challenges of this pest in Colorado, and many of us will have to make some choices about the ash trees in our landscapes in the future. For now, if you are not in the immediate quarantine, or adjacent area, you probably do not have to make any decisions about your ash trees. However, it is time to become familiar with EAB, and it’s potential for destruction. Consult a qualified arborist if you have concerns about this or the health of any of your trees.

If you are considering planting new trees in your landscape, it’s time to consider alternate species. Please consult this list compiled by CSU. Diversification of our urban forests is a good idea. This list has some terrific trees that are currently underused. I would love to hear which ones are your favorites.

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Regular water conservation: the new normal

IMAG0816Recently, I was energized to have a conversation with Kristen Fefes, Executive Director of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC). The ALCC is the industry trade organization for landscape contractors, who become members of the organization by agreeing to a code of conduct with respect to Best Management Practices. These BMPs relate to commercial and residential landscape installation and maintenance care throughout Colorado.

This year, the number one topic on the industry plate was the watering restrictions imposed by our recent drought. How, as an industry, do we serve our customers as well as make money for our businesses, and families when our fortunes are so dependent on weather issues?

In my comments with Kristen, I advocated that the water utilities, such as Denver Water, and others, take a longer term view of the problem of landscape water scarcity, and regularly (annually) encourage homeowner and landscape conservation efforts through educational and public awareness events.

Teaching homeowners to conserve landscape water as much as possible in any give year, helps the entire community move to a new paradigm. Rather than take draconian measures in one year, and create the wrong emphasis on the problem (I am using less water, and I get to pay more for the privilege!!!??), I would suggest that through regular water conservation practices, we treat each year as an opportunity to find new water savings in our landscapes. While it might take 10 years or so to convert homeowners and their HOAs to a new look, I would advocate that this is the right approach for the long term health of our communities amidst certain future water scarcity issues.

Certainly those who work in the landscape industry have the knowlege to share different water-saving practices with their clients.

Here’s a suggested survey: Look at what outdoor activities actually take place around your home. Define practical turf zones to accommodate the volleyball net, croquet set-up, or just a place to use the summer slip and slide. Move the swingset to a corner of the lot (within view of Mom’s kitchen window) and place the structure on a non-irrigated (and more forgiving) mulch bed. Use hardscape near the backdoor to define an outdoor eating and living area, or deck.

After assessing your individual needs, choose to regularly irrigate only the practical turf areas, and provide less, or no water to those areas in your landscape that don’t require water. Invest in a good irrigation audit. Find, and fix the leaks, address sprinkler coverage issues, (often this just means adjusting, or replacing a head), and be a better outdoor water consumer. Use mulch, and follow other sustainable practices that improve the health of our landscapes.

We (and our plants)struggled through the beginning of the summer on a two-day per week watering schedule. Now that we’ve added a third day to our watering schedules, I’m very impressed with the health of much of our plant material. Even though we have had extended hot weather – another 95 degree day is forecasted for the Front Range – we have learned that deep, infrequent watering works. It is a best practice that we all can embrace.

Let this be a lesson for future summers. It won’t be long before sprinklers are blown out, and the garden put to bed for the winter. Remember the success of this summer,and resist the urge to change your clock next spring.

You’ll be helping your landscape, as well as conserving water!

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A Few Hardy Souls

imageMother Nature hasn’t been kind to the Denver Metro Area recently.  Heavy snows, and late record cold temperatures followed a winter (and summer and fall!) of drought.  It was great to see this display of garden resilience in one of my client’s gardens as I was doing the spring clean-up.  What made the difference here? 

Mulch.  My sustainability tip #1.  Mulch, in many forms can provide the following benefits:  it retains soil moisture, and reduces soil evaporation, reduces weed growth, and reduces soil temperature fluctuations.  The latter can cause heaving of shallowly rooted plants during a freeze/thaw cycle.  3-4″ of mulch is recommended as an organic, sustainable practice of weed control because the depth of mulch helps prevent weed seeds from setting as easily.  Less weed seeds means less likelihood of the need for later chemical control.  During a drought year, with watering restrictions, retaining soil moisture is the most important benefit of mulch.  

Perennial gardens, and other landscape areas look beautiful with a uniform layer of organic mulch.  Sourcing the mulch locally, or using a recycled product from an arborist or tree company is an additional way to promote sustainability.  As perennial gardens mature, and spreading plant material or groundcover plants fill in the bare areas, less mulch is needed.  Vegetable gardeners may choose to use straw, or grass clippings as organic mulches.  With the latter, it’s best to let the grass clippings dry before application to prevent matting.  Grass clippings from lawns treated with herbicides should not be used as mulch. 

When using organic mulch, it’s also a good idea to test for nitrogen deficiency in the soil occasionally.  As organic mulches decompose, surface soil nitrogen is used in the decomposition process.  If a soils test shows the need, nitrogen can be added to those areas where soil deficiencies occur.   

Check back for other sustainable garden maintenance ideas.

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Practicing Sustainability in the home garden

IMAG0143Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar titled, “Green Strategies for Colorado Landscapes.” presented by the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC). Designed for green industry personnel, it was a great way for attendees to learn how to share practical sustainable ideas with their clients. The speaker, Tony Koski, Ph.D., is an Extension Turf Specialist with Colorado State University, and is well-recognized throughout the country as a leading horticulturist. Tony delivered a terrific talk full of researched-based information on how to cope with the challenging landscape conditions in Colorado in environmentally sensitive ways.

Adopting one definition from the University of Minnesota, Tony defined a sustainable landscape as one that is “functional, maintainable, environmentally sound, and aesthetically pleasing.” The important principles that he included were:

Landscaping in harmony with the natural conditions in Colorado
Reducing waste and recycling materials
Nurturing healthy soils
Conserving water, energy and topsoil
Using integrated pest management
Reducing stormwater runoff
Creating and preserving wildlife habitats

Many of these topics can be adapted to the home, and backyard environment. Every gardener can create a “sustainable” landscape, incorporating some of these principles. As we head into the gardening season, look for more posts on this important topic!

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Garden design in a jar

IMAG1388Birthday FlowersFeeling rather blue, having spent too much time in the office doing the books, and not enough time working with plants, dirt, and design. The recent dry, dry brown Colorado landscape, with no white snow cover hasn’t done much to lift my mood. The prospect of my girlfriend’s birthday today provided the needed dose of creative inspiration. I dashed to the supermarket, and grabbed an interesting array of flowers for a birthday bouquet. As I was creating her “present in a vase”, I noticed that successful floral design includes common principles whether one is working with live plants in the ground, or cut flowers.

Form, texture, shape and finally color, all contribute to a successful composition, whether the plants live in dirt, or in water. Diversity, repetition, and triangulation (meaning 3 spread apart) help create design that is pleasing to the eye. In the picture on the left, note the difference between the tulip shape, and the sunflower shape. See the distinction between the broadleaf greenery (from the tulips), and the feathery limonium (small purple sprigs). Round shapes of the hypericum (berries) contrast with the spiky petals of the lime green mums and the sunflowers. Small leaves of the barberry (barely visible in back) contrast with the broad leaves of the tulips. Different sizes of similar shapes create both repetition and diversity. Notice the how the thin petals of the mums contrast with the broader petals of the sunflowers.

These principles are important in garden design too. A well-designed garden incorporates diversity in form or shape (vase shape, spike, mounded, round), diversity in texture (smooth, spiky, prickly, soft-fuzzy), height, and finally color. Leafing through pictures in garden magazines, the best photos represent gardens that have pleasing compositions using the above design principles. If you use these techniques well, you don’t need to worry as much about bloom time, or color to create excitement in your yard. The next time you go shopping for new additions to your garden, think about what shapes, textures, and heights you already have, and find plants that provide repetition, or contrast to your existing species. Your garden will look professionally designed!