Xeriscape Design

10/12/2021

Sometimes, we overlook our native plants. Take this Rubber Rabbitbrush as an example. Beautiful gray foliage and bright yellow blooms. It’s exceptionally drought tolerant (as this location in Southern Utah would suggest) but also quite cold-tolerant too as it’s also common in the Wasatch Back. out of Colorado has brought a dwarf form, Baby Blue rabbitbrush, to market if you can find it. It’s got a tighter, denser habit than the wild form that would look attractive in maintained landscapes. An excellent choice for dry slopes.

09/24/2021

One more deep soak of the xersicape would be good and then shut it off on October 1. Same for lawn at this late time of the season.

For most counties in the state, you shouldn’t be watering more than once. 1 time. Eins, Ett, En, Un, Uno, Um, Un, Unus, Odin, Jeden, Eîs, Yksi, Bat, Moja, Wahed, մեկ, bir, এক, 一 [yī], ერთ-ერთი, એક, एक, ib tug, ಒಂದು, бір, មួយ, 하나, бир, ຫນຶ່ງ, ഒന്ന്, एक, нэг, တစ်, एक, ଗୋଟିଏ |, یو, ਇਕ, هڪ, එක, як, ஒரு, ఒకటి, หนึ่ง, bir, biri, ایک کو, بىرى, một, واحد, אחד, yek, یکی, een, አንድ, chimodzi, daya, otu, imwe, e mong, Poshi, mid ka mid ah, moja, Nye, ọkan, eyodwa, sa usa ka, isa, ekahi, satu, siji, iray, satu, kotahi, tasi, hiji, unu, youn, unum.

Any questions?

09/22/2021

Our native Rabbitbrush ( Ericameria nauseosus) is a fantastic fall pollintor plant as well a a very pretty plant. To keep it lush and supple in the landscape it is best treated as a subshrub and cut back every spring to the ground - or as close to the ground as you can get. This helps keep it from getting woody and contributes to a lusher appearance and better blooming. The bees will thank you. Very xeric!

09/20/2021

Nice pollinator plan from the CO front range that would work for us here. I'd swap out a few things but generally a very diverse plan that would be pretty! And xeric - of course!

09/19/2021

These are great plants for our area. Deep root growth contributes to drought tolerance and longevity, beautiful illlustration of that here. And these are good plants for pollinators and formaking habitat too, (well not the 'lawn grass')!

09/17/2021

These folks have some great, free landscape plans and they are appropriate for us here in Utah - depending on where you live of course! Plant Select has introduced and promoted many wonderful plants for landscapes of the intermountain west including some of our western and Utah natives on this particular design!

Do you want to beautify a portion of your yard the easy way? GET A PLAN! A professional planting plan from the Plant Select Downloadable Designs page on our website! This landscape features 19 types of plants for yards in higher elevations such as Evergreen or Colorado Springs. This beautiful design is NEW for 2021! Thank you Annie Barrow, Manager of Horticulture Outreach Programs at Denver Botanic Gardens for this beautiful ensemble of plants.

https://plantselect.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HIGH-ELEVATION-PLANTING-DESIGN-Backyard-with-list.pdf

09/17/2021

Water needs are decreasing as plants start to think about going dormant. Water your turf once a week and your xetiscape deeply and maybe once every two weeks. Hand water newer plants. The xeriscape should not need water in October unless something really bizarre happens with the weather like incredible heat and zero moisture and even then I'd only water once or maybe twice in northern Utah. Save H2O! Who knows what next year will bring and water saved now will help our reservoirs and riparian areas 🙏

Just in time for FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, and clearly without legal authority, we are issuing a (fake) warrant for the immediate arrest of Aquaman. Look, we understand that giving superheroes a pass for bad behavior is a national pastime, but this has been ridiculous.

While it’s easy to cheer while superheroes literally destroy the city in order to save the city, it is clear from Utah’s extreme conditions lately that Aquaman needs to be held accountable in some way. We are not above slapping him with a sardine until he talks, administering lobster pincher lie detector tests, or forcing him to listen to Baby Shark (do, do, do, do, do, do) until he changes his behavior.

So, if you’re at Fan X, you will become our true hero by documenting the arrest and posting a picture in the comments below!

Utahns have been much more efficient during this drought, and we need to keep it up. Some examples of success include:

- Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District’s water deliveries were down nearly 31% this August compared to last August.

- Washington County Water Conservancy District’s service area (including district and municipal supplies) saved almost 600 million gallons of water this summer (June, July and August) compared to 2020 use, despite a 3.26% population increase.

- Salt Lake City service area saved about 1.8 billion gallons since July 1, compared to the averaged water use over the same time period for 2018, 2019 and 2020.

- Sandy City saved 962 million gallons over this time last year.

- Applications for water-saving rebates have also seen a large uptick.

All of this with NO THANKS TO AQUAMAN!

If your recommendation changed, please dial it down!

09/13/2021

Another fantastic xeric plant from our friends at Deseret Perennial Farm.

Penstemon pinnifoluus "Sunset Glow" Pine leaf penstemon. A new introduction. We have it planted for next season. A sub shrub. Blooms Summer. Very Xeric and heat tolerant. Intolerant of wet or heavy soils, adjust soil accordingly. An orange cultivar which joins the red and yellow varieties. Rated to Zone 4, maybe 3. $7.00 in a 1.0 pot. We are looking forward to this one.

09/04/2021

One of our wonderful natives that is an absolutely bomber landscape plant. While some native plants can be tricky to grow this is not one of them! It will bloom for 2 months and make hummingbirds go bananas! Makes a great living mulch too! Xeric and can handle being watered every other week but if you water it every 7- 9 days the bloom time will be extended.

Zauschneria, also called Fire Chalice or Hummingbird Trumpet, is one of our favorite native plants. It's a showy plant that will light up the garden in mid-summer to fall with a profusion of coral or orange flowers that attract hummingbirds - as you may have guessed by the name!

Zauschneria garettii 'Orange Carpet', a High Country Gardens introduction, is shown here with Echinacea and Salvia, the purple blooms providing an energizing contrast.

Learn more about this perennial, and order yours for fall planting, here: http://ow.ly/PELu50G4aJ8

08/20/2021

Time to reduce your water use further. I am now watering my xeriscape about once every 10 days and my turf every 5th day although everything is shut off ow thanks to the rain. I will not turn the water on for a week or two depending on the weather except for my veggies but even they are waterlogged for the time being. Save h2o folks!