Water – Plant It Wisely: The Ultimate Fall Planting Resource
We here at Rosie on the House turn to the water saving experts at Water – Use It Wisely to help us “sow the seeds of a more sustainable future”. Now is the best time of year to work on making your yard more water friendly. Here is their advice:
Water – Plant It Wisely: Our Ultimate Fall Planting Resource
Put your gardening gloves and shovel to work and get your landscaping on par with the rest of Mother Nature. Water – Plant It Wisely is your handy resource to provide landscaping guidance, advice, and ideas on what to plant. Because what you plant affects more than your yard. It helps create a more sustainable future, and by selecting low-water-use plants, you help conserve our precious water supply for generations to come. Bet you didn’t know your little ol’ garden could do all that. Learn more at our special microsite that puts everything in one easy place – WaterPlantItWisely.com.
Why Plant in the Fall?
Glad you asked! It’s the prime time to plant trees, shrubs, and spring wildflowers in southern Arizona. From late September through early December soil temperatures are still warm, encouraging root growth and development. Planting now allows plants to become established before next summer’s heat sets in. Also, with cooler temperatures, plants need less water and it is a much more forgiving time of year to put new plants in the ground. If you forget to water just one day in the summer, your new plants can be toast. From the fall season through spring, water newly planted plants once every 3-4 days and gradually increase the number of days between watering as plants get established.
Wondering how to plant? How deep to dig the hole? How to use mulch? Be sure to visit our Water – Plant It Wisely site for plant selection tips, and proper planting instructions.
Always Plan Before You Plant
Planning is essential if you want an attractive, easy to maintain, and functional home landscape. Make sure to look at mature plant size and characteristics to determine if their fit and function will work well in your yard.
Water – Use It Wisely Arizona partners have put together great information on saving water outdoors that includes interactive watering guides, landscaping ideas, low-water-use plants and more. Also, be sure to explore the event calendar on the Water – Use It Wisely home page and find out the fall landscape workshops we have going on this season!
When you purchase plants for your home landscape, be sure to look for healthy, well-grown plants. Don’t forget to add two to three inches of compost or mulch to the surface of the soil after planting and before covering with granite or rock (keep the mulch a few inches away from the stem or tree trunk). Check with your local plant nursery for the best results. Don’t forget to look for local fall plant sales put on by botanical gardens or others such as these:
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- Boyce Thompson Arboretum: Oct 15-30, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Oct 14 is member preview day)
- Desert Botanical Garden: 21-23, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Oct 20 is members day)
- Maricopa County Master Gardener Fall Festival & Plant Sale: Oct. 22, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
What are the Benefits of Low-Water-Use Plants & Landscapes?
This fall, replace your high-water-use plants with water-thrifty ones! Desert flora doesn’t require much water to thrive and adds a variety of colors, sizes, and functions that will spruce up your garden. You will love how your yard looks, how much easier it is to maintain, and how your water bills look. With each low-water-use plant you place in your landscape, you can save up to 550 gallons a year. Considering up to 70% of water use is outdoors, you can brag to your neighbors that your beautiful landscape is not only conserving water but is easy to take care of, too.
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- Use up to 60-75% less water than grass or traditional landscapes
- Save water, a precious resource in the desert
- Provide many functions (shade, attracting birds, add color)
- Easier to maintain requiring less fertilizer, pesticides, and care
Consider Forgoing the Winter Grass
Are you thinking of overseeding your bermudagrass? While sustaining a lush, green lawn throughout the year is appealing to many home and business owners, the additional water needed for cool-season grasses is difficult to justify when water is such a precious resource. Now more than ever, saving every drop we can is critical as we experience extraordinary drought conditions as well as climate pressures that have triggered water shortages to our Colorado River water supplies.
Need more help to decide whether or not to forgo the winter lawn? First, see the Top Ten Reasons Not to Overseed with Winter Rye. If you decide you still want to overseed, keep it as efficient as you can with the timing, watering, and limiting the areas.
Consider Planting Wildflowers
Are you looking for carpets of golden poppies or spikes of violet lupines? Even though they bloom in the spring, fall is the time to sow many of the wildflower seeds in your landscape. If possible try to sow shortly before one of our October or November rains. For good details on wildflower gardening, request Water – Use It Wisely’s free booklet, “Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert” or read, “Plant of the Month: Wildflowers!” for more information.
Avoid wildflower or ‘meadow’ mixes from other parts of the country or world. For example, African Daisies are… well, from Africa. Look for quality, locally grown, or collected seed that includes beauties such as Mexican Gold Poppies, Arizona Lupines and Desert Bluebells. The Native Seed Company out of Tucson provides high quality, locally collected native seeds. Seeds are not available for online ordering but can be found at most local nurseries or specialty plant sales.
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CONTENT PARTNER: Water – Use It Wisely
Water – Use It Wisely’s comprehensive community awareness campaign stars ordinary household objects as unexpected, but highly effective, water-saving devices. The program demonstrates how changing a few simple habits can have a significant impact on water consumption through a bright, colorful, and fun approach that encourages everyone to be mindful of when and how they use water. Find water-saving ideas for outside and inside your home at www.wateruseitwisely.com.
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Water saving experts at Water-Use It Wisely explain ways to make your home more water friendly. Salt River Project and Central Arizona Project discusses the current state of Arizona’s water supply. City Of Goodyear, AZ explains how to do your own water audit to check for possible leaks. And the City Of Glendale talks about water conservation with the right plants in the right place to create beautiful landscapes and xeriscapes.
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