Lawns, Gardens & Landscapes

Residential Water Use Lawns, Gardens & Landscapes

Lawns, Gardens & Landscapes

Your landscape includes your lawn, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetable garden, and groundcovers. The lawn is likely a prominent part of your landscape. While the lawn may need watering and frequent care, it adds beauty to the community and a well-maintained lawn offers many benefits:

  • absorbs rain water runoff
  • decreases soil erosion
  • promotes neighborhood pride
  • reduces the urban heat island effect
  • increases property values
  • provides space for recreation and relaxation

Manage Soils to Improve Drainage and Prevent Compaction

Soil Erosion

Soils with good structure and those that not compacted help expand root systems. Roots hold soil in place to reduce erosion, a leading cause of water pollution. Soils that are not compacted allow for increased infiltration of rain and irrigation water.

Soil management is important to healthy plants and healthy ecosystems. Following are a few tips for improving residential landscape and garden soils and why it is important for root systems and plant health.

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To Fertilize or Not To Fertilize?

“To be, or not to be? That is the question—Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them?”

This famous quote by William Shakespeare from the play Hamlet provokes the question in the endeavor of lawn care of “to fertilize or not to fertilize?” and then of course, when, how much and which type should be applied naturally follows.

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Gardens for Water and Pollinators

Columbus Raingarden

When planning gardens, people may think about pollinators and select plants to benefit them. Another trend is using rain gardens to catch and hold rainwater. Water and pollinator conservation are two goals achieved with rain gardens.

Rain gardens reduce irrigation needs and can decrease the amount of rainwater running off of a property and carrying pollutants to surface water. Rainwater is a valuable resource. Consider collecting some of it with a rain garden that is filled with plants to benefit pollinators.

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Salty Snow and Slush Damage

Snow, slush on the road

As snow and ice are cleared from the driveway and sidewalk, there may be more than frozen water in the shovel.

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Is This Plant Dead?

Winter desiccation on arborvitae

You hear these terms – “the dead of winter” and “dead to the world”, but what do they really mean?  In most cases, they’re exaggerations or synonyms for other situations; in this case, really cold weather with no end in sight and really, really tired.

In the plant world, the question of “is this plant dead?” comes up quite frequently, especially in winter, and especially with broadleaf evergreens such as arborvitae, yews, holly, boxwood and Oregon hollygrape.

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