Article by Jim And Gary Ludwig
Drought – May 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
BY ALL STANDARDS we are in a drought. We don’t know if this is a short-term phenomenon or the beginning of an extended period of below normal precipitation. During 2002 it was convenient to just ignore the situation unless it directly affected you and assume that things would be back to normal this year.
As the year ended, however, the media, prompted by responsible officials, could not ignore the drought and it became a news item — and the subject of numerous meetings, conferences, and miles of column inches in the papers. There is a renewed interest in long term weather forecasting, particularly in measuring ocean temperatures and other measurable phenomena within our atmosphere.
But a near panic has resulted, which could be as dangerous to our lifestyle as ignoring the problem.
We are nurserymen. Our nursery was founded in 1972 to be a propagator of native plants. We collect the seed or cuttings and start them in our greenhouses and grow them in pots or in our fields. We harvest them when appropriate and make them available to the wholesale and retail markets within Colorado.
After thirty years of experience with Colorado weather, our advice is to remain calm and begin living with our drought. There are three basic procedures for coping with a water shortage. Each has advantages dependent upon the circumstances. Although these guidelines are appropriate for agriculture in general, we’ll discuss their application in landscaping because that’s our area of expertise — and its affects nearly everyone, if not directly, then indirectly.
These procedures, not necessarily in order of importance are:
1. Selection of proper plant material.
2. Modification of planting media.
3. Efficient application and retention of available water for irrigation.
Let’s discuss each in turn, and you may be surprised at some of our conclusions.
Xeriscaping, a modern term you may have heard, is a formalized procedure developed by various water agencies, and modified by academics and agricultural scientists. It is designed to promote water conservation in the landscape.
The seven basic principles of Xeriscaping are: (1) Planning and Design; (2) Soil Improvement; (3) Limited Turf or Lawn area; (4) Efficient Irrigation; (5) The Use of Mulches; (6) The Use of Drought Tolerant Plants; and (7) Perform the Proper Maintenance.
The History of Water Use
The civilization of humans began with their ability to use tools, start fires and drink water from a cup. Any other animal must accept water where it is, as it is, in the quantity that exists. The ability to control water was essential to our human ability to change the environment to our advantage. The science of water control has progressed through the first cupped hands to lift water to the mouth, to vessels to hold it, to ditches to change its flow, to wells to reach deeper water, to dams to store water, pumps to lift it, and aqueducts, pipes and valves to help disperse it; and now there are chemicals to make it rain.
Through it all, man has lost the ability to accept water as it occurs naturally. We expect water to be available at our command, cheaply and in quantities we desire. We no longer need to defend our irrigation system against the barbarians who would and could destroy our way of life, nor do we expect to abandon our homes because the rains didn’t return and the world’s climate has changed. We have become all-powerful, moving water great distances over mountain ranges, and in some places, in desperation, even purifying salt water from the sea.
All-powerful? Well, no. We just tend to think we are.
But a small blip in expected natural precipitation has thrown us into near hysteria.
Instead of panicking, we need to respond in a way that counteracts what is presently a minor change in the overall climate of our region. Of course, the drought could continue, in which case we would need other solutions. Or it could return to what we consider normal, and we could return to our wasteful water usage.
Modern culture has many of us desiring to live, work, and retire in the semi arid climate of the West rather than the cold and snow which brings adequate moisture to the Midwest and East. But to continue to live here we need to exercise some common sense and put forth a little effort.
The desire to landscape is older than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Since time immemorial landscaping has been a way to express ourselves and impress our neighbors with our magnificent civilization. This desire to landscape evolved throughout European history and was brought to the new world.
Then, European landscaping styles were brought west by the early settlers, and the environment was changed to suit such landscapes, mainly through irrigation. Now the folly of this approach has become apparent, but our desire for a beautiful landscape still exists.
A beautiful, but less wasteful landscape is within the economic reach of nearly everyone, however. Since there is very little that can give more personal satisfaction than a lawn, a vegetable garden, or a beautiful flower bed, we’ll examine how appealing landscapes can be created using less water.
Selection of plant material
Most of you have an existing landscape designed during times of adequate precipitation, and the initial need for water to establish a new planting may be greater than maintaining the established one. But assuming you decide to create a new landscape, plant selection and placement can reduce the need for irrigation.
We often think of native plants as always being drought tolerant, but some natives occur in moist areas with soggy soils, and other factors such as exposure and altitude may be of importance, too. Therefore, the full spectrum of native and non-native plants should be considered in your landscape design. The selection of suitable trees, shrubs and herbs is wide-ranging and their use is subject to many landscaping techniques.
You must know a plant’s water requirements and necessary soil fertility, and plants with similar needs should be grouped together in the landscape so that irrigation demands can be reduced.
There is no native grass that will provide the tough play surface of a good bluegrass lawn. By natural design, native grasses are generally bunch types and unsuitable for lawns; the space between plants enlarges the water collection area for each plant and forms its own microclimate. But there are some options to the common bluegrass lawn.
A desirable seed mixture should be planted to gradually replace weeds which will occur even if no irrigation water is added. Natural revegetation will take up to fifteen years, but suitable cover can be obtained in three to five years with proper seeding.
Several seed mixtures have been developed for this purpose, ranging from an all native mix consisting of thirteen different grasses and five native herbaceous perennials, to the commonly used Wear and Tear Mix which is 95% tall fescue and will provide an appearance similar to blue grass.
More than ten years ago we began selling Ludwig’s Natural Wonder which is a combination of native and non-native grasses which, though unirrigated, will evolve into a cover very similar to the natural cover of our undisturbed prairie.
Seed to soil contact is very important when planting and can be accomplished by raking or dragging. Most native seed is light and fluffy and is easily blown away and some varieties must be distributed carefully by hand.
Modification of planting media
Most natural soils in the intermountain area are rocky, gravelly, sandy, glacial tills. As such they are relatively young geologically and have not had time to transform into a loam suitable for general plant growth. There are other areas within the mountains where shales have become soils with a clay-like structure which may have very little nourishment and little ability to percolate water. Alkali may rise with soil moisture to the surface and become visible as the surface dries.
Subsoils are generally very poor both structurally and chemically. It is interesting to note the different native plant communities that have established themselves in the varying soils, even when given like microclimates and equivalent rainfall. So almost without exception our soil must be modified to promote desirable plant growth and use the available water efficiently. A common attempted solution to problem soils is to simply haul in enough top soil to cover everything two to six inches deep. This is not a good solution because there is little topsoil available locally that will not need enrichment and you may create a stratified soil profile which will hinder water penetration. The tilling depth should be eight inches if possible to promote good root growth.
It is wise to design planting areas as horizontal as possible, terracing as necessary to prevent runoff, and making the water soak in where applied. Any sloped area must have a very slow rate of water application. For this reason, most sloped lawn areas are irrigated with single stream rotating sprinklers that have a low rate of application.
Modifying soil is not cheap. Noting that different plants need different soils, it is wise to modify the soil to a quality needed by the anticipated planting. This in turn prompts us to group plants that have like requirements for soil and water, then tailor our irrigation to the specific area.
ONE OF THE BEST WAYS to hold water in the root zone and make it available over a longer period of time is to add organic material to the soil and incorporate it into the complete depth of the anticipated plant’s root zone. Whether you have a sandy soil that needs organics to help improve water holding capacity or clay soils which need improved percolation, the addition of organics will accomplish these objectives. Organics are soil-like products that are derived from plant matter. Peat, composts, and manures in all combinations are commercially available as bulk or bagged products.
Manures (animal wastes) are a very good source of cheap organics with some nutrients and generally are available from local ranchers. Fresh manures should never be used as a soil additive because they contain viable weed seeds and nitrogen content is variable causing scorched spots to appear. We always stack the manure, adding water to promote seed germination and natural composting. The pile is turned over several times allowing oxygen to reach the innermost manure. Internal temperature may reach 140 degrees, killing the seeds and even included grass roots. This is a powerful product and must be incorporated into composts or tilled well into the soil. One to two inches of rotted manure, tilled into a vegetable garden every year, will provide both the nutrients and organics desired.
Two basic types of peat products are available. Canadian sphagnum moss is bailed and is a fibrous plant material, not decomposed and highly organic. Native peat bogs throughout the Western United States contain partially decomposed rushes, sedges and grasses. It is highly variable in organic content and may contain harmful salts. We generally discourage the use of native peat. Ask for a soil analysis before committing to use this as an additive.
The better organic additives are a variety of commercially available composts which are derived from naturally decaying plant material and manures. Generally, composted soil additives will be bagged and labeled to indicate their composition. Composting is nearly always done where there is an adequate supply of some basic material difficult to use in its natural form. The mushrooms grown regionally provide an abundance of used peat and manure based growing media. Cotton bolls, sawdust, wood chips, horse, cattle, sheep, or chicken manure can each provide the basis for composting on a large scale.
We have learned to compost a combination of wood chips, grass clippings, llama and cattle manure, with fillers of poor soil and weed or herbaceous pruning into an excellent soil additive. Our wood chips have usually been used in our display for winter root protection or as a weed deterrent and have had enough moisture from normal irrigation to decompose for several years before being screened for composting. We layer about eight cubic yards of raw material, rototilling completely as the layers are added, restacking, mixing, and adding water.
THIS WILL THEN BECOME about a six cubic yard stack about four feet high and fifteen feet long. We monitor the internal temperature with a soil thermometer and if my estimated quantities and water content are correct, the temperature will reach 130 degrees. We remix and restack several times as the temperature begins to drop, resulting in three to four cubic yards of compost.
An expensive procedure? Yes.
Worthwhile? I believe so.
Home composting in our area is difficult because the temperatures are too low, proper water addition is difficult and home garden volume is not sufficient to maintain the decaying reaction necessary. Depending on your own garden activity, it may be worthwhile to attempt to compost. If unsuccessful, any resulting material can be tilled into the garden. Many books are available detailing methods and materials. My advice is don’t invest in fancy tubs and tanks. Use your tiller, a depression in the ground, a shovel, and give it a try.
Commercial composters can monitor exact content and moisture needed, and have the equipment to mix and aerate properly. They know how to adjust to make a given product that can be sold with a consistent quality. Generally for a home gardener or landscaper it is wise to purchase these products in the quantities needed.
IT IS MORE IMPORTANT to properly mix additives into the soil than to worry about the specific additive used. Preparing good soil should continue year after year. We normally top dress annual flower beds with the remnants of broken sacks from our sales areas. There is no substitute for spading a flower bed, maybe even double spading, to be sure to incorporate humus deeply into the soil.
When planting perennial herbs, trees, or shrubs, dig your planting hole twice as wide as the rootball. Mix the additive with the removed soil along with any necessary fertilizer, using the mixture as a backfill around the root ball. Try to prevent any layering of the soil in the critical new root zone. This is only a general procedure, and every plant purchased may have specific planting instructions.
Flowers and shrubs will vary widely in their need for fertilizer and this need is generally independent of the soil structure which affects the ability to use irrigation. I prefer to use a slow release, pilled fertilizer for beds and individual plants, natural manures for vegetable gardens, and slow release, high nitrogen chemicals with added iron, and without weed killers for lawns. Cheap, quick release fertilizer is difficult to apply properly and spot burning occurs frequently.
Efficient application and retention
of available irrigation water
The State of Colorado has developed a comprehensive set of water laws and the infrastructure to administer them. These laws have been hammered out through the courts by miners, ranchers, farmers, municipalities, and states. They are frequently in contention, but infrequently changed. It is important that you understand your water rights and availability in the specific situation you are in. The cost of any water can only be expected to rise in the future.
Quantities and percentages used in the following analysis are only approximate because physical conditions will vary greatly and I intend to show only approximate ratios of one to another.
Our normal rainfall is only about twenty to thirty percent of what we need to establish a lush Eastern or European landscape and then only if our soil is improved to their standards. We have discussed the need for proper plant selection and the need to improve our natural soil to conserve water. A blue grass lawn will need about thirty to forty inches of water applied by overhead sprinklers during a full season, depending on underlying soil preparation. The historical study of our nursery water rights indicated that twenty-nine inches of water applied by flood irrigation was used each year on low quality grass meadows.
The quantity of water that needs to be applied will vary with the method of application. And the quantity of water actually consumed, called consumptive use, will vary with the vigorousness of plant growth and the species of plants. A very high percentage of water applied with a drip system may be consumed; the overhead sprinkler water may be forty to seventy percent consumed, and the flood or row irrigation water will be only ten percent consumed. Evaporation and transpiration are the major reasons for consumptive use.
[Editor’s Note: Water lost to evaporation vaporizes due to exposure, heat etc. Transpiration describes the water lost through the leaves of a plant. Consumptive use refers to water that will not return to our basin; it can include water lost to evaporation, transpiration, and manufacturing; and even water trapped in crops sold elsewhere.]
Evaporation will vary due to the water’s exposure to the atmosphere, the relative humidity, the ambient temperature and surface winds. Transpiration will vary with the plant species, temperature, soil composition and fertility.
It is only logical that we efficiently use water, but there are two specific reasons. One is the cost of supplying water because easy methods of procurement have reached their limits. The other is that water simply is not available in the quantities we desire, at any cost.
Flood and row irrigation was the traditional agricultural method of using water in the West. Original mining usage returned nearly one hundred percent to the stream, as does household use. Our basic right is to use water but not consume it.
Virtually all municipal water is delivered by pressurized piped water systems and irrigation is done by overhead sprinklers. Remote homes have wells and leach fields. We landscapers use sprinklers or drip systems that improve our efficiency, and reduce evaporation.
But unfortunately improvement in the efficiency of water application has in nearly every case resulted in little or no consumptive water saving. When cheap water is physically available and efficiency is doubled we simply plant twice as much and save nothing. By the same token, San Luis Valley farmers using center pivots, may sprinkle twice as much cropland as they tilled by row irrigation, and continue to use their legal water right to the maximum. When water is readily available, cities plant more trees, build more parks or golf courses, and homeowners landscape greater areas with thirstier plants.
What at first glance appears to be simply a matter of turning off the tap becomes quite complex upon examination. If we are really going to save water, the water must cost too much, or simply not be available, or we’re going to have to undergo an improbable change of heart.
Which method of saving do you choose?
The answer is usually none, but we continue to insist that others should be forced to change. That hypocritical viewpoint continues.
Mulching
Surface mulching is an important water saving practice. Mulch is the organic or inorganic material that is placed on top of the soil. Covering the exposed surface of soils in your gardens and around trees and shrubs reduces the amount of water lost to evaporation. In addition you will also reduce weed seed germination, reduce drastic soil temperature fluctuations and increase the water available for plant growth.
Do not confuse surface mulching with material that might be added to the soil to improve its structure. That is an organic soil amendment.
Mulches can be almost anything such as washed gravel, decorative rock, river cobble, bark chips, pine needles, pine cones, shredded cedar, grass clippings, dried leaves, straw, and many others. There are mulches that are fastened into a netting to make a mat which can be rolled out in place. These are often used for roadside revegetation of slopes. What each of these have in common are that they are not, by themselves, able to support plant growth.
Inorganic mulches such as rock or gravel are just that and will not add beneficial organics to the soil over time. They generally are placed over a fabric weed barrier and must be cleaned or replaced periodically to remove dirt, seeds and trash that has blown in. Inorganic mulches have less insulating quality but require less maintenance than organic mulches. They can be very difficult to clean, however, and may even have to be discarded and replaced. An herbicide might be used to delay cleaning but not indefinitely, and it’s impossible to pull a garden rake through any gravel larger than three fourths inch in order to clean out debris.
A rock mulch will not replace the cool environment of a lawn which cools by evaporation and transpiration, and may be uncomfortable to be around in the heat of the day.
The most widely used organic mulches are bagged pine bark chips and shredded cedar bark. Bulk wood chips or pole peelings and straw are generally available in our area in quantity. Nearly anything that will bulk up and shade the ground is suitable. Pine cones or needles, dried leaves and such are often hard to collect and use. Care must be taken that leaves or grass clippings do not pack and seal air from the root crown. Organic mulch will begin to decay and use some of the nitrogen normally available for the plant.
Any organic mulch must be worked and renewed at least once a year. Generally it is not placed over a weed barrier but the composted portion is incorporated into the soil as the mulch ages.
Maintaining the mulch properly is not easy, and we commonly test grow plants in our fields without mulching to provide a worst case test for new varieties. Very few gardeners, even good ones, will mulch everything properly every year.
Can you measure the water saved by mulching? Probably not exactly, but mulching is a great idea and we advise you to do it.
Water Application
This is the one area that will make a difference, both in cost and in the size of garden you can have if your amount of water is absolutely limited. It is unfortunate that municipalities love to choose an allowable watering schedule that has little relationship to landscaping needs. (Every other day, four hours early, then four hours late.) If you are faced with this specific limitation, try to make adjustments to your situation as best you can.
It is not practical to measure every drop of water used by individual plants. We have found that nearly everyone knows approximately how much water it takes to keep a bluegrass lawn healthy if there is no limitation, so that becomes our standard for discussion of volumes.
As a general rule, an installed sprinkler system can save water on a lawn. A variety of sprinkler heads can be adapted to any shape of lawn but it is wise to use some common sense in shaping your lawn area. An impulse pop up sprinkler or rotating head single stream is efficient when areas are large. A time clock will control the length of application and a minimum of detailed attention is necessary. The most wasteful error is to set your timer in the spring and then ignore it until October, in spite of temperature change, rainfall or plant maturity. Lines will leak, heads will plug, rotating heads stop and valves will fail. Proper maintenance is an absolute necessity.
The small pop up spray heads come in such a variety of shapes and sizes they can be placed to cover any irregular area. Remember that they will apply roughly twice the volume of water over a given area per unit of time compared to impulse or rotary sprinklers, so the two cannot be mixed with each other on the same control valve. On a hot windy day, much of the water will be lost to evaporation or by being blown off the spray head pattern intended.
Often either of the above systems are placed to irrigate trees, shrubs, perennials, and even flower beds as if they were a part of the lawn. This is usually the simplest arrangement but it can lead to a lot of wasted water and difficult weed control. Also the tree roots will spread far into the lawn and if you change the lawn watering procedure the trees may suffer. Don’t forget to provide for your trees when making irrigation changes.
Water is wasted using an automatic sprinkler system if it is not shut down when it is windy, and the water is not applied where intended. Instead of shutting down, many of us compensate for this loss by letting the water run for a longer period of time and over-irrigate when conditions are ideal, negating any savings.
[Editor’s Note: After a Salida mayor suggested that citizens get sprinkler systems several years ago, Colorado Central looked into how much water such systems could save. In numerous studies, it was determined that sprinklers are more efficient, but in real life the owners of automated sprinkler systems actually use more water than their low-tech counterparts. The reasons determined in a Denver study last year included: misdirected sprinkler heads; broken sprinkler heads were not replaced; users didn’t turn off systems during rain storms; and low-tech waterers were actually lazier than assumed, often missing specified watering days and watering far less often than those with automated systems. Not mentioned — but we thought that it might make a difference — the owners of automated systems probably have more money to spend on water. Anyway, this proves that the Ludwigs are absolutely correct: just installing the system isn’t enough; maintenance and careful usage matter.]
THE THEORY behind drip irrigation has been known for a long time, but good drip systems weren’t developed until cheap plastic was available for piping and emitter design, and an inventive country decided that it needed to produce a maximum amount of food with a minimum amount of water. When Israel was established after the Second World War, the need for better irrigation systems became apparent as thousands of refugees crowded into the new country. Their drip systems were developed to control the placement of water literally to the pint, but the capital cost of installation was high with filter systems, exact pressure control, and detailed valving, necessary, along with elaborate clocked control.
With drip irrigation it became possible to place the correct amount of water into the intended root zone.
Modern practice and design is much simpler than Israel’s elaborate systems, and now almost anyone can install and maintain a drip irrigation system. Although simpler systems won’t control water as exactly, most of us don’t need to calculate whether we can effectively irrigate twenty more olive trees in a five acre patch which may be the total margin of profit for our entire farm. Generally, our biggest concern is if we can plant three more peonies in an established flower bed.
In order to discuss installing a drip system, we need to make some practical assumptions. For a sample system, we’ll assume that there are five gallons per minute at a static pressure of forty pounds per square inch available at the valve you expect to use. This must be in addition to household usage, since you don’t want the water to stop every time you flush a toilet, take a drink, or fill a washer.
Emitters will normally pass volumes of ½, 1, 2, 5, or 7 gallons per hour. A ½ inch plastic pipe will carry 240 gallons per hour and a ¾ inch pipe 560 gallons per hour, which is equivalent to 9.33 gallons per minute, which is more than our assumed availability but it’s often actually available. A ½ inch pipe will carry 4 gallons per minute, so for practical purposes, design to that size.
The two variables that remain are the size and quantity of emitters and the length of application. Suppose you wish to grow five gallon clay pots of geraniums through a water restricted summer. One gallon of water four days a week will keep them blooming beautifully.
Generally, larger volume emitters are easier to maintain, so use 5 gallon per hour emitters for 30 minutes every other day to meet restrictions. Theoretically, you could attach 48 emitters. Twenty five large pots of geraniums are a lot of flowers, so you can water them, have water for an additional 23 emitters on the same system, and have used your allotted eight watering hours for only 30 minutes.
Doesn’t that make sense? In addition, wind, temperature or our little rain showers have little influence on drip watering. If you are restricted in your hours of use, run drip systems during hot or windy times when overhead sprinklers may be wasteful.
Potted plants or hanging baskets can easily be observed to see if they are healthy and if the soil is moist when needed. Not so with flowers or shrubs planted directly into the soil. In this case you must use your judgment to attempt to apply water directly to the roots in such a quantity and place that little is wasted. Properly wetted soil should clump, but not feel wet when you make a ball in your hand.
Most flowers like additional water when in full bloom. Have available another hose with a valved nozzle to give a little supplemental water if needed. The key here is careful continuous overall flower bed maintenance, including the drip system.
Consider this: If your ½-inch hose runs a full four gallons per minute, you only use five hundred gallons of water a week to have some of the prettiest flower beds in Buena Vista. In comparison, one size 35 Rainbird impulse nozzle will use about 360 gallons per hour.
Lawns
A blue grass lawn, well watered and fertilized, is beautiful and very rugged. Normally it will use 30 to 40 inches of water per season. There are some things you may do to save some water, but you must have time to personally monitor sprinklers after you’ve taken the time to learn when a lawn indicates it is becoming drought stressed.
You will almost certainly start a blue grass lawn as sod. A sprinkler system must be placed before you sod to assure eight inches of homogeneous soil beneath the sod. Be certain to modify, fertilize and till the soil, then pack it well so walking on the newly placed sod will not cause holes or rough spots.
After a week or two of keeping the sod moist so it will begin rooting into the soil, let the lawn dry until the grass begins to wilt, before turning on the sprinklers. Run the sprinkler until there is no dry layer beneath the sod; this can be determined by sinking a narrow spade into the ground. Now let the sod rest until there are signs of drought stress before soaking deeply again. Provided your soil preparation has been adequate, the roots will lengthen and deepen dramatically over a season.
This procedure may be difficult under an every other day, limited hours, watering restriction and it would be worth getting a new lawn variance to establish your program. Then you may find yourself watering every tenth day for the full hours available. Believe me, you can train your lawn, it is disciplining yourself to irrigate properly that is difficult.
In my opinion, bluegrass sod is more difficult to train than the various seeded fescue mixtures. It will tend toward dry spots in which weeds or crabgrass will get a start. Recent literature proposes that bluegrass will actually drop into a drought induced dormancy on occasion. This might be a practical advantage if the death or dormancy status were easy to determine.
MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE is to seed a fescue mix on very well prepared soil and then treat it like a baby until it becomes so tough you simply cannot hurt it. I have never installed a sprinkler system because I can take the time to vary my sprinkler size and placement to cover areas as they become stressed within the overall large lawns I adore. This also allows me to make maximum use of rainfall because water application is infinitely variable. I water my fescue lawn about once every two weeks and probably not at all during a normal monsoon season.
Cut an established lawn to no less than three inches during the summer. Although this may seem a little ragged looking, it shades and cools the soil surface.
Watch the grass, not the clock, and take care.
We hope our discussion on practical ways to reduce water usage will be helpful to you. Remember, gardeners have struggled with irrigation problems since the beginning of civilization. Volumes have been written about the use of water, and we have only touched upon a tiny segment of the problems.
Let me repeat the important issues to be considered by a mountain gardener:
First, the design of landscapes and selection of plant material sets the parameters we must work within.
Second, our soil generally has to be modified to provide a good growing media which will retain water for plant use.
Third, practical methods to reduce water use are available and depend on our willingness to spend the capital and take the time to use them.
Here at the Pleasant Avenue Nursery, our first question to anyone who indicates an interest in gardening or landscaping is always: What kind of water supply do you have?
It is surprising how few people really knew that until they were hit by the drought. In our semi-arid, beautiful wonderland, we owe it to each other to make the best use of a limited resource.
Jim and Gary Ludwig run Pleasant Avenue Nursery in Buena Vista, and specialize in native flora.
