 don t twiddle your green thumbs by elisa k simcik points north february 2008 how to create a beautiful yet droughtresistant landscape for your yard georgians are in a planting panic when homeowners see images of lake lanier on the news then look at their front yards they cringe they know the state is in a water shortage crisis and feel helpless as they watch their yards turn into a barren landscape coupled with the tight watering restrictions residents are left twiddling their green thumbs trying to figure out what to do next february is typically planting season in georgia but does the drought mean you have to throw out your gardening tools abandon your yard and continue to pray for rain not necessarily area landscapers offer a variety of tips and ideas to help your yard flourish in times of trouble tough times call for tough plants cla allgood a landscape architect and owner of allgood outdoors in cumming has seen plenty of plants survive dry times in his 27 years in the business if you look at the south before there were reservoirs before there were irrigation systems we still had great gardens those people didn t have a valve to turn on to make their water survive he said that s why he recommends that homeowners go with the oldtimey plants which have proven that they re tough even in dry periods things like forsythia spirea yaupon holly chinese hollies such as burford and nellie r stevens and even some roses can stand up to the drought according to allgood and while allgood thinks native plants are great they may need more water to get established than some of these nonnative plants for instance he thinks imported bamboo can be a great addition to your droughtlandscaping plan as well as junipers crepe myrtles and violet chase trees if you do decide to plant there s no need to feel guilty for not watering your new growth every day if you look up and down the highway the plants put in by the department of transportation get no irrigation at all these plants survive allgood said in fact plants tend to die more often because of over watering than under watering according to rick kaldrovics president and owner of outside landscape group in alpharetta what this drought has proven is that once we had to shut down outdoor water use homeowners are realizing that these plants are much tougher than they thought and they are able to make it through long periods of time with less water not over watering them all the time is good for them it allows them to set their roots deep into the ground kaldrovics explained february is also a great time to start working on your yard and garden because the cooler temperatures mean you can plant without needing water this time of year is the very best time to plant in the southeast kaldrovics said plants in the southeast don t go 100 percent dormant their roots are still actively growing in the winter but their top growth is not the benefit of taking advantage of this season is when you re planting you re not having to water and how perfect is that you re relying on mother nature cool temperatures and occasional rain during the winter so the best thing a homeowner can do whether we re having a drought or not is to plant during a dormant period of time for plants he added mary kay woodworth the executive director of the metro atlanta landscape and turf association malta also encourages homeowners to plant this winter specifically he recommends shrubs ground cover trees and perennials bulbs are a great thing to plant for beautiful spring and summer color you can plant them from november through february and they require no supplemental water you put them in the ground put a little water on them right now cover em up and forget about them she said one thing landscapers don t recommend is to turn atlanta into the desert southwest we have very dry periods and we have wet periods so importing cactus and other western plants here might work for a year or two but when we get back to our normal and natural rain fall they won t work here woodworth said creative watering still there s no denying that plants like it better when we have regular rain so what if these dry conditions continue into the spring and summer months how can even strong winterplanted roots survive against 90degree heat no rain and strict water restrictions besides putting in droughtresistant plants homeowners can also prepare their yards to handle the lack of rain george allin president of allin landscaping likes water crystals which work a lot like jello they re a fine material that you incorporate into the planting roots of the tree or shrub or plant and it absorbs moisture then once it stops raining it releases the moisture back in the root zone he said allin also likes shredded mulch because he believes it retains moisture better than any other type of mulch and don t forget the dirt mound around the plant basically you plant your plant and then you build a little dam around the plant as it rains you re able to catch a little more water it s a simple rain catcher mechanism you re catching 2 to 3 inches rather than it just running off allgood said when you do have the chance to water allin offered an easy watering tip it s better to water plants and grass less frequently and for longer periods of time than more frequently for less periods of time if you water frequently then the roots will stay on top of the surface they won t go deep beyond that landscaping companies are utilizing all kinds of watering strategies allin s company actually pumps in water from a private lake outside the area the folks at kaldrovics outside landscape group are installing rain barrels you basically are hooking your downspouts from your house into these barrels that provide you with some water you can supplement with a garden hose and a small pump off that rain barrel a 55 or 100gallon barrel kaldrovics said so if you re taking a medium planting on you re able to water that with water you ve captured yourself and speaking of water you capture yourself even when governments issue drought level four homeowners are permitted to capture indoor water for outdoor use according to the environmental protection division epd of the georgia department of natural resources placing buckets in showers or bathtubs to capture water or even removing the water from the washing machine can provide extra water to be used for irrigation just don t use it for watering plants that produce food for immediate consumption and be sure the runoff doesn t go off your property for people who want to take on a larger scale landscaping project during the drought a cistern might be another option you re capturing rainwater but instead of capturing it in a barrel that may be 100 or 55 gallons you may be capturing anywhere from 350 to 1500 gallons of rainwater kaldrovics said however kaldrovics doesn t believe most homeowners even need to take it as far as installing cisterns they don t have to install these 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