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Smartscape offers green jobs training at affordable price, helps professionals stay on leading edge of landscape industry saving clients water, money, and time

In a tough economy, one way to stay ahead of the competition is to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, research, and practices in the industry for which you work. For the landscaping business, this is especially true. As the housing market remains stalled, new landscape installations and maintenance accounts are often hard to come by, and competition for customers is fierce. Therefore, programs that provide continuing education and training—especially at an affordable price—are all the more important and relevant for businesses today.

Enter Smartscape: A training program for landscape professionals
Sponsored by the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (a Water – Use It Wisely partner) and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension in Maricopa County, Smartscape is a green jobs training program providing 20 hours of instruction on the proper irrigation and care for water-efficient landscapes in the Sonoran Desert.

Over the eight Smartscape sessions, instructors from the University of Arizona, municipal water departments, and the landscape industry present the latest research-based information regarding sustainable landscaping practices.

“We find the Smartscape program provides the updated training our employees need to keep our customers informed, as well as keeping us leaps and bounds ahead of the competition,” states Jill Gilbert, Customer Relations Manager for AZ Royal Landscaping and Design.

Smartscape professionals promote sustainable practices
Instruction on sustainable landscaping practices can help companies cut back on clients’ water use, where up to 70% of a residential water bill is devoted to outdoor uses such as landscapes and pools. By helping reduce outdoor water consumption, Smartscape graduates help homeowners save where it counts—in their wallet.

In addition, Smartscape attendees are trained on the fundamentals of designing, installing, and maintaining low-water-use landscapes compatible with our desert environment. Using landscape plants that are adapted to the climate and soils of the Sonoran Desert can make for a lower maintenance yard, which saves clients valuable time and energy.

“Smartscape is a comprehensive program, packed with useful information, taught by an all-star team of Valley landscape professionals, in a format anyone can understand, and built around our typical work schedule,” says Bryan Wallace, Vice President of Operations at Victor’s Landscaping Inc. and a Smartscape Certified Professional.

Online directory connects graduates to customers
To help Smartscape professionals market their training, graduates have the option to be included in the Smartscape Certified Professional Online Directory, found at http://www.amwua.org/ss_directory.html. The Online Directory allows homeowners to find a Smartscape Certified Professional in their area. As more homeowners want to save money and time in their yard, businesses and individuals who market their Smartscape training have another “leg up” on the competition.

Next class starts this month
The next Smartscape course will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3:30-6:00 P.M., January 23- February 15, 2012. All classes will be held at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension in Maricopa County, 4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85040. The registration fee for the entire series is $75.00. Please contact Haley Paul at smartscape@cals.arizona.edu or (602) 827-8200 x395 if you are a landscape professional interested in taking the course or sending your employees to the course. Also visit the Smartscape website to download and print a registration flyer: http://extension.arizona.edu/maricopa/smartscape-program.

Find Smartscape on Facebookand Twitter too!

From time to time, WUIW features guest bloggers who write about water conservation and education. Haley Paul is our guest blogger this week. Smartscape is co-sponsored by AMWUA, a WUIW partner.

Water – Use It Wisely partners were pleased to see a Jan. 1, 2012 opinion piece in The Arizona Republic that included a challenge to look at our Arizona assets and figure out how to maximize them for the New Year. The list includes our “water supplies” and our “striking desert plants” amongst many of our other great Arizona resources. We couldn’t agree more! Check out our Water Saving Tip #61. Did you know that each low-water-use plant can save you up to 550 gallons a year?

Hundreds of desert plants are available for just about any function in your landscape. Would you like to attract birds or butterflies to your yard? Desert plants are up for the challenge! Perhaps you are looking for year-round color, or how about a living fence or a cool, shady retreat? And desert plants not only save water, a precious Arizona resource, they have special characteristics that help them thrive in our tough desert conditions including heat, alkaline soils and even winter frost.

The Water – Use It Wisely site is filled with plant details including plant selection ideas, plant care and watering details. And if you have a water-thirsty landscape, we’ll tell you how to remove grass and install a water-saving, colorful, thriving Xeriscape instead. After all, there are a number of ways to save water and they all start with you. Water. Use It Wisely.

December marks the time of the year when we start to focus on our homes, family gatherings and holiday gift giving. So consider purchasing a meaningful gift that literally keeps on giving by reducing water bills month after month. How do you find and select the best water-efficient products that can help your wallet and the environment? You might think to start with consumer reviews or a consumer magazine, but EPA has made your shopping even easier with their WaterSense Label program.

WaterSense labeled products are backed by independent third party testing and certification, and meet EPA’s specifications for water efficiency and performance. When you use WaterSense labeled products in your home or business, you can expect exceptional performance, savings on your water bills, and assurance that you are saving water for future generations.

Sure, a WaterSense labeled toilet might not be the most romantic gift, but how about a bathroom mini-makeover? A new WaterSense labeled showerhead means water savings, good performance, and it will save you on your hot water energy bills, too. And, how about a WaterSense labeled weather-based irrigation timer for the man who has everything… but that?

Water – Use It Wisely offers links to WaterSense and many other helpful agencies to help you save water. Check out our Links and Resources page for details. Happy Holidays!

Here’s a great water saving tip: adjust your irrigation timer when the seasons change. Connie Speelman, from the Town of Queen Creek, one of our Arizona Regional Campaign Partners, explains to us that with cooler weather and lower evaporation rates, dialing your timer back is a good idea.

For more information, watch her interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3:

What is container gardening? Raymond Rees, from the Town of Fountain Hills, otherwise known as one of our Arizona Regional Campaign Partners, tells us about how containers that we have lying around the house can be used to house plants that will accent your home, yard, balcony or anywhere you’d like to add a little pizzazz with plants.

Here is his interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3 where you can learn more:

Stay tuned for the next segment of Water – Use It Wisely on TV!

Join us for another interview on “Your Life A to Z” on Arizona’s local Channel 3 to learn more about the Paradise Valley Xeriscape Demonstration Garden. Jake Lenderking and Sally Ceccerelli-Wolf from our Regional Partner, Arizona American Water, tell us about how a demonstration garden can help someone who is planting in their yard choose low water-use plants to beautify their landscaping. The demonstration garden has all sorts of different native plants that will grow and blossom with the seasons, and people can come take a look and get an idea of what their yard will look like if they chose a specific plant.

Furthermore, since up to 70% of your water use is outdoors, choosing a xeriscape landscape for your yard can help you conserve water and save on your utility bills.

Watch the interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3 here:

Our 136 gallon Water Tower Pyramid is making its debut at the Town Hall at Fountain Hills, AZ for the very first time!

It is set up in the rotunda just as you come in to the front entrance of Town Hall so you can’t miss it. If you haven’t seen this impressive structure before, you can take advantage of its time in Fountain Hills as it will be displayed for the whole month of November.

Check it out and get some important information on the amount of water you use each day and how you can reduce your use. Helpful tips can be found here.

Fall planting season is here! Leeann Spahos, from the City of Peoria (one of our Arizona Regional Partners), discusses the advantages of planting in the fall season and the types of low water-use plants that you can add to your landscaping easily and that will offer lots of attractive color to your yard.

Watch her interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3 here:

Stay tuned for the next segment of Water – Use It Wisely on TV!

Last Saturday, Water – Use It Wisely mascot, Wayne Drop, and Charlie “The Recycling Chimp” visited the City Hall at the Mall event at the Superstition Springs Mall in Mesa, Arizona.
Together they make a great pair because the more we recycle, the more water is conserved! Did you know that recycling one ton of paper can save 7,000 gallons of water?! Manufacturing a product from recycled materials takes a lot less water than the water needed for the same product made from raw materials.
Make Wayne Drop and Charlie happy by choosing to recycle and using water wisely!

How do you know if you have a leak in your home? The most common and easily fixed leak is the one in your bathroom… Your toilet! Watch this interview of our Arizona Water Partner, the City of Phoenix‘s Mary Lu Nunley, with host of “Your Life A to Z” Lisa Haffner as they talk about finding sneaky leaks in your home.

Don’t forget to take the Online Home Water Challenge! It’s a great how-to video on how to look for leaks and fix them, as well as other water saving tips and tricks.

Stay tuned for our next segment “Fall Planting with Color”!