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• Water – Use It Wisely debuts new video series, “Tinkling with Ryan” – http://tinyurl.com/yzs7dqr #

Visiting a xeriscape, or low-water-use, demonstration garden is an excellent way to get new and innovative ideas for your home landscape. You won’t have to travel far, as many of the Water – Use It Wisely partners feature unique demonstration gardens located throughout the Valley. To see a list of over 15 demonstration gardens throughout Arizona, visit http://wateruseitwisely.com/region/arizona/links-and-resources/demonstration-gardens/

At xeriscape demonstration gardens, you’ll get the opportunity to see interesting plant combinations and plants at their mature size. Discover creative ways to use low-wateruse plants and conserve water resources and save money at the same time. Be sure to bring a notepad and camera, for your garden visit!

Many xeriscape gardens have signage and guided tours that can help you identify the plants. Visit the Glendale Xeriscape Demonstration Garden on Saturday, November 7th from 9 to 11 a.m. for a guided tour with Water Conservation staff and learn about the unique adaptations that allow water efficient plants to survive and thrive in the low desert. A listing of guided tours or workshops offered by the Water – Use It Wisely Partners can be found on our calendar.

Glendale Xeriscape Demonstration Garden

Peoria Desert Fusion Garden

Tempe Xeriscape Demonstration Garden

Chandler Xeriscape Demonstration Garden

Water – Use It Wisely invites you to check out its new video series, “Tinkling with Ryan.” The series provides regular entertaining takes on water conservation news and tips. In the first episode, Ryan shows you how easy it is to install a water-saving shower head. Believe me, if this guy can do it so can you.

• Catch the first episode of “Tinkling with Ryan” and learn how to install a water-saving shower head – http://tinyurl.com/yjve9ty #

The following is a guest blog feature courtesy of Conservation Covers…

To Pool Owners,

It always astounds me that the largest WASTES of water and electricity in the home are ignored. And by largest we really mean the largest – your pool.

By simply covering your pool you reduce pump and chemical usage by 75%, instantly reducing water evaporation to ZERO!! The swimming pools in California, Arizona and Texas lose its full volume of water every year through evaporation. A 20,000 gallon pool will evaporate 18,000 gallons throughout the year. Obviously, 18,000 gallons of water is extremely valuable yet its loss is usually ignored when we speak about droughts and water-saving measures.

Also ignored is the eight kilowatts of energy it takes to power the motors that filter a pool. Eight kilowatts a day is almost 3,000 kilowatts a year. By applying a pool cover, this kind of usage can be cut 70-80% because heat and light can’t enter the pool. That means the pool filter only needs to run for two hours a day instead of eight.

Pools are actually only used an average of one to two percent of all the hours in a year which means the potential for conservation is ENORMOUS! In Los Angeles alone, 2.7 billion gallons of water evaporate every year from pools and over a billion kilowatts are used for electricity. All these savings can be reached with a lightweight cover that can be removed in 3-4 minutes for swimming.

This is an important ecological matter that needs to be addressed. Everyone who is being asked to reduce their water usage by 15-20% could easily achieve that by simply covering your pool with a UV protected cover. Spread the word, and cover your pool!

Sincerely,

Conservation Covers

www.conservationcovers.com

Temperatures are going down and your landscape’s need for water is going down too. Adjusting your irrigation timer to match your plants’ seasonal water needs is an efficient way to save water while maintaining healthy plants.

Knowing how much water your plants need is as important as knowing how to program your controller. Why? Because more landscapes suffer from overwatering, not underwatering, especially in the winter. Plants need the least amount of water when the temperature is cool and evaporation rates are low. If your irrigation timer is programmed to deliver the same amount of water as it did in the summer months, your plants may be getting too much water! Figure out how long and how much to water your plants by utilizing the on-line Landscape Watering by the Numbers guide.

Not into reading instructions? Here is a smart option for you. Valley cities host various free workshops on topics such as programming your irrigation timer, plant care, plant selection, and installing and repairing your irrigation system. Visit the on-line calendar on the Water – Use it Wisely home page to see workshops that are available in your area.

Tomorrow, October 8, Guy  Laliberte, Founder of Cirque du Soleil and President of the One Drop Foundation is launching Moving Stars and Earth For Water, and online event to raise awareness of water-related issues. The event brings together personalities including former U.S. VP Al Gore, Dr. David Suzuki, U2 and Shakira to heighten awareness of water-related issues in a way only Cirque du Soleil could.

While the event will certainly be spectacular (and you can find out all the details about how you can participate here), visit Laliberte’s “One Drop Foundation” site and pledge a behavior that will make an immediate impact. The event might be tomorrow but water conservation is something you can pledge to do year round.

The fall planting season has arrived! Temperatures are cooler, and it’s a great time to replace plants you may have lost during the hot summer.

Why is fall planting so good for plants? Soil temperatures are still warm, encouraging root growth and development and allowing plants to get much better 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. Forget to water just one day in the summer, and 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.

Always plan before you plant!

Whether you are planting a single plant or an entire landscape, look at plant characteristics to make sure they will fit into the space you have available and to be sure it will perform the function you are looking for. Good planning is a worthwhile investment of time that will payoff with a more attractive, easy to maintain, and useful home landscape. Water – Use It Wisely Arizona partners have put together great information on local planting, called Plant Now for the Future that includes planting instructions, plant placement and other design ideas. Also be sure to explore the on-line calendar on the Water – Use It Wisely home page and find out about all of the fall landscape workshops going on in the Valley.

There are exceptions to fall planting. All bare root plants, including roses, pecan, and fruit trees are generally planted in late December or January when they are dormant. Palm trees and other tropical plants will do best if planted during the spring or summer. When you purchase plants for your home landscape, be sure to look for healthy, well-grown plants. Don’t forget to add 2-3 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 best results, but don’t forget local plant sales put on by botanical gardens or others. Here’s a list of upcoming fall plant sales:

• Master Gardener Fall Plant Sale – Oct. 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Office, 4341 E. Broadway Road in Phoenix. Contact them at 602-827-8200 x311 or http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/plantsale.htm
• Desert Botanical Garden Fall Plant Sale – Oct. 16 (members only), Oct 17 & 18 open to everyone. Contact them at 480-941-1225 or www.dbg.org
• Boyce Thompson Arboretum Fall Plant Sale – Oct. 9 – 25, located at U.S. Highway 60 in Superior. Contact them at 520-689-2723 or http://ag.arizona.edu/bta
• Local Nurseries – Your local nursery will often have fall promotions. Find your closest local nursery by visiting the Arizona Nursery Association Web site at http://azna.org/retail/

Don’t forget to plant seeds!

It’s also the time of year to plant seeds. Are you thinking of overseeding your bermudagrass? 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 and watering and limiting the areas. Find helpful details at the University of Arizona site at http://ag.arizona.edu/turf/tips894.html

Are you looking for carpets of golden poppies or spikes of violet lupines? 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 our free booklet, “Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert” or you can find information at the Desert Botanical Garden Web Site at www.desertbotanical.org/index.php/gardening/growingguides/ground/wildflowers.
Wild Seed, Inc., is one of our best local wildflower seed companies. Look for the seed at plant sales or your local nursery, or contact them at 602-276-3536.

What’s Happening in Vegas Isn’t Staying in Vegas

If you’re anywhere near Las Vegas Friday morning, and your interested in how to use online social media for water conservation, stop by the Southpoint Hotel and Conference Center for the WaterSmart Innovation Conference. I’m presenting my fishing analogy for deploying social media at 9 am.

The Water – Use It Wisely conservation campaign was one of the first in the water-saving business to have a focused, comprehensive strategy for online social media to share its 100+ ways to save water.

Here’s how we go fishing using social media:

1. We consider the Water – Use It Wisely website as our wharf where we process the fish we catch. In this case, the process is to offer a wealth of conservation information to consumers thirsty for content, including 100+ water-saving tips.
2. To get them to the wharf, we go trolling in the sea of prospects with our blog. We lure in folks with timely information on how they can start saving water and money now.
3. To reach as many people with our blog as possible, we cast the content through a number of social media fishing lines, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. And we make our content easy to share by including links to Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, MySpace and more.

You can review my entire fishing analogy social media presentation on SlideShare.

I am also looking forward to tailoring this presentation for the Texas Regional Water Conference in Fort Worth on Tuesday, November 11. For those of you attending that workshop, feel free to review my landing page, Sustainable Social Media 101, and send me any questions you have prior to the event. That way I can focus my presentation to your needs.

And whether you’re in Vegas or Fort Worth, be sure to stop by a say hello.

• WUIW daily tip- Listen for dripping faucets and running toilets. #
• WUIW daily tip- Use sprinklers for large areas of grass. Water small patches by hand to avoid waste. #
• WUIW daily tip- Use a water-efficient showerhead. #
• WUIW daily tip- Plant with finished compost to add water-holding and nutrient-rich organic matter to the soil. #
• WUIW daily tip- Use sprinklers that deliver big drops of water close to the ground. #