Xeric Plant Spotlight -- Fernbush

Need a tough, western native, xeric shrub for hot, dry, difficult areas?

A go-to of ours in for these difficult, full-sun areas is a native of the West Slope/Colorado Plateau known as “Fernbush” (Chamaebatiaria millefolium).

Fernbush handles heat and low desert sun but is cold-hardy to Zone 4b. It needs no supplemental water once established. As the name suggests, the foliage is fern-like in appearance, and attractive even without the abundant sprays of white flowers that grace the stems from late June to early-mid August, sometimes earlier or later depending on weather and moisture. The flowers are very popular with native bees and honey bees, and also butterflies. The stems have good winter color. The plant is deciduous at altitude but evergreen in more mild, low desert valleys. The foliate buds are visible most of the winter, adding to interest. The foliage is pleasantly fragrant if brushed against. The plant can be sheared or left natural. It will mature typically to 5’ x 5’, but I have seen them as tall as 6’.

It’s durable, pretty, tough, and water-wise. A recommended plant for the Front Range. Consider adding fernbush to your landscape!

Photo property of Plant Select.

I have a few small ones left in my nursery, contact me if you would like to get one started for this spring! I can also get them in larger (harder to plant) sizes, we’re happy to plant for you.

We currently have these in #1 pots in their winter state.

Aeration and Dethatching -- Mostly Nope

This one gets me in trouble with equipment rental companies and lawn services that do a lot of aeration and dethatching. It also runs counter to the way grandad took care of his lawn. But I will say it anyway….

Very few average lawns with proper watering practices and mowing practices require either service. At all. Ever.

Compaction of soil serious enough to need mechanical aeration is almost always a result of overwatering. High traffic areas can be compacted, but typically, it goes hand in hand with overwatering, and soil that remains wet too long. Mechanical aeration typically does more harm than good. It brings weed seeds to the soil surface, and creates an uneven lawn over time, as the soil plugs break down and after several years begin to form bumps and ridges. It also disturbs the flora and fauna of the soil. It’s just not a great practice in the 719, and my experience is that it provides few tangible results. If dry soils are struggling to absorb water, wetting agents (like Revive) and humic acids are better solutions to improving water absorption, with the added bonus of helping to build soil structure as well. There are certainly situations that require aeration, but as a rule, it is not something that most lawns need every year, or require to be healthy. It should be more of a drastic remediation tool than an annual maintenance tool.

Dethatching is necessary only if poor mowing practices have left such a deep layer of dead grass and clippings on the soil that it begins to smother the grass underneath. Otherwise, even the woody stems will break down or be consumed by soil critters in a year or less. If drought or other stress has killed all the grass, dethatching the surface may help as a part of prep for new seed. Dethatching is a mechanical process that, like aeration, disturbs the top layer of soil and can bring weed seeds to the surface to germinate. It’s not a service that brings any tangible ROI in my opinion, at least not for most homeowners. If properly cut and cared for, your lawn that was dethatched will not be any better than your neighbor’s that wasn’t, by midsummer all other factors being equal.

Cut your lawn once a week, rake up any thick extra clippings the mulch mower leaves behind after especially wet weeks, and your lawn will not require dethatching.

While I am at it, I definitely suggest using the organic based dehydrated poultry waste fertilizers like Rick’s branded one, or Richlawn (available most everywhere). They contribute to better soil structure, are gentle on the soil, and do not contribute to forming mineral hardpan under lawns.

Tree Selection And Siting In The High Desert Of The Front Range

Trees — we love them, we need them, they are the backbone of a landscape, and they are a part of the solution to global warming. They are also VERY challenging to establish in our high desert climate, and can be the most expensive items we plant.

How, then, do we go about making good decisions when planting trees?

First and foremost, we need to study the site, and envision the future.

Plopping in a tree that we purchased as an impulse, into a site that has not been evaluated, is not a good recipe for long-term success. Too close to the house, under power lines, in a micro-climate that is not conducive — all very common, and a recipe for failure or for very poor growth.

What purpose will the tree serve? Is it meant to shade? As a windbreak? As a focal point of a landscape? For fruit? Important considerations all, if you are to select the right tree.

Is the tree drought tolerant? How fast does it grow? Does it handle alkaline soils? Will it be too exposed?

So many things to consider!

The best selection for any given site will be something that is adapted to our climate (which has been especially rough on trees the last 18 months), something that is sturdy, and that does not require conditions which we cannot easily provide here in Colorado. Siting is important. A poorly placed tree might provide very little summer shade, but very deep shade on a walkway or porch in the winter, causing ice to linger. A poorly placed tree might be exposed to our prevailing winds and become dessicated before it can become established. A poorly sited tree may need to be cut down just as it comes to maturity, because it presents a danger to homes or power lines.

Evaluate your site before planting or selecting a tree. What is the soil like? Does it hold water? How much sun does it get? Is it a safe distance from home and power lines? Does it provide room for a tree to reach maturity? Will it smother the rest of the yard someday?

Trees are worth planting. They really are. But they are an investment of time and love, so make sure you think through carefully the whole life of the tree, and its needs, to insure you plant a legacy that outlives you and brings you joy along the way!

The Days Of Bluegrass On The Front Range Are Numbered

Well, the title says it all. The days of lush bluegrass lawns on the Front Range are in their twilight, for a number of reasons that seem obvious, but maybe are not so obvious to newcomers to Colorado.

Bluegrass is a thirsty, heat-hating, shallow-rooted non-native that was never terribly well-adapted to the rigors of life in the high desert. It requires 2.5” of water per week or even more in sandy soils during the growing season. Its annual water requirement is 3x our normal annual average precipitation. Our prolonged drought and lack of summer monsoons in recent years have made these water requirements overbearing. Its root system is mostly in the top 6-10” of soil, with only a few roots on average going much deeper than that, leaving the plant susceptible to drought and high soil temps. Our soils tend to the alkaline side and make nutrient absorption more challenging for bluegrass, which requires an abundance of nitrogen to flourish. And as our temperatures locally get hotter each passing summer, we have left the comfort zone of bluegrass, which really begins to struggle when temps hit the high 80s, and shuts down when our temps hit the prolonged 90s that are becoming the norm in high summer.

As Colorado Springs experiences a growth boom, the amount of runoff (our vital water supply) in the Arkansas, South Platte, and West Slope watersheds upon which we rely has become more erratic and less reliable year after year, due to prolonged, recurring drought. As most long-term residents have learned, a hot, dry summer with water restrictions is generally the end of a sodded bluegrass lawn, as the grass slowly goes dormant and then dies due to high evaporation and low water. With an increasing population locally, this cycle becomes more important, as water restrictions become the norm, in order to preserve drinking water supplies for a growing population.

Even when it is possible to sustain lush bluegrass lawns here (our occasional cool, wet summer), is that really the best usage for a water supply that is so scarce, requires so much effort to move, and is taken away from streamflows, to the detriment of the watersheds? Even in our rainiest, most optimal summers, bluegrass requires irrigation.

As we face another likely dry, hot summer, this is a good time to ask yourself if there is a better way than bluegrass. Tall fescue is a more durable lawn, and though it also requires irrigation, it is more deep-rooted, heat-tolerant, and drought-tolerant than bluegrass. It’s really the best choice left for our changing climate if you must have a conventional lawn.

Native lawn substitutes like Buffalograss and some wheatgrass species also bear consideration, as they generally require few inputs and not much water. While not perfect, flawless turf, they do make a passable lawn once established.

Planting shrubs, trees, and flowers in place of lawn creates wildlife habitat, generally uses less water if well-planned, and also helps sequester some carbon pollution back to the soil. Trees in particular can change your whole landscape, cool your house in summer, and block winter winds, if sited correctly.

This subject is always a touchy one. Aficionados of verdant bluegrass lawns are not always receptive to the idea that such a lawn is completely out of place in this environment, and offers little in the way of habitat, carbon sequestration, or wise water use. But having been here for a very long time now, and having replanted the same bluegrass lawns over and over for the same people every time a drought does lasting damage, I am convinced that there is a better way, and that better way need not be a yard full of rocks!

Drought is the norm here. Those who plan for that norm typically have more successful landscapes. Just a basic fact of living in this beautiful but somewhat harsh place, where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, on the dry side of the Divide.

Fire Mitigation

After back-to-back years of extremely heavy rain, it looks like we may be on track to have a more "normal" Summer here on the Front Range of Colorado. That means we may go back to being more of a high desert environment than we have been for the last several years -- and that means fire will again be our ever-present uninvited guest here in Colorado, ready to crash the party at a moment's notice.

It's time to take fire mitigation seriously, and we have the expertise to help you do that.

Our staff fire mitigation expert, Steve Reyes, has a decade and a half of experience fighting wildland fire all across the country, especially here in Colorado. Steve understands what it takes to successfully reduce your fire risk to your property, and Peak Pro has the expertise to make it happen. Steve's experiences in fighting the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires give him a very intimate understanding of fire mitigation. That expertise can be put to work for you!

No one likes to think about fire mitigation, but fire is a way of life in this part of the world. It's never a question of whether or not fire will happen -- it is merely a matter of WHEN and WHERE.

Will you be prepared if the "when" is this Summer, and the "where" is somewhere close to your home?

Contact us today. Set up a free consultation. You owe it to yourself to be prepared.

 

Why an organic lawn?

Lush, green, barefoot grass in a beautiful, weed-free lawn, free of imperfections......

That's the goal, or so we are told.

Lawns are guzzlers of resources. From the copious amounts of water required, to the gasoline burned maintaining them, to the piles of chemicals (mostly petrochemical in origin) used to feed and weed them, nothing burns resources quite like a lawn.

Most likely, your lawn is not perfect anyway..... keeping a lawn perfect, weed and disease free, and lush and verdant...... it's not something everyone enjoys. Feeding the lawn properly is especially time and resource intensive.

Those bags of chemical fertilizers you buy at your local big box store are kind of like a the sugar rush a kid gets from junk food, only for your lawn. They are very concentrated and very water-soluble. This means not only are they absorbed super fast (sometimes too fast), but they are also prone to either run-off in heavy rain, or run through the soil after a few waterings. Worse, they kill biodiversity in your soil, making it harder for your soil communities of good organisms to do their thing. If used improperly, they can severely burn plants both from overfeeding, and dramatic pH swing. In our area, many fertilizers use some sort of ammonia compound as the primary source of nitrogen, which lawns use most heavily. This ammonia can react with our highly alkaline soils in unexpected ways. Sometimes, this nitrogen simply turns into a gaseous form, and evaporates right out of the soil.

Commercial weed-killers are, in our opinion, unsafe for most homes. Children, pets, adults of childbearing age, asthmatics, and really, most other folks, should not be in regular contact with weed-killers. These chemicals are all decidedly unsafe for any sort of regular exposure. If your kids ever plan to play on the grass, if you are going to mow the grass, if you have pets that live indoors but venture out, avoid weedkillers, weed and feed products, etc.. Is it really worth the exposure to these chemicals, simply to avoid pulling a few weeds? If you do spray for weeds, try spot-spraying only individual weeds, or difficult areas. Less is better.

Organic lawn nutrients have several advantages in our mineral soils. They help build soil structure, they are less soluble in water (and this less likely to run off or through), they release more gradually, so they feed longer, and spike the pH and nutrient levels less traumatically. They feed the soil microorganisms, which in turn helps better feed your grass. Best of all, they produce long-lasting, beautiful, verdant green results, a lawn that gets stronger and better over time.

When you think about it, organic is the easy, safe, and smart choice for lawns. Contact us today for a lawn assessment. Our "Sustainable Green" lawn program is very affordable, and is the best choice for a safe, green, sustainable lawn.

 

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Turf care starts now!

Spring is coming early this year.

Long-term weather forecasts indicate that the next few months will be above average in temperature. Cool-season grasses are already waking up here on the Front Range.

Healthy turf areas will have a few things in common: Deep roots, good soil structure, proper nutrient and water management.

Despite our heavy snow not that long ago, the warm and windy weather is rapidly wicking our precious moisture away. It is probably too early to start your sprinklers, but probably not a bad idea to begin watering the lawn with a hose and sprinkler. Early Spring is a critical time for lawn development. If the lawn is not healthy at this time, weeds will get an early start. In this unseasonably warm weather, a deep soak is good for the lawn..... maybe every couple of weeks, depending on your particular location, and soil structure.

Lawns struggle without additional nutrients in Colorado, but the nutrient need is heavily dependent on your management practices. Soil testing is a good idea. We will begin feeding turf areas in the next few weeks. A strong early push by your turf helps restrict and choke out the growth of annual weeds.

If you have heavy thatch build-up, or very poor soil, or water retention issues, consider top-dressing the lawn with compost. 

Want more tips? Contact us today to set up a no cost, no obligation consultation regarding your lawn, and how we can make it better. You will be glad you did!

jeff@peak-professional-outdoor-services.com