How can we reduce our water use and support local ecosystems? Easy, turf replacement, water wise landscaping and planting native gardens. It can seem like an overwhelming task for homeowners and businesses but there are many resources, tools and financial support. The end result are beautiful spaces that support the surrounding plants and animals and make people happier too.
On this episode of 2 Degrees Out West, we talk with two water wise landscaping experts, Maria Fox in Utah and Kate Larson in Colorado, to discuss the benefits of turf replacement and how you can get started.
Tune in today to learn how these programs are making a big difference.
Further Reading
• Check out the WRA Colorado turf replacement guide (https://westernresourceadvocates.org/publications/financing-the-future-how-to-pay-for-turf-replacement-in-colorado/)
• Learn more about the Resource Central Garden in a Box Program (https://resourcecentral.org/gardens/)
• Book a garden coach consultation with Maria Fox (https://www.time2growdesert.com/)
• Watch some Resource Central Water Wise Seminars (https://resourcecentral.org/seminars/)
• Learn more about turf replacement in Utah with Localscapes (https://localscapes.com/)
• Read about turf replacement efforts in Nevada (https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/could-las-vegas-s-grass-removal-policies-alter-western-us-drought-scape)
• Test your knowledge with our turf replacement quiz (https://westernresourceadvocates.org/wra-quiz-turf-replacement/)
Love the show and the climate solution work we’re doing every day with Western Resource Advocates? Become a sponsor of WRA and the 2 Degrees Out West podcast. Show your support for the land, air, water, and people of the West today! (https://westernresourceadvocates.org/corporate-giving-sponsors/)
2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates (http://www.westernresourceadvocates.org) , an environmental conservation organization that’s focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West?
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Thanks for listening. Let’s all work together to keep the West wild…
For the past few episodes we’ve been talking a lot about water in the west and what we can all do to help conserve water while we’re in this multi-generational drought so one of the most fun and pretty easy ways that you can help is by replacing your Turf so
What that means is taking out your grass and putting in plants that are going to support local pollinators and our native species to where you live today on the podcast we’re talking with Maria Fox and Kate Larsson about some helpful tips to create some water-wise landscaping and
To make your beautiful yard a Haven for native plants and animals you know there’s been drops in the past and there’ll be drops in the future making change now really allows you to be resilient to the changes of the future we all just need to do what
We can and this is really it’s a win it’s not hard to do and it’s fun and beautiful and and you add so much more vibrancy to your yard and to your community welcome to two degrees out west a podcast where we celebrate all of the incredible things about the western
United States where we also talk about how we can all work together to make sure that the West stays thriving beautiful diverse and amazing for future Generations I’m your host Jesse Janice the multi media Storyteller here at WR and let’s get started talking about Turf replacement today on the podcast we’re talking about
Turf replacement with Maria Fox a Utah Garden coach and owner of time to grow which works with the Utah local Scapes program and Kate Larsson program director for resource Central in Boulder Colorado hey guys hi hi thanks for having us yeah thanks for being here so
I’d love to have both of you kind of intro yourselves and tell us a little bit about your organization SL businesses and just the work that you’re doing if Maria you want to go first that would be awesome okay I’ve been a garden coach in Utah
For about three years uh I used to own a landscaping company back in the day for several years and I um learned that some of the major challenges that homeowners were having were to replace plants due to climate or they planted the wrong thing in the wrong location I’ve
Discovered that education is so much more important and then I do also I partnered with local scape here in Utah because I’m really passionate about waterwise Landscaping awesome we’ll get more into waterwise Landscaping in a little bit all right Kate are you ready yes I am I’m Kate Larson I’m the program director
For water and energy programs at a nonprofit called resource Central and we’re based in Boulder Colorado but really work kind of across the state and I’ve been with uh resource Central for almost 15 years and really just seen incredible growth growth and the interest in water conservation both in
Communities but then also just on an individual homeowner level our mission is to put conservation into action so everything that we do is very focused on boots on the ground you know one home at a time one business at a time reducing their dependence on non-renewable
Resources so we work in the areas of waste reduction and water and energy conservation in our water conservation programs we work with 47 different water providers in Colorado and we help them to implement water conservation programs at scale so you know we offer really large scale programs that many of them
Can sign on to and our focus is really on reducing outdoor water use through landscape change and efficiency so cool first I want to go into defining Turf replacement that might be a new term for some listeners I’m sure others of you are like I’ve already zeros scaped my
Lawn four years ago but you know make it accessible to all and just talk about water-wise landscaping and why this is really important whoever wants to Define Turf replacement that’d be cool and then maybe the other one can Define water-wise Landscaping I’ll go for the turf replacement because that’s something we
Do a lot of at resource Central you know we’re really focused on helping people take out a portion of their lawn and we focus really on areas that we call non-functional or non-essential Turf and so that’s really areas that people are not using not walking on their dogs
Aren’t playing their kids aren’t playing on it it’s just ornamental and really there’s lots of plants that you could put in place of that that use a lot less water through our programs you know we’re really focused on again taking out high water Landscapes and that’s usually ends up being Kentucky Bluegrass and
Replacing it with Native or adaptable plants cool I want to do that all right Maria you mentioned water-wise Landscaping before so I feel like this is perfect I actually sent out this question to my social media followers and it was interesting I have to say that about I dare to say
60% this is what they said long is easier because you have to do less weeding and it’s cheaper to install I had few that said that they just can’t afford to replace it I had few that said they don’t want to kill plants because they have no idea what plants work and
Don’t work some that said that the HOA gives them a lot of problems and you know stops them from wanting to do it and less attractive and we’re talking here about how it is a mind said that for some reason it is less attractive and you know it’s all about I had one
Say the word is just the jumble of plans we do need to design it properly we need to plan appropriate plans so we doesn’t look like just a wild forest but I still come back to there needs to be more education more understanding more of of
Shift in the way we think about plant and our and our environment yeah and just a follow-up question to that just thinking about it in my mind too like when we’re talking about native plants too it is so cool for the ecosystem right because it is better for the
Pollinators better for the like other plant species and animal species that thrive in these climates too right so then you’re really helping to strengthen the ecosystem that is native here which is it’s such a win-win your lawn’s beautiful it’s thriving and then every everything around it happy right yeah
Absolutely and I that’s something we hear from people who have who have done these landscape conversions we hear all the time they’re just in awe of the bees and the butterflies and the birds that are suddenly in their yard and they love going outside and and seeing pollinators
Taking advantage of of their new Landscapes great for pollinators but it’s also great for people and people just love it yeah I’m always trying to get cute photos of bees on my dandelion I’m like yes look at them me too I just got in my garden for the
First time like a two weeks ago you know it’s the it’s the first time this spring it’s been warm enough to like get outside and just do a little bit of clean up and kind of and it was so funny cuz I was like finding toads finding bees finding
Butterflies and it really spoke to my soul because I’m like everything’s already out like we’re transitioning to Spring but of course on the dayto day when I’m just rushing around in my life I don’t take the time to see all of that so yeah it was just kind of one of those
Beautiful moments when I’m like oh yes the creatures have returned they are like Awakening so I wanted to get into just this idea of why people are into Lawns I feel like it’s a whole big issue right I think a lot of people are kind of hesitant to get rid of their
Lawns and they think it looks really beautiful and clean so I just want to talk a little bit about like why do you guys think there’s that hesitation and why should we overcome that fear of getting rid of our Lawns so I really think that Lawns are
Cultural they’re kind of baked into the way we grew up I think almost everyone has you know foundational memories playing in grass or you know sitting in grass and and really so you know for my generation and generations before mine it’s it’s part of sort of the fabric of
This American way of life and so you know it really needs to be a paradigm shift across the board and I think that you know kind of changing the idea that green you know large expanses of Green Lawn are a sign of abundance and prosperity and so we need to just
Present an alternative vision for that and we really need to get you know cities and HOAs and business parks to really convert their green spaces and we need to reflect this new standard of what a beautiful landscape should look like and can look like and even you know individuals in neighborhoods can you
Know can do that as well by converting their front yards you know I think so many people decide how their yard should look by looking at their neighbors there’s this kind of you know comparison happening a lot and so I think that you know the more we get these conversions
Happening the more it’s going to change that mindset and it might take a generation for you know for it to really be like what does abundance look like and what does prosperity look like in the landscape but I think we can get there and I think that it’s just going
To take you know everyone kind of doing their part and to reflect uh the the new landscape of the future yeah the whole you know white picket fence like two dogs beautiful grass really is in our cultural sight guys so strongly like we just have this vision of that is Success
Right like you were saying that is prosperity so I love that idea of reframing and being like actually abundance and prosperity and a beautiful space looks pretty different right than this idea of The Lawns yeah absolutely and you know if you just think about you know driving into an HOA and rather than
It you know having the sign out in the front when you’re driving in and this and grass all around it if you have you know a more local appropriate landscape will take a little bit of time but I think people will just begin to associate the and they’re beautiful the
Kinds of Landscapes we’re talking about like Maria was saying we’re not talking about rocks and very like AER Landscapes like these are abundant flowering beautiful landscapes with lots of interest in rocks and interesting things to look at and I think that you know we just need to see more examples of that
And and just change the the mindset yeah and I think one of the coolest Parts about it is is that personalization you know is finding your style and your Vibe and being able to really tailor your landscape instead of the same kind of you know just basic
Yard that’s not really giving back and isn’t that visually appealing Maria I was wondering if like if you did find that it was more time and more money to do this Landscaping because I I feel like it’s probably not like I’ve planted a bunch of native plants and every year
Some come back some don’t some are doing better than others and it’s like cool to watch that process and then I scatter some more seeds and watch it grow you know and some things do better yeah just in my experience I feel like it has hasn’t been harder to maintain that versus a
Lawn as far as maintenance I I personally think if it’s in Done Right definitely not more maintenance I I’m on an acre and when we bought our home it was just grass it was just long and we are now down to 30% and the rest are
Just plants and we’ve mulched I I still hate mowing my 30% lawn because it’s something I have to do uh but I so enjoy the rest as far as money yes you may have a little bit more money that you’re spending to install your plants and your
Drip system but there’s a lot of money that involves in it you know sprinklers when you’re doing grass so I don’t think that portion of it is going to be different I think the challenge is when people maybe have an existing landscape and they are faced with oh so now I have
To pull all this out and get rid of it and start from scratch and it’s just time and money of course and it’s just a lot of effort on the homeowner side when they can just leave the grass and you know water it and occasionally feed it
And just mow it so but I have seen examples and I know we we have what’s called local Escape here in Utah and they have a website localcast Le since the beginning of 2011 trying to teach and educate homeowners here in Utah of and give them the
Examples and people can go on their website and and at the end of the day it’s not more work it’s not more money it’s and it’s so much better for our environment and and uh we do get that biodiversity that that is just not there otherwise yeah and I think that there’s
Water-wise landscapes for everyone you know some people like that very like clean and manicured look and I’ve seen lots of examples where it’s modern and uh you know really Embraces a very clean aesthetic and then there’s people who love that jumble kind of Cottage Garden
Look and feel and and so there’s a place for that too and I think that the more we can do to show examples of of things that fit you not Everyone likes the same thing and not everyone and so we have to make sure that we’re presenting options
For people that just fit their taste so I think that you know storytelling and just showing examples of other homeowners just like you or other communities just like yours and you know here’s what they were able to do that’s something that resource Central has
Tried to do a lot of you know we have a website called waterwise yards. org that is just what we call like an inspiration Hub so it’s people who have gone through these um conversions submitting pictures of their projects and you know talking about how much money they spent how much
Time it took them their level of landscaping knowledge going into it and then you know giving little description or advice to people so so that you know homeowners can say you know okay this is someone who had $500 in two weekends I have $500 in two weekend I can do
Something like this but without those kind of examples and opportunities to hear from other people it’s really hard to say you know you should do this when people don’t have a good sense of what it’s going to look like and I will say you know talking about money there’s a
Whole sector of the economy that is based around caring for turf or caring for lawns I mean you think about and we’ve all seen the commercials of you know fertilizers and weed killers and mowers and you know you go into a hardware store it’s a whole section of
The hardware store so there really is you know a an economy and it’s not it’s not without its cost to have have a a lawn and I always think of a homeowner that you think about weeding anyone’s had a dandelion infestation that they don’t want some people love dandes in
Their yard but that they don’t want you know someone with was saying they spent you know hours and hours hand pulling dandelion out of their yard and that was just the moment that they were like I’m done with grass and so I think that it’s just a different kind of of work outside
It’s not you know putting gas in your gas powered mower and pushing it around the yard or you know air rating or fertilizing it’s it’s weeding and and so it’s just you know a different or deadheading or things like that so it’s just a different kind of effort and I
Think that it’s just again take people a little bit of time to get used to it but I hear all the time that once their Garden is established they’re spending a lot less time you know it’s usually a weekend you know at the beginning middle and end of of the Season kind of
Cleaning up their beds but that they’re not out there every week doing bowing yeah and as I was saying before like I think it’s so much better personally because then when you are doing those three weekends you know uh season you have your hands in the dirt right it’s
Not that you’re just like spraying it with fertilizer and then pushing a mower around you’re holding your plants touching your plants like weeding like in the bed seeing how many worms are in there seeing all the different bugs and like Critters and I just feel like it’s
A way cooler experience right a way more um immersive experience that lets you feel connected that I find really powerful yeah it’s much more intimate with your plants you know you’re really getting to know them versus you know just mowing it down kind of there’s a whole thing about horiculture therapy
And that’s not talk the whole lot about it but I’m from overseas I’m from Sweden and and it’s interesting for me I’ve been here for 21 years and it’s been interesting for me to see how well I hate to use the word but the lack of
Interest in of the nature but there is so much power so much healing done in nature and like like you guys are saying that you know there is a difference between having your hands in the soil versus pushing a lawnmower there’s a we can talk hours about that and it but but
You have to once again experience it to understand the value of it yeah I wonder too do you guys ever run into you know people who are like oh I have a black thumb I just am no good at this like I couldn’t have a garden because I don’t
Really know where to start and do you have any experience like turning those folks around and showing them that they can do it yeah I actually hear it all the time too and that’s actually one of the things I do here quite frequently when I’m out in the Homeowner’s uh backyard
That’s what they say I kill everything and then they want suggestions on new plants and and based on you know the level of comfort like how comfortable the the homeowner is I will suggest plants that I know are a little bit harder to potentially kill and that’s
Another thing that you know if you’re not if if you feel insecure you’re not you’re worried then let’s just start with plants that are more tolerant and that that are easier to grow and and this boosts self-confidence and with the self-confidence comes that you want to plant other things and so I firmly
Believe that nobody has a a black thumb I don’t believe that I I do believe it’s just a little bit of Education I’ve had experiences with clients where I went in I had this cute teacher lady who wanted a Rose Garden she just she was on a small property and
She had just a handful of roses and she just said they just never do great for me and this was a couple of years ago and I just uh showed her you know taught her how to take care of these roses and she just keeps texting me ever she sends
Me these messages of look at my beautiful roses look at how you know she’s just so excited that she is able to maintain it and that’s what it’s all about it’s teaching so that people can feel empowered to take care of their own yards their own green
Spaces I hear that all the time so we have a program called Garden in a box where we sell pre-planned Garden kits so that people get a plant a planting and care guide and a plant by number map that is designed by local landscape designers and we hear all the time
That you know people are like I’ve never been able to keep anything alive and this I’ve been able to keep alive so you know I think that for us we really try to make it so easy for people to get experience with perennial plants and low water landscaping and you know many of
Them are 100 square feet so it’s very doable and so we have people that are coming back year after year and taking out a larger and larger portion of their yard but you know we we’re kind of starting at a manageable amount and we’re giving people all of the knowledge
And tools that they need to keep them alive and so I think that there’s probably lots of programs like that in communities outside of Colorado but I think that is a big piece of this is that people are scared no one wants to kill a plant that never feels good and
So sometimes people are hesitant to to jump into it but there’s so I mean increasingly more and more resources but already right now there’s there’s a lot of resources out there that that help people to navigate you know how to take care of water-wise Landscapes and obviously that’s what Maria does for for
Her job and so there’s uh you know hopefully there’s people like that in Colorado that are really helping people to to make that shift and and keep things alive yeah and I think too there’s a lot of people who are well-intentioned and want to get into gardening right and they go to their
Local Nursery or maybe they’re just their their local you know Walmart or Home Depot cuz that’s what’s available to them and those plants aren’t necessarily the right plants right and then they just look really briefly they’re like okay partial shade Sun you know like I definitely was one of those
People back in the day that you’re just like how much water does it need how much sun does it need sure plant it I feel like that really sets people up for failure in a lot of ways like for sure and you’re just kind of picking things
Ver based on if they look good in the store right which is not yeah which is just not how they’re going to look in your yard necessarily and how they’ll work there so it’s really cool that you have these resources on your website Kate about the different plants for
Colorado and then Maria that you’re out there guiding people to use the correct plants I love that yeah I hope that people listen to this and get inspired and feel like take agency and get in their Gardens and there is like such an amazing sense of Pride I mean maybe some
People feel that way about their their lawn but I see it all the time with people with L water Landscapes just you know they they feel so much pride when their neighbors walk by and say I love your garden I love seeing what’s what’s blooming they just feel like just so
Different about it because it’s a real showpiece of of their hard work and I will take this as an opportunity to make a plug for local nurseries there there are so many amazing small local nurseries out there who have really diverse and a wide variety of native and adaptable plants and really
Knowledgeable workers and so I you know if you are interested or looking to to get into low water Landscaping that is a great place to start you know because there’s there’s many issues with buying plants at at big box stores and you know a lot of them are treated with chemicals
That aren’t good for pollinators and are you know are linked to pollinator decline so really kind of being selective and voting with your money about the kinds of of plants that you want in your yard and there’s amazing local Nursery resources yeah that actually is true and another issue that
I have come across a lot is actually people saying well I Googled it and it said I could plant this plant but it died and I’m like yes because you’re probably finding something on Google from maybe Florida and we don’t have Florida environment and so once again
We’re back to to educating but I have to give a plug to all the universities I mean if you go to your local University extension like we have ut state extension they have so much information for homeowners to whether it’s plant selection or you know they provide Master Gardener classes and and I’ve
Been through all these classes just so that I know what’s out there um and I I’m sure it’s the same way whether in your Colorado or Nevada doesn’t matter what state you’re in there are resources out there we just need to find the resources that are local for us and for our
Environment yes I will make a similar plug to the Clara State University extension office they’re just a great resource and we recommend people go to them all the time they have a Master Gardener program where they’re there to answer plant questions and to help people really find resources and and
Things that work for them yeah we have University of Nevada Reno here and same deal they have a really cool extension program and plant sales and the desert farming Institute so many cool things and then also our local Arboretum is a great resource as well they’re always doing plant sales and
Workshops and classes so it’s definitely it’s definitely out there our local one of our local nurseries Rail City is amazing and I’ve taken so many classes there too and they’ll just do free classes which is so rad I took a really cool hoop house building one pretty
Recently if there’s not a direct person you can hire or maybe a nonprofit like resource Central start googling yeah like Garden class near me farming class near me vegetable class hoop house and you will find those people in your area that can give you all that knowledge or
Just go bother the people at the local Nursery I mean not bother that’s their job yeah yeah yeah absolutely and exactly that’s what they’re there for yeah they love to talk PL and I will you know resource Central has a free open to the public webinar series that I was
Just hosting one last night about uh water-wise irrigation so anyone in any state can you know can come and and learn about the basics of water-wise landscaping so I’ll you know encourage people to to look um at our website for for those there’s going to be quite a
Few throughout the summer but there’s I know there are so many classes you know local and more National that that really help people find out where to get started also when we’re talking a little bit about the expenses there’s also a lot of turf buyback programs I think there’s one in
Both Utah and Colorado right there is in Utah y Utah actually the state has quite a bit of money I mean millions of dollars to help homeowners to replace their Turf the unfortunate right now is that for the homeowner to get access to these funds they have to be in a city
Where the city is following the the rules the regulations so that they can receive this funding and and not all cities in Utah are on board that’s the unfortunate but there’s a big chunk that are and so and they just raised it from I believe $1 a square foot to $3 a
Square foot the the buyback amount yeah we’re actually going to be doing a series in Salt Lake about that that on May 1st I think we start the waterwise programming so that’s really that’s really great do you know have you helped home owners go through that process before Maria like getting the
Buyback I have not I’ve um guided them where to go on the website but I have not helped them like I said there’s I I’m I go all over the northern part of Utah and there’s not a whole lot of cities that are part of these rebate programs yet hopefully with the
Expansion of the program and more funding more cities can get into it I really yeah I hope that I know here in Nevada Vegas is a really big Turf replacement spot but Reno is not as much and it’s just I think we have less Turf because we’re higher elevation and it’s
Dump snow on us all the time and I know for Vegas they’re very conscious of their their Turf so it’s just a little bit of a different vibe but yeah I mean the more we can get that ornamental Turf out of here the better it’s going to be
So how about in Colorado Kate yeah so we were very excited last year there was a bill passed to provide Statewide funding for trf removal which was a great step in the right direction it just is a two-year funding bill so this is the the first year so there are a lot of
Programs and similar to what Maria was saying about Utah it’s really dependent on the city and what their take on turf removal if they have a turf removal program or not so some of them have you know a CCH for grass program like a dollar per square foot or things like
That and then resource Central we work with about 20 different water providers to implement our lawn replacement program and we take a little bit of a different approach to it in that we’re not providing a financial rebate we’re actually helping with the work so through our program a homeowner can use
A city incentive to pay for us to come out and physically remove their lawn so we take it out and we haul it away and compost it and then they also can use the incentives for low water plants through our garden in a box program and
What we found is that kind of combining those two things like we’re going to do the most physically demanding part of this job for you we’re going to take out your Turf you’re going to be left with a bare dirt patch that you can plant into and then also pairing that with Garden
In a box then people get a design and the plants and so it really does a lot of the project for them and so we’ve seen a lot of growth and interest in that program over the last few years and you know particularly with this additional Statewide funding you know
More and more homeowners are going to be able to participate in it but I you know I think funding is really one of the biggest challenges of implementing turf removal because a lot of you know the way that it works is cities providing you know buying down the cost of these
Conversions and then you know if you look at HOAs and Commercial properties and Municipal properties when they’re looking at Acres of conversion that bill really really adds up that’s really where a lot of the ornamental or non-functional turf is you think about you know business parks that might have
Like five acres of Kentucky Bluegrass and how much water they could save by converting that to a native grass but the finances aren’t quite there yet yeah it reminded me that they do offer like there are a few other programs here in Utah like they’ll pay for your smart
Controller if you replace your existing to a Smart controller flip your strip that’s been actually very popular because it’s a smaller area and people feel like it’s doable so there are some rebates to flip your strip and then local scape has also created an opportunity if people design their yards
According to their recommended design which is you know having this Central Open maybe lawn or it doesn’t have to be a lawn but this Central open place in the center and all your other functional areas are around it anyway so if you follow their guidelines you can
Get funding there too so so there are there are some things going on I mean Washington County Weber Basin the Central Utah water district all these have their own programs as well so there is money out there and a lot of times people don’t know how to get to it and
And so that’s another thing that we need to be educating people how to get to these resources the money that’s there yeah and then the flip your strip is that like your sidewalk grass strip cool I don’t even have sidewalks where I live so but they’re not a problem I’m real
Yeah they’re huge wasters of water because they’re really hard for a normal sprinkler system to water so they’re like notorious for overspray and overwatering so yeah this year we have one of our garden in a boxes is called curbside charm and it’s targeted at those sidewalk strips are there any
Plants that you guys really recommend for your state that you’ve just been like oh man this plant does well every time it’s beautiful people love it or a couple plants that you would say if someone’s like okay I live in Colorado or I live in Utah and I want to get
Started is there a couple you would just say are a good good thing to start looking at well it depends if we’re talking trees or shrubs I mean if it was trees I would really recommend crab apple trees and people get oh I don’t want that mess on my property but the
Varieties that they sell now they have persistent fruit so crab apple apples on them in other words they stay on the tree and the birds take care of it in the winter time and it is so fun to just watch the the wildlife during the winter
And they do really well here in Utah in our climate in our soil if we look at shrubs lilac does really well here and once again people have this notion that oh I don’t want that big thing like my my Grandma had in her backyard there are
So many fun new hybrid varieties that you know only get three to 5 feet tall and wide but I have to say I perennials are just um the native perennials are just awesome and they don’t necessarily have to be native in order for them to do well but you’ve got echas you’ve got
The Hardy salvas aaki or aachi I don’t know how to say it but there’s a lot of you know the hummingbird mint there’s a lot of perennial that do really well here in Utah oh man I want a giant lilac like bring it on how big can it get I
Don’t think it would survive here but well there is one that you need to look into it’s called scent and Sensibility and it only gets 2 and 1 half feet tall and about 5et wide and it reblooms nonstop throughout the season it’s not just in the spring but it’s
Gives you flowers the pink flowers all season long that sounds beautiful yeah so I’ll just kind of talk about some so I recommend that people go and look at the Garden in a box plants they’re all sold out for for this year but they’re going to be back in June for our late
Summer sale but you can still go online and look at all the gardens and look at all the plant list and really all of those plants you know Maria was saying this earlier but really we focus on picking plants that we know do really well um in in Colorado and are easy to
Grow and easy to establish but a few of my favorites so I’m a huge Poppy fan so there’s some really great poppies that do really well in Colorado and they’re just such like a beautiful pop of color in your yard let me think about so some
Other ones I also am a very large cone flower or eonia fan I just love the kind of ConEd Center and just the texture of it is is really beautiful also you know there’s quite a few different kinds of penens that I’m fans of and really attract a lot of ease and butterflies
And hummingbirds in the garden in a box kits we often have you know Pine Leaf penam in things like that and then my all-time favorite plants which is very basic you know but I love blackeyed Seasons um I just again the the color and the the black center with the bright
Yellow flower is is whenever I see them they just make me happy I’m almost surprised you guys didn’t say Lupin because that’s like native and everywhere but no not as much in Utah nope no Lupin does not do well here in Utah people try and some few
Succeed hm maybe it’s better in like I’m in higher elevation so like that’s one of the first plants I see pop up in the spring you know it’s so beautiful I love it all the different colors we have Pas flower um that’s also one of my favorites it’s like it blooms before
Even my tulips Bloom my passlow comes out and all of us at resource Central you know big plant lovers and and we all just gush about our passlow when they start coming up so it’s it’s definitely like one of the first pops of color they’re this beautiful kind of like my
Kids love it because the the leaves are kind of furry and it’s a beautiful purple flower one one thing that is quite interesting too is I was thinking about Yaro as well um some of the plants that Kate was mentioning that some people say oh no that’s evasive if I plant a Yaro
It’s going to take over my yard yes in some states that might be the case but where we are in a dry dry climate no it does not it gets big but it will not reced itself as easy because we just don’t have the moisture for it to become
Evasive so that’s important too to remember that it might be evasive in on the East Coast but it’s not evasive here on the West Coast and vice verse yeah I have a a little bit of yard in the front of my property I have two acres uh that’s where like my kids swing
Set is you know that’s our little our little bit of grass and when I bought the house I had already there was a stand of Yaro just in the middle of the yard you know just doing its thing I don’t know how it got there when it got
There but I like it was like seeing an old friend you know I’m like I love that you’re just here in this yard by yourself doing this you know and every year it comes back and it’s just so happy and it even handles my son driving
Over it and his like little you know plastic ATV that he has it doesn’t even care it’s like I’m I’m just hanging out it’s a great plant yeah I love Yaro and there’s just so many different varieties of it some of our past Gardens have had like a really beautiful red Yaro it’s
Yeah I feel like it’s an unsung hero of the the waterwise Plant World yes I feel like we’re all way more cognizant of climate change now right like that’s become a bigger thing for all of us and I think so some people they might get overwhelmed and think like oh is this is
Changing to native plants and reducing the turf really going to make that big of an impact you know I think it’s easy to get Deus about it and just feel like uh but I wanted your thoughts about it and maybe also some of your success UC
Stories of like how you feel yeah it’s awesome and we should be doing it I’ll start so I mean I think that planting a water-wise garden or or doing a Turf conversion it’s the same thing as recycling like you know you you have to take personal action and personal
Responsibility for creating a future that is going to be livable for you know your kids and my kids and so I think that you know if you get overly caught up in you know if I don’t recycle this container you know is it really going to make a difference and if everyone
Thought that way then there really wouldn’t be any change and so it’s that you know think Global act local and so I think that doing Turf conversion is really the best thing that people can do on a really hyperlocal level to conserve water and everybody is going to need to
Do their part because in the west our demand is really you know outpacing Supply and so this is in our lifetime you know that there is going to be a big change in the amount of water that we’re going to be able to use on an individual
Basis and I think outdoor watering is really the lwh hanging fruit of water conservation still and and I will say the other thing that we’ll see is the price of water will continue to rise it’s not going to go down anytime soon and so you know being personally you
Know resilient and saying you know I can’t continue to put so much water down because in five years or in 10 years the cost of that water is going to be so high that it’s you know going to continually eat into my monthly budget and then also you know no matter where
You live in the west eventually a drought will come for you you know it’s it’s not a matter of if it’s a matter of when you know there’s been droughts in the past and there’ll be droughts in the future making change now really allows you to be resilient to the changes of
The future in 2002 Colorado had had a really devastating drought and there was a ton of landscape loss because there was so much high water landscape out there you know by planting drought resilient plants now that means that when there is an inevitable drought in in your community you’re not going to be
Experiencing that landscape loss you know whether or not you know your individual action is you know immediately going to be changed to solving a problem about climate change I think that we all just need to do what we can and this is really it’s a win
It’s not hard to do and it’s fun and beautiful and you add so much more vibrancy to your yard and to your community by by doing a project like this and so to me it’s just a win-win across the board yeah I have to agree with Kate in every aspect you know it’s
Interesting I’ve seen a lot of frustrated homeowners that say why do we have to cut back on our water usage when farmers are wasting big businesses or or corporate offices they’re wasting the water and why is it always us and and yet it’s interesting that in in America
83% of all the land is owned by the private individual we have 40 million Acres of turf throughout United States and when you stop and think about the amount of turf grass we’re trying to take care of and and the drought is not just here in the west we are seeing it
Happening all over the world Europe is struggling with with drought and so to stick our head in the soil that we dug and say it’s not my problem or it’s not going to make a difference whether I make the change or not you know that that’s just hiding for a for very
Temporarily because it’s going to affect and unfortunately as Kate brought up that water is going to be expensive some sometimes reality doesn’t hit till it hits our wallets and so maybe it’s better if we are ahead of the game rather than being forced to something that’s not going to be pleasant and when
That does happen I mean I know throughout Utah they are putting in water meters every city is now mandated to put water meters on all outdoor watering and so we’re all going to be paying for it whether it’s install or whether it’s watering our grain luscious wwns that we want so desperately yeah
And this can get into a whole other thing about the Colorado River and how much we are all on that River most of us using that that Watershed and uh yeah how difficult it is and how it’s just continued to deplete so so speaking of waterwise I mean there’s so much we can
Do when it comes to buying the proper plants but the best way to take care of what we have and to avoid weed nightmare as I call it is to install drip system so having drip system irrigation and what you’re doing is you are putting the
Water right on that plant and all the other like right around that plant it’s going to be dry after all we are in a drought most of the time and so when there’s no moisture you don’t have any weeds growing and that water goes directly to the plant so your plant
Flourishes while your weeds eventually dry out so having a waterwise landscape is not just having water-wise plants but also having a waterwise irrigation system and also planting plants that have the similar needs you know not planting water Hogs right next to one that is is more drought tolerant because
We just want to have an environment where they’re working together but also helping each other basically creating a microclimate in our personal Gardens and resource Central runs an irrigation auditing you know like sprinkler inspection program with over 20 different water providers in Colorado and I know that Utah has a a very
Similar program so there are Community Resources that sort of help people do like sprinkler checkups and learn about your sprinkler system and identify you know common problems and really help you dial in your watering there’s a lot of of really good resources out there for people as well I know here locally where
I live we have a wrinkler supply is just a local business that sells irrigation and this particular company you know they’ve got branches everywhere but they’re so awesome with their customer service you’ll go in and you’ll say okay this is what I’m planning to do or
Trying to do could you guys help me and so my recommendation is is to find local businesses that do specialize in irrigation and not once again go to those big box doors where you’re kind of left on your own you know because there’s just no professional help to be
Able to guide you so find local resources but I do know also like local scape and Utah State Extension they have information about it online for us here in Utah anyway that we can find those resources as a guide yeah this is going to be one of my big projects this year
Is I put in my Irrigation in 2020 and I felt like it was never watering equally and it wasn’t it was just like not working you know so I’m going to go through and like pull that all out and then rethink of like how I set it up also my water pressure because
I’m on a well so that’s a little rough but yeah I’m gonna tackle it guys it’s worth it you can do it we believe in you thanks thing we could just end on is there any other tips or tricks you just want to mention before we close out I
Want to bring up the options of removing lawn that’s a big question too people have how do I remove my lawn you know do I take a shovel out there and do one piece at a time and there are actually few ways that people can get rid of
Their lawn they can use a s cutter which I personally think is the easiest you do have to rent a machine and run it and it is a little physical demanding but it is the best way but then you have to see if you can either recycle it or the saw
That has been removed take it to green waste you can till some people till some people solarize and then there’s the new sheet mulching the the lasagna method that some people use which is basically putting a cardboard on your lawn and then mulching it really heavy and
Allowing it to break down and eventually your grass dies like the roots actually die because is lack of oxygen and and sunshine so so yeah there are a few ways that but that one needs a little bit more patience because it takes about a season to do the the sheet mulching but
There are a few ways that we can remove our Lawns it is a physical intense sometimes but it is very rewarding as we’ve been discussing yeah the sheet mulching is what I did for where my garden is now which was great I just yeah I threw down cardboard threw down
Mulch didn’t you know I’m in a desert climate so it doesn’t take much to kill things out here and then I just planted my raised beds over it you know just built them right over it and now I have a garden one thing that I really would
Like to add and that’s mulching if you want waterwise Garden applying at least three to four inches of real good compost organic like not organic necessarily but organic matter mulch is so vital for plants because they retain the moisture and also suppress weeds so we not only are looking for drought tolerant plants
Or or semi you know drought tolerant plants we are looking for good drip system irrigation but we also want to mulch 3 to four Ines and if we have this this is what I call the perfect well nothing is perfect in gardening but we’re setting ourselves up for success
But if we miss one of the steps we could have some struggles but having the drip system and mulching around our plants really helps for the plants to succeed do you mulch right after you plant them regardless of what time of year back in the day I would always mulch in the fall
Right to capture all that winter moisture but I feel like I’m doing it wrong I feel like I need to mulch maybe spring and fall well yes exactly so we mulch in the spring because we want to give them that buffer for them to retain the moisture and then in the fall so
That giving them the the buffered from the cold so there are different reasons why we mulch ideally we get hold of a mulch that we don’t have to reapply a so often and that’s another thing I get my mulch from a local green waste place and that mulch is really it’s 100% green
Waste and it’s really heavy and thick and I don’t have to mulch more than every other year so so it also depends on the mulch oh I just want to say one other good hack I have an arborous friend and we just have a like a relationship now
Where he’ll just come and dump mulch in my acreage and I’m like whenever you want bud just come on drive back here you know because it’s good for him and it’s good for me and I’ve got the space so reach out to your local arborist and
See if maybe they’re trying to get rid of some and I guess maybe landscaping companies too I wouldn’t be surprised if they have extra what’s your last tip Kate just get started you don’t have to do your full landscape all at one time you don’t have to rip out all your grass
Or your whole front yard so I would just really look at areas that aren’t doing well that it’s hard to grow grass um areas that you are just your problem spots or places that you don’t spend time or you don’t walk or play and you know start with 100 square feet you can
Kind of convert larger sections over time but I think that just getting started is the the most important thing and also you don’t have to go It Alone there are so many people that are off offering support no matter where you live so really look around for local
Resources funding uh advice and connect with the support system because there are lots and lots of people who it’s their job to to kind of help homeowners and businesses and Commercial properties to make these these changes and pick plants that you love I think that you know really falling in love with this
Landscape is one of the the the joys of it and so really think about how you want to engage with with your landscape and what you want to attract in terms of pollinators or local Wildlife but to me I just think that getting started is is the most important
Thing yes don’t be afraid to just jump in I’ll just like end on this little story I was like having a rough day the other day and I went to go get my mail and I was you know just in that that moment where like everything was just
Harder that day you know and then was walk into my mailbox I just see a little like salmon pink tulip sticking out and I have a an irrigation ditch in the front of my house and it was like on the edge of the ditch like falling into it
Was like the worst placement for it but it was just thriving and beautiful and had bloomed I was like thanks tulip like you just made me stop for a second and realize like everything’s not terrible and here you are like in this worst place ever being beautiful so I love
That that’s like one of my favorite Vibes of plants they can just really turn it around for you exactly thank you so much Kate and Maria for joining me to talk all about Turf replacement and native plants it really was such a fun way to spend an hour of
My day if you’d like more information on Kate lson or Maria Fox and the work that they’re doing in Utah and Colorado I’ll have the links to their stuff their websites and the show notes so you can click right on there and get more info get connected to them maybe have Maria
Help you in your garden or look at some of those resources is from resource Central and get your irrigation going get your native plants going do that big step to do the turf replacement learn a little bit about how you can get that Turf buy back all that good stuff so
Those links will be in the show notes before we go into what I like about the West we always have to do a little sponsor shout out first and foremost we’d like to thank our impact sponsor First Bank as a financial provider their philosophy of banking for good goes Way
Beyond a bottom line for their customers communities and and employees we’d also like to thank our Premier sponsor Vision Ridge Partners our signature sponsor kind design and our supporting sponsors BSW Wealth Partners The Greenway Foundation Havalina jonesen Co modern mertile and Utah clean energy our work would not be possible without their
Support if you’re interested in becoming a sponsor we would absolutely love that can support all the work that W is doing to spearhead climate Solutions in the west as well as this podcast and help make sure that I get to continue to do this content the link to that will be in
Our show notes so check there yeah show notes guys that’s where you can find Everything all right it’s time for my favorite little segment called what I like about the West this is where we ask you what you like about the west and anybody can send in a recording you can just do a little memo on your phone and
Email to me and then we’ll include it in the podcast this week I wanted to do something a little bit different we’ve been talking a lot about water the last three episodes have been really water focused so I was out hiking last weekend in the Sierra Nevadas and I took a
Really great little recording of the runoff coming down the mountains and kind of flooding The Valleys so I just wanted to play about 40 seconds of water because that’s what we’re talking about it’s so soothing I love the sound of it and yeah it’s your Moment of Zen Guys [Applause] [Applause] yeah I could honestly listen to that recording of water all day just on a loop just play it in the background okay that’s a wrap 2° out west is a production from Western resource Advocates we are out here spearheading climate Solutions in the west and making
Sure that the West is protected it’s thriving and it’s here for everybody to find out more about our work and how you can support and on our email alert list go to Western resource advocates.org and also like I’m always saying go in the show notes that’s where you’ll find all
The links and if you do end up doing a Turf replacement project and planning native plants please send us some photos we would love to share it on our Instagram that would be so cool you can send us an email with your photo or you could just tag us on social and we’ll
Reshare it my email is in the show notes all right everybody thank you so much for being here I am really excited about our next episode which will be about wildfires in the West Wildfire prevention and thank you I hope you’re having a beautiful spring and you’re
Getting outside and in your garden see you next time