Florida – Submitted by Michael Dukes, Professor and Irrigation Specialist, Interim Director, Center for LANDSCAPE Conservation & Ecology, University of Florida, IFAS
Irrigation Research: Solutions for Your Life
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Cold Protection Irrigation for Strawberries
Sprinkler Nozzle Performance Study
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Water-wise pollinator gardens are a great way to add interest and diversity to the landscape. Water-wise pollinator gardens attract bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles,bats, and even hummingbirds. Without pollinators, many of our food crops would not exist.
Many water-wise native and non-native plants can be used in the water-wise pollinator garden to provide nectar and pollen for insects and birds.
Many of these plants have interesting attractive flowers that add beauty to the landscape. Many annual and perennial herbs are …
Xeric gardening (xersicaping) is increasing in popularity as urban populations grow and drought takes its toll on water supplies nationwide.The term xeric (pronounced zerik) simply means ‘dry’ in Greek. Xeric plants are adapted to dry conditions and require little to no water during the growing season depending on conditions.
Planting a xeric garden does not mean zeroscape! Many beautiful drought tolerant plants are available to meet your needs and those of your landscape.
Use plants adapted to the natural …
Parking strips can be either water conserving or weed magnets. Parking strips are often “out of sight, out of mind” for many homeowners, especially in older neighborhoods without pressurized irrigation systems and can quickly become weed magnets.
Dragging a hose across the sidewalk is inconvenient and possibly dangerous to pedestrians.
One way to address this issue is to create a water conserving park strip. A water conserving parking strip is simply a parking strip that uses less water than …
Ornamental plant varieties can be chosen based upon water use. Grass can be allowed to go dormant during dry seasons. However, choices for low water vegetable plants are limited. Thankfully, there are some water conservation practices that can increase water efficiency.
Ornamental grasses are becoming increasingly popular for use in water-wise landscape designs. Combined with drought tolerant perennials, ornamental grasses can create a strong visual impact from summer through the winter season.
Evergreen trees and shrubs retain their leaves during all seasons. Although most evergreen are conifers, not all fall into this category. Examples of non-coniferous native and moderately to highly drought tolerant evergreen plants include:
