Contact me at 206-701-9405 or look at this Landscape Questionnaire to start your DIY design process!!

Bountiful Landscapes & Consulting

Transforming People & Places to Create Vibrant Health & Beautiful Outdoor Spaces

Transforming Your Outdoor Space with Xeriscaping

Learn More About Xeriscaping

Benefits of Rain Gardens & Pollinator Havens

Why would you disconnect your gutter and make a rock-river through your yard?

It looks nicer than grass
It's low maintenance
It's good for the environment

Store water IN the ground with a Rain Garden!

Before

Beautify Your Yard, Help the Environment

Classes on Landscape Design!

After

Pollinator Haven!

How to Calculate Your Roof Water Collection Potential

Measure your roof as shown.

Calculate the volume of water in a 1-inch rain storm.
For every 100 square feet of roof, one inch of rain produces 62 gallons of water.
Multiply the area of your roof by 0.62 to get the volume of water.

About Water

What happens when it rains?

Rainwater can potentially spread bacteria, viruses, and parasites to crops and animals.

Runoff can include chemicals, fast food wrappers, cigarette butts, Styrofoam cups, sewage overflow, cooking oil, bacteria from pet waste, used motor oil, fertilizers, paint and construction debris, sediments, soil, pesticides, grass clippings, leaves, and other small matter that it picks up.

Water seeps into the ground and the plants uptake the water to grow.

We eat some of the plants as food.

Simply put: healthy soil means healthy ecosystems, means healthy people.

How much water do trees drink?

Tree Watering Calculations

Trees: 10 gal of water Per WEEK for every inch of tree diameter. Ex: 6" dia tree = 60 gallons of water per week.

Shrubs: 5 gal of water Per WEEK for every foot of height. Ex: 4 ft. Rhody = 20 gallons of water per week.

Water around the drip line with 5 gallon buckets, with 1/8" holes in the bottom. fill 1 or 2 times & let drip out slowly.

Use a bar to make a few holes around the drip line - ONLY 12" deep (most roots depth) and put the hose directly in the hole for 30-60 seconds.

Quick calculation: Tree diameter x 5 minutes, per week.
Trees can get this water from the ground or from costly above-ground watering.

Do trees need to be watered in the winter?

You should water in the winter when the temperature is above 40 degrees F. But stop when it freezes as the ground can't absorb water when it is frozen. Water mid-day so the water soaks in before the colder night temperatures.

Tree Roots won't freeze!

When days begin to get shorter, trees convert starch to sugars, which act as a natural antifreeze for the plant. The cellular fluid within the living cells becomes concentrated with natural sugars, which lowers the freezing point inside the cells. The tree roots are also insulated by the soil. You can mulch with straw or leaves for an added cover.

What do canopy trees do for the environment?

Their leafy canopies intercept the rainfall and reduce storm water runoff. Their deep and expansive roots help to loosen the soil so leaf-litter and other organic matter can get into the ground and improve the soil. Rainfall is better able to penetrate the soil and percolate into the ground water. As trees grow, they accumulate biomass by sequestering the carbon from the atmosphere and storing it as wood.

EXAMPLE: Cottonwood Tree

Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa

You may have a stand of Cottonwood trees on your property. If so, you know how tall, and how messy they can be, but they do provide shade and can be a barrier to wind. They also provide a nesting habitat for woodpeckers and owls.

Cottonwood trees can tolerate wet areas and poor soils, and, although they are quite susceptible to disease, they seem to live for a long long time. PLUS, they have amazing medicinal properties, as well as providing other survival benefits. So, we keep them.

Their water requirements?? 50 to 200 gallons per day!!!

Contact me to find out how to STORE WATER IN THE GROUND and
create a more sustainable and water-wise landscape! 206-701-9405