California Friendly®: a Maintenance Guide for Landscapers, Gardeners and Land Managers 1St Edition March 2017
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KENT ® California Friendly A maintenance guide for landscapers, Beautiful, Californiagardeners and Friendly land managers. Thriving and Sustainable ® Douglas Kent + Associates Kent Douglas California Friendly® is California’s future. Water reliability is dependent on our ability to use water wisely. We need to create gardens and communities that use less water. This maintenance guide will help you support California’s future: • Uncover the secrets of efficient irrigation. • Get the maintenance tips for hundreds of California Friendly® plants. • Explore the methods and means of managing weed and pest infestations. • Learn how to create and maintain rainwater capture systems. • Discover all the ways to maintain a beautiful, thriving, sustainable, California Friendly® landscape. California Friendly® represents the best California can be. Years have gone into creating this guide—and all of it is being offered for free. In an unprecedented collaboration between three large organizations in Southern California—LADWP, MWD and SoCalGas—this book has been produced for every landscaper, gardener and land manager in Southern California. Grab a copy, use the information in your garden, and help us create a more sustainable, beautiful future. Douglas Kent California Friendly® A maintenance guide for landscapers, gardeners and land managers Douglas Kent CALIFORNIA FRIENDLY®: A MAINTENANCE GUIDE FOR LANDSCAPERS, GARDENERS AND LAND MANAGERS 1ST EDITION MARCH 2017 Published by: Douglas Kent + Associates 164 S. Pixley St. Orange, CA 92868 www.anfractus.com Author: Douglas Kent Editor: Sharon Cohoon Executive Editors/Producers Melisa Marks Southern California Gas Company Craig Tranby Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Bill McDonnell Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Technical Editors: Ellen Mackey, Mark A. Daniel, Carlos Gavina, Mark Gentili, Susanne Kluh, Jevon Lam, Madalyn Le, Cathleen Chavez-Morris, Enrique Silva, Maria Sison-Roces, Anthony Tew and Matthew Veeh Illustrations and Photos: Douglas Kent, unless noted in caption Layout and Book Design: Hilal Sala Productions Front and Back Cover Design: Christina Holland and the Public Relations Team at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Photo Editor: Debbie Dunne Special Assistance: Jaana Nieuwboer ISBN: 978-0-692-80026-3 Created and produced in Southern California The contents of this book are free to all. This work is not copyrighted. This work has been generously provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and the Southern California Gas Company. Notice: Although Douglas Kent and the editors have made every attempt to ensure that the information in this book is accurate at press time, they are not responsible for any loss, damage, injury, or inconvenience that may occur to anyone while using this book. Following the advice in this book does not guarantee success. You are responsible for your own safety and the outcome of your work. Dedication This book is dedicated to the all the people caring for California’s landscapes. It is for the people planting and pruning our gardens, raking and sweeping our surfaces, and monitoring and adjusting our irrigation systems (conserv- ing our precious water). Creating and maintaining landscapes takes all kinds of people: owners, managers, contractors, vendors and specialists are vital to a landscape’s success. But it is the men and women in our gardens that ultimately get the job done—the people who get their hands dirty hauling manure, scrape their skin reaching for a weed, and endure harsh weather to preserve beautiful spaces. This sturdy group of professionals maintains the sustainable vision of our communities, and ultimately, our health. We hope this book will be like a good hand pruner or shovel for you, another tool to make your work easier and more successful. iv CALIFORNIA FRIENDLY MAINTENANCE: YOUR FIELD GUIDE Contents PART I PART III Introduction 1 Plants 53 1 6 Your Water and Energy— Grasses 55 let’s get this right! 3 General Growing Tips 57 Individual Plant Care 60 PART II Irrigation: Maintaining 7 Efficiency 7 Perennials 69 General Growing Tips 70 2 The Gist of Irrigation 9 Individual Plant Care 74 Types of Systems 11 8 What is Good Irrigation? 12 Shrubs 95 General Growing Tips 97 3 Controlling Your Controller 19 Individual Plant Care 102 1. How Much to Water? 21 9 2. How Often to Water? 27 Succulents and Cactus 121 Weather-Based Timers 28 General Growing Tips 123 Troubleshooting Irrigation Individual Plant Care 135 Controllers 29 Ice Plants 141 Pulling It All Together: 3 Examples 30 4 PART IV Irrigation Maintenance and Pests 143 Troubleshooting 33 10 Biggest Time Savers 34 Weed Control 145 Common Problems and Prevention 146 Troubleshooting 35 Protection 149 Seasonal Maintenance Calendar 43 Eradication 155 5 What are the Weeds Telling You Irrigating With Recycled Water 45 About Your Soil? 161 Plants 47 CONTENTS v 11 Natural Pest Control 167 Pest Free Landscapes 168 List of Pests 170 PART V Stormwater 179 12 Stormwater: Infiltrating, Screening and Cleaning Runoff 181 Infiltrating Runoff 183 Screening Runoff 189 Cleaning Runoff 191 13 Managing Surfaces and Slowing Runoff 195 Walking/Driving Surfaces 197 Mulches 200 Overcoming Compacted Soils 208 Maintaining Grade: Dry Landscapes Should Dip 209 14 Rainwater Capture: Rain Barrels and Cisterns 211 Maintenance 213 Thwarting Mosquitoes 218 PART VI Additional Resources 219 Resources 221 Index 223 PART I Introduction 1Your Water and Energy— let’s get this right! California Friendly® landscaping isn't about plant lists, al- though it includes them. It isn't about irrigation guidelines, although those are provided as well. What California Friendly® landscaping is about is long-term sustainability, resiliency, and livability. It is about landscaping that is friendly to all Califor- nians, both now and well into the future. 4 CALIFORNIA FRIENDLY MAINTENANCE: YOUR FIELD GUIDE The California Friendly® Landscaping program was designed to inspire a style appropriate for our semi-arid climate and this more sustainable style is catching on. Between the years 2008 and 2016 Southern Cali- fornians ripped out over 167 million square feet of turf and replaced it with plants that are well adapted to our climate. Our region has made a big investment in California Friendly® landscapes. Now our challenge is to maintain them. Regrettably, many people struggle to maintain resource-conserving landscapes. They believe that resource-conserving means zero-mainte- nance which, of course, is not true. The consequences have been as bad for property managers as they have been for the conservation move- ment. Poor maintenance has created visually unappealing and ecologi- cally ineffective landscapes—and all of this creates a reason for people to migrate back to their water wasting ways. California Friendly® landscapes call for a new attitude towards main- tenance. It is one that requires more engagement, examination and acceptance. Engage with your soil. Bend down and get personally acquainted. Nothing improves irrigation efficiency and plant health more than someone willing to dig in and become familiar with the soil. Smelling earth provides cues to its levels of organic matter and oxygen. Letting it crumble and fall through your fingers tells you about the amount of biological activity it contains. And digging down several inches teaches you there is often more moisture in the soil than is evident on the surface. All of this information is important, and all of it is gained by getting closer to the soil. Examine the rest of the landscape. Getting to know weeds helps you identify soil conditions. Looking at leaves to identify potential prob- lems helps you fine tune irrigation and fertilization schedules. And becoming familiar with bugs, funguses, and other pests provides cues for pruning and planting. Signs are everywhere. We just need to take the time to look for them. Accept that a more natural landscape is going to be a little wilder. It may have a few more weeds and bugs, but with them come more con- nections to nature and more long-term security. We also need to accept that plants and soil dictate irrigation, pruning, and planting schedules, not a calendar. 1: YOUR WAter and ENERGY—let’S GET THIS RIGHT! 5 The purpose of this book is to help you maintain a California Friendly® Landscape. With it you can: Maintain irrigation efficiency through time and change. Maintain aesthetic qualities through time and change. Maintain a landscape’s ability to slow, stop and clean stormwater runoff. Take this book into the field with you and dig in. It will absolutely help. From irrigation and fertilization, to mulches and infiltration areas, this book provides a solid foundation. But no matter how good a manual is, it is only a book. California Friendly® landscapes are maintained by people. Designers and gardeners, budget directors and advocates, we all have a hand in a landscape's success. We all have a hand in Southern California’s health. Let’s get dirty. See you in the garden, Doug It’s Just Not Water Landscapes are essential to the long-term survivability of Southern Califor- nia. They provide incredible benefits. Landscapes positively impact economic welfare, public health, and ecological wellbeing. They protect aquatic environ- ments, clean the air, and provide a wealth of recreational opportunities. We need them. But landscaping has costs, too. Some of these costs are enormous. We use pesticides that kill not just the targeted pest but all insects, including the beneficial ones. We spread chemical fertilizers across great expanses, allowing the nutrients to slowly seep or run off, diminishing watery ecosystems. And we lavish our landscapes with water, and all of its embodied energy. Energy is embedded into every drop of water we use. From extraction, trans- portation and treatment, to distribution and the handling of wastewater, every step is energy-drenched. A majority of the water in California is moved with either natural gas pumps or electrical pumps.