With a drought declared earlier this year followed by the hottest month on record — July — in the rearview mirror, we’re all looking forward to the re-emergence of green lawns and vibrant flowers. Meanwhile, scorched lawns and withered trees from hot, dry weather can be seen throughout the Clark County.
There are a couple of things homeowners can do to protect and prepare landscaping for the rest of this summer and into the increasingly warmer and drier years.
Dry brown spots, or entirely brown lawns, are usually able to make a full recovery in the fall. The most common grass in Clark County is a cold-weather type, perennial ryegrass, and the threshold to kill it is commonly above 100 degrees — of which we’ve had two days of this year. This still doesn’t address watering.
Charles Brun, a horticultural adviser with Washington State University Clark County Extension, thinks the goal is to have more drought-tolerant plants and landscapes as a prevention method. “The bulk of your landscape should be in a nonwatering zone,” he said.
Divide into zones
Brun recommends dividing yards into watering zones: 20 percent near the house for flowers needing frequent watering, and the remaining 80 percent in a dry zone. For a green lawn throughout summer, the recommended amount of water is about an inch per week.
As for shrubs and trees, brown leaf tips indicate stress, but these plants will also be likely to heal. Even for drought-resistant trees like the Japanese maple, watering is still currently needed to ensure their health and survival. Brun uses a 5-gallon bucket with a small hole drilled in the side and set next to the trees as a cheap and easy way to provide drip irrigation. He fills the buckets only once weekly.
Limit flowers
The key, he said, is to try to not have too many flowers. Flowers require constant watering, so planting them in hanging baskets is a good way to limit your time spent standing around with the garden hose.
For the lawns that won’t make a comeback, the dead grass is very hard to differentiate from dormant grass until it receives water. Lawn replacement can be done with sod, hydro seed or traditional seeding, going from quickest and most expensive to slowest and cheapest, respectively. If you are going to replace your lawn, do it by late September or wait until spring for best results.
As for the predicted rain this week, Brun thinks it probably won’t be enough to see any green return to lawns. In order to see lawns fully recovered, “we’ll have to have a combination of September rain and cool weather,” says Brun. “It’s been a hard year.”
