Water conservation, plant selection are key components in a Xeriscape garden

This is the sixth week of our garden walk series and I thought we might get rained out this morning. Perhaps some of the valley received rain - it sure smelled like rain when I first left the house this morning. I live less than two miles from here but it did not rain in this area.

I suggested last week that we meet here this morning, in the Healing Garden. I want to tell you about Charlie's Bench. We have time for a story now, don't we? So, have a seat.

Charlie Long was from Cape Cod. Geography lesson? Cape Cod is that curl of land in the eastern part of Massachusetts that goes out into the Atlantic Ocean. He was killed in a snowmobile accident in New Hampshire on March 2, 2002. Charlie was a distant cousin of our son-in-law (Alica's husband). Are you still with me?

Charlie became a very special friend of our family. He had visited us here in Yuma and he built two benches like this one for our daughter in Florida. I always thought the design of this bench was unique.

Now we must leave this area and take a left onto the main sidewalk. Then immediately on our left is the Xeriscape Garden.

Xeriscape is a new word and if your dictionary is very old (like mine), you won't find it. But I've been told to think of xeros, the Greek word for 'dry'. Once you know that, you have it!

The Xeriscape Garden was originally planned by Shirley Waldrip and her committee. It was planted along with the Native Plant Garden with a public planting on Nov. 9, 2002.

Marianne Newton is now the leader of this area. She was a Moody Garden Maker before it became an official club - she serves as corresponding secretary. She is well versed in the Xeriscape plants as she has done a lot of research for her own yard. She knows every inch of this garden.

Marianne has been very involved with our plant signs here in this garden. That is what attracted me to this garden when I first heard about it back in 2001, when it was still an empty lot. I would like to have a sign on each and every plant in the whole garden. But I'm told we can't afford to do that.

The signage on the plants is very important to us. It is a demonstration garden and we try to make every attempt to provide as much information to the public as we can.

We are attempting to get a grant that would enable us to put a small kiosk in each garden where we could put laminated information about that garden. Keep your fingers crossed.

This type of landscape might look a little sparse to those who are not familiar with desert-adapted plants. That was me until three or four years ago when Jim and I attended a garden tour in the Mesa and Gilbert areas. We saw some beautiful examples of Xeriscape and that changed my mind. I discovered that plant selection is the key.

What is important to you? First, we all need to be thinking of water conservation and then what else? Hardiness, sun, growth rate, thorns, foliage color and texture might be considerations. Next might be if it blooms and the color of flowers and what season do they bloom and the amount of litter. Are you looking for something with low maintenance?

Water conservation is one reason this Xeriscape garden is such a good area to have in our demonstration garden here in Yuma. It is an easy way to educate new people who come to our area. They can take a look at a large variety of desert-adapted plants and see which ones attract them.

We are usually at the garden on Tuesday mornings, if you have questions or want to talk to any of us about any of the plants in the garden or in your own yard. Our numbers are very low right now, I think you know why: Too hot! But we only have about six more weeks of summer and then we move into the beginning of our delightful Yuma weather for the next nine months!

That ends our time together here at the Moody Garden. I look forward to our walk next week through the native plant area.

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Ellen Gardner, a master gardener who writes this column for the Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma, can be reached at 343-4020 or at gardner3028@ netzero.com. For more information about the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, look at cals.arizona.edu/yuma/horticulture/ moody_garden/index.html, or for information about the Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma, visit gardencentral.org/az gardenclub/westerndistrict.