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Show Low-maintenance landscape for busy homeowners plum, Russian olive. Eastern red cedar and Rocky Mountain juniper. ju-niper. Shrubs curl-leaf mountain mahogany, northern bayberry, Russian pea shrub and three leaf sumac. FlowersCarolina lupine. coronation gold, blanketflower, common yarrow, marigold, petunias and coxcomb. Ground covers woolly yarrow, showy or shortleaf stonecrop, snow-in-summer and common wormwood. inches of soil conditioned with Canadian Peat Moss, annual beds need 8-10 inches, and perennial beds and shrub borders need 18-24 inches. A water-wise landscape consists con-sists of plants which are native to your area or have adapted to your climate. Such plants are less likely to suffer from environmental envir-onmental stress, such as periods of drought. Plants will continue to look beautiful, even when a vacation trip or tight schedule interferes with care, as well as during times of municipal water restrictions. Here are a few suggestions for a colorful, drought-tolerant plant scape. Trees bur or scrub oak, wild A low-maintenance, water-efficient water-efficient landscape will complement com-plement the busy homeowners lifestyle. Once established, the yard will remain lush and beautiful, beau-tiful, with less time spent on watering, weeding and mowing. Implementing such a landscape land-scape depends on selecting beautiful drought-resistant plants, watering judiciously and conditioning the soil with organic material, such as Canadian Cana-dian Sphagnum Peat Moss. Converting the yard to a water-efficient landscape doesn't require a complete overhaul of everything you've ever planted. It can be done one step at a time. Is there an area that never looked good, is too hard to maintain, or has yet to be addressed by a landscape plan? Begin improving your garden here. Next, look at the lawn. Turf is the most water- and maintenance-demanding aspect of any landscape. Yet a big lawn needn't be the centerpiece of the garden. Consider replacing replac-ing some of it with drought-tolerant drought-tolerant plants, decorative rocks or even a deck. Limiting turf will also reduce the expense of watering and hours of mowing. Guard against over-watering some plants while under-watering under-watering others by grouping plants with similar water requirements re-quirements together. The soil's condition determines deter-mines how well the garden will grow, so always correct deficiencies defi-ciencies before planting. Examine Ex-amine the earth at the site you've selected. You are likely to discover one of two common types of problems: soil that is too light or too heavy. Sandy soil sifts through the fingers and allows water to drain away too quickly to benefit plants. Clay soil clings together in a ball, becomes rockhard when dried out, and lets water run off before it can be absorbed. Both need to be amended. The soil to strive for has a loose and crumbly structure conducive to strong root growth. Called loam, this enviable en-viable type of soil allows water, air and nutrients to penetrate the root zone. Though loam does not exist naturally around most homes, it can be created by adding ad-ding one part organic Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss to two parts soil. Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss holds up to 20 times its weight in water and dramatically dramati-cally reduces the leaching of plant nutrients. It aerates clay and adds body to light and sandy san-dy soil. An environmentally safe soil supplement, Canadian Peat Moss is available at nurseries and garden centers in compressed bales that double in volume when opened and loosened loos-ened To make the planting bed truly tru-ly water-efficient, it has to be dug deeper than the traditional garden. Doing so will assure that roots are strong and firmly implanted, which enables plants to withstand longer periods between be-tween watering. Generally, lawns need to be planted in 6-8 |