MEGHAN SHINN is Horticulture’s editor.
Water conservation is top of mind for many gardeners, but perhaps none so more than those in California, where prolonged droughts have prompted tight regulations on landscape irrigation. The state provides lists of vetted drought-tolerant species, but its information lags behind the pace with which the nursery industry introduces new plants. To close the gap, researchers based at the University of California Davis run the UC Landscape Plant Irrigation Trials, in which they use scientific methods to weigh new introductions’ appropriateness for low-water gardens and landscapes.
PROGRAM BACKGROUND
California’s Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) requires the designer of a new or renovated landscape of a certain
