MaryBeth:          Hi, this is MaryBeth Harrison with Dallas Native Voice and I’m here today with one of my favorite people, Johnette Tayler with Roundtree Landscaping. I’ve had the pleasure of having Johnette work on my own home and what she did was amazing because we took a space that was void of anything, we had taken everything out and just a fresh palette and started over again. Everything you did, every time I looked out a window, it was another little vignette of greenery and plants and flowers. It just made my day every day waking up and seeing it just, it just was fabulous. So talk to me about what we’re doing here. So part of what made it good is…

Johnette:            That right plant in the right place. So as you know, MaryBeth, I really believe in saving water where we can, it’s real important for the future of all of Dallas and so that we can keep that green in our lives because our houses have become real indoor, outdoor friendly, which is wonderful. So we’re standing here with a Mahonia Soft Caress. So talk about right plant right place. So this plant really needs the shade, so if we put this plant on the other side of the yard where it’s a little sunnier, the plant would be stressed. We would be watering it excessively, trying to keep it happy when it’s just easy to put the plant in a different spot that actually works for the plant.

Johnette:            So we’re going to help the plant grow, everything’s going to look great and we’re going to save water while we’re doing it. So it’s really, really critical. Another thing we can do is make sure that all the plants in the shade are similar so that they have similar water requirements. We can put those on one zone on your sprinkler and then we’re able to turn that zone down if we need to so we don’t have to water so much. That way we can keep the things in the sun get a little more, we can water them alone. While the soft grass is getting just what it needs and thriving like it is here.

MaryBeth:          That makes so much sense. I just rather…

Johnette:            It is common sense.

MaryBeth:          I think we all put our sprinklers on of one size fits all. Everybody gets the same 12, 15 minutes, right?

Johnette:            No. No, no. So really-

MaryBeth:          No wonder the yard doesn’t look good. Now it makes sense.

Johnette:            Well and in Dallas we have such heavy clay and so what we really promote is something called cycle and soak. So rather than run it for 15 minutes, run it twice for seven minutes. That water after seven minutes soaks down into the soil and now when you put the new water on top, it literally helps push it down through gravity, down deeper. So the rest of your plants are actually getting more water that way.

MaryBeth:          So you’re running your cycle all the way through once.

Johnette:            Right.

MaryBeth:          By the time it comes back around for the second cycle-

Johnette:            Right.

MaryBeth:          That water… Ah, that makes so much sense. It’s the same amount of time, just broken out.

Johnette:            Just break it into two.

MaryBeth:          It’s the difference between a downpour of rain and a light just wonderful soaking that goes for hours. I totally get that. Yeah.

Johnette:            So in that downpour of rain, what you get is all that water runs off after a short time because our clay can only absorb so much. So by letting it soak in a little bit, like the soaking rain, everything gets in deeper.

MaryBeth:          That makes so much sense. And too then you have your pretty side of the yard with light and whatever, and the side that’s a little bit quieter and shady. I love that. You know, you think you just come in and you just plant one thing across the whole… We see it all over, all over. They put the same boxwoods all the way across the front, or the waxleaf ligustrum across the back or the red tipped photinia’s and it’s just this one row and it doesn’t have to be that way. And yet so many of the houses that we find that’s what they did and that’s what they did back when. So we just kind of all live with it and you don’t have to do that. You can re-scape I guess as it were.

Johnette:            And a lot of times it’s simple. It’s moving something that you have at the right time of year to another location so that it thrives.

MaryBeth:          So I don’t have to just get rid of a plant.

Johnette:            You don’t have to get rid of everything. Sometimes we can just transplant it and it’s just a simple, but it is a little bit about making sure you have the right knowledge. So going to a nursery that has certified professionals or call your professional landscape company to help you. Because otherwise you’re going to like something in the nursery and buy it because you like it and then when you get it home you won’t put in the right spot and it won’t thrive. Suddenly think I can’t grow anything. Well it’s not really true. You just didn’t know where to put it in the right spot.

MaryBeth:          That makes so much sense because we all do that. We go in there going, “I love that plant. It’s so pretty,” and then yeah, you stick it in the bright sun and it’s just not going to work.

Johnette:            Exactly.

MaryBeth:          So much information. Oh my gosh. So it’s not just a plant it and it will grow. It’s you’ve actually got to think this thing through, so if you want some more information, you can go to our website at dallasnative.com. You can always find a whole lot more information on everything outdoors at Roundtree Landscaping and we’re on all social media. We go where you go and thanks so much for listening.

Johnette Taylor

President