When warmer days set in, you
may be inclined to water your landscape, but this winter continues to
bring much needed precipitation to meet the needs of your landscape. No need to
water this month!
Per our Winter Watering Recommendations, your yard is still getting enough water to meet your plant’s needs. Remember, if it rains more than a half inch or snows more than 6 inches at least once per month during winter season, there’s no need for supplemental irrigation.
Monthly Service Tip:
Late winter is the best time to prune trees, Treebates available. They’re dormant and it’s easier to identify which branches need trimming (no leaves). Tree pruning cuts don’t heal like cuts on our skin, though. Tree cuts seal naturally both internally and externally, as long as the cut is well made and doesn’t nick the branch collar. Cuts made flush against the trunk are bad because they cut into the branch collar, making the plant unable to seal the wound on its own. Pruning sealants are no longer recommended because they keep the wound moist underneath and increase the chances of rot by trapping pathogens there.
Recommended pruning techniques
continue to change with new research. Keeping up with the newest guidelines
translates to better tree care. The late Dr. Al Shigo, biologist and plant
pathologist with the U.S. Forest Service, once said, “People who prune the
old-fashioned way should be made to go to an old-fashioned dentist.”
Using the right tools for pruning is key. How do you know if you’re using the wrong tool? If you’re using two hands to squeeze your pruning shears as hard as you can, or your thigh to brace one arm of long-handled loppers, you’re using the wrong tool! Move up to a larger size implement. Here’s a literal rule of thumb: if the branch diameter is the size of your thumb or smaller, hand pruners with a sharp blade will work. Lopping pruners are great for making cuts on branches up to 2 inches in diameter. For anything larger than 2 inches, it’s time to pull out the pruning saw.
Author: Marisa Thompson, PhD, is the Extension Horticulture Specialist for New Mexico State University and is based at the Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas.
For more gardening information, including decades of archived Southwest Yard & Garden weekly columns, visit the NMSU Extension Horticulture page (https://desertblooms.nmsu.edu/), follow us on social media (@NMDesertBlooms), or contact your County Cooperative Extension office (https://aces.nmsu.edu/county).
In the past 20 years, 14 of those years have been drier than normal, and six years wetter than normal.
Temperature
In 2019 New Mexico was warmer and drier than normal! 1.6 degrees above normal. This ranked in the 20th warmest on record for New Mexico.
The
average temperature for Albuquerque was
57.5°, which was 0.4° above the 30 years (1981-2010) normal of 57.1°.
The average contiguous U.S. temperature was 52.7°F, 0.7°F above normal. This ranked in the warmest third of the 125-year period of record.
Precipitation
Average precipitation for New Mexico was 0.52 inches below normal for the year but the 2.2” of rainfall in November made it the 2nd wettest November ever recorded.
In Albuquerque, the range of rainfall by zip
code is between 8-12 inches. The total precipitation for the Albuquerque area in all zip codes was
10.8” in 2019. A good year for Albuquerque and it shows in conservation efforts!
Above-average annual precipitation was observed across much of the nation. Many northern states had their wettest year on record, with much of the central U.S., northeast and parts of the west experiencing above- to much-above-average precipitation.
Conservation Highlights
How did Water Authority customers do this year to conserve our most precious resource? Excellent!
In 2019, customers used approximately 700 million fewer gallons than last year. 2019 per capita usage is 121 GPCD (Gallons Per Capita Per Day), that’s 4 GPCD less than last year (125 GPCD in 2018). Thank you for your continued action in helping us make progress toward reaching our conservation goal of 110 GPCD by 2037.
Customer Incentives (Rebates)
In
2019, the Water Authority returned $700,000 to customers through the rebate
programs. Just over half of that went to customers who replaced 450,000 square
feet of high-water use turf with a desert friendly xeriscape. To find out more
about rebates, visit https://www.505outside.com/rebates/residential/.
Adding Trees
Trees are a priority for
the Water Authority conservation program because of their many environmental
benefits and the unique role they play in landscapes. In 2019, customers planted
approximately 1,000 trees with the “Tree-Bate” program, which also helps
customers pay for tree care. Albuquerque customers have planted more than 3,500
trees in just three years! Additionally, the Water Authority Conservation
Program provided $60,000 for tree planting in city and county parks and open
spaces. That’s enough to plant an additional 225 trees per year.
Water Use Compliance
Water waste continues to improve from previous years! In 2019 the conservation department issued 732 Water Waste Warnings that resulted in only 77 violations. Thank you for servicing your irrigation system!
This cold tolerant, hardy evergreen groundcover has shiny dark green leaves in the summer which change to a beautiful reddish-purple in the fall and winter. Purpleleaf Wintercreeper spreads quickly, is great for smothering weeds, and provides moisture retention at the base of your trees. It can be trained to be a climber and tolerates all types of soil.
The winter is best time of year to prune trees. The Water Authority recommends hiring an arborist to prune them because arborists specialize in the care of individual trees. They are knowledgeable about the needs of trees and are trained and equipped to provide the proper care.
Arborists can provide the following services:
Pruning
Tree removal
Emergency tree care
Planting
Plant health care
Other services such as
consulting, tree risk assessment, cabling and bracing of trees.
How do you find a professional arborist to take care of your trees? We recommend to ask the following questions when looking for an arborist:
Are they certified? Certified
arborists have achieved a level of knowledge in the art and science of tree care
through experience. They have passed a
comprehensive examination developed by some of the nation’s leading tree care experts.
There is an online resource called Find an Arborist to help you locate one in
your area.
Do they have insurance? Check
that they have a certificate of insurance that includes proof of liability for
personal and property damage, including workers’ compensation.
Do they offer a contract? Get
a written contract of the work to be completed from the arborist. It should
include the estimate for the services, a start date, and estimate of how long the
work will take.
Do they have references? Ask
the tree company to provide a few names of past customers, and ask friends and neighbors for local references, too.
Have you ever wished you could
just take a picture of a plant and have the internet identify it for you? Turns
out, there are a lot of digital options to help with the identification of
plants. We’ve reviewed the best resources so you don’t have to.
PLANT APPS:
iNaturalist: Once logged on to this free application, you become one of their citizen scientists. The app uses your photos then provides you with a list of possible plant choices. Once the plant has been identified the app then asks you to upload the data to help other people learn what’s in their neighborhood (there is the option to skip this and just get the plant identified). This app was by far the best at identifying the correct plant. An added bonus is it allows users to create guides and gives access to others created in the area. In fact, there is a fantastic Plants of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque guide already on the app listing hundreds of plants in the Albuquerque area.
Pl@ntNet: This free app uses a database organized by location to identify plants. Simply upload a photo and the app provides a long list of possible matches. It’s common to find the correct plant among the choices given, but if a match is not made, users may access the world flora database to find the exact plant. This app is good at identifying the plant family which is a good start in finding the right identification. The best attributes of this app are that it does not require a login or account and you can either take live photos or select from your photo library.
New Mexico Wildflowers. This free, local app is a winner - it’s basically an online field guide boasting more than 3,000 local plants! Select a plant type, flower color, flower size, leaf arrangement and habitat. It then provides a list of plants that meet the criteria. From there, users can identify the plant in question. A great feature of this app is that it can be used during your favorite outdoor activity because internet access is not required.
New Mexico Wildflowers app
iNaturalist app
LOCAL DATABASE AND GROUPS:
New Mexico Plant List Database: This plant database is courtesy of the Office of the State Engineer. It has a large variety of plants with an easy-to-use interface. https://wuc.ose.state.nm.us/Plants/
Groups: Another way to figure out plant identification is to crowdsource using social media. There are a few notable Facebook groups that regularly answer plant ID questions, where members upload photos of the plant with location details, and members of the group provide input. A few to check out are Native Plants of New Mexico (4,027 members), Entomology (135,034 members), Plant Identification (174,670 members), and Plant Identification and Discussion (278,523 members).
Other apps: PlantSnap, Picture
This Plants, Seek. We’ve found these to be less reliable for identifying desert
friendly plants.
TIP: When using any of these tools, the quality of the photo is important. It’s helpful to have both zoomed-in pictures of foliage and photos of the entire plant form.
Author: Marisa Y. Thompson, Ph.D. Extension Horticulture Specialist, Department of Extension Plant Sciences NMSU Desert Blooms blog and Jill Brown, ASLA Landscape Architect and owner of My Landscape Coach in Albuquerque, NM. Resources: Native Plants of New Mexico Facebook Group
