Submitted by Shelley Palmer

I’ve been thinking about trees and water or lack of it.  Folks have been so conscientious about conserving water that they’ve just stopped watering and I think that’s probably the right thing to do with the turf grasses but we should all be keeping the trees alive if we can.   I’m seeing a lot of dying or dead trees and that is just way sad if just a watering every two weeks might keep it alive. Hand watering is OK anytime and that’s what I’ve been doing with my trees (at night, of course).  If you see that a neighbor has trees that are croaking, you might say something to them also.  It’s a lot to lose – a 20 year old tree – or even a year old tree.  This is just my two bits as the tree situation is making me very depressed….. The City of Austin arborist site is where I got the “water every two weeks” bit and they’re on the same bent as I as far as doing the minimum to just keep them alive til the drought breaks…

To download the City of Austin’s Guide for Watering Distressed Trees, click HERE.  For more information on tree care,  please visit:  http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/trees/

Please visit our gardening pages under ‘Community’ for information on lawn care during drought and drought resistant landscaping.