Where We Work

Washington County sits at the meeting point of the Mojave Desert, the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. That gives us one of the longest growing seasons in the interior West. And a set of problems that landscapers from almost anywhere else get wrong on their first job here.

The soil is alkaline and it is often capped. Soil pH across the county typically runs 7.5 to 8.5. At that level iron and manganese are chemically locked up even when they are present, which is why so many yards here have yellow-leaved trees that no amount of ordinary fertiliser fixes. Under the topsoil, much of the St George-Hurricane corridor has a caliche hardpan. A cemented calcium-carbonate layer that roots cannot cross. Planting a tree into a pocket of soft soil sitting on caliche is the single most common reason a new tree dies here within three years.

Water is regulated, and the rules differ by city. Most cities in the county prohibit landscape irrigation between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. in summer. The Washington County Water Conservancy District's watering guide recommends up to four days a week from May through August, dropping to three in spring and autumn and one or none in December and January. And it recommends cycle-and-soak rather than a single long run, because our soils cannot absorb water as fast as a spray head delivers it.

Turf removal is paid for. In four of our six cities. The District's Water Efficient Landscape rebate pays $2 per square foot for the first 5,000 square feet of living lawn removed and $1 per square foot beyond that. It is only open to properties in St George, Washington, Santa Clara and Ivins, because those four cities adopted the required water-waste and new-construction landscape ordinances. Hurricane and La Verkin properties are not eligible.

We work with all of it. The caliche, the pH, the watering windows and the rebate paperwork. It is the difference between a yard that looks good in April and one that still looks good in August.