Applied Podcast – Ep. 9

• Why is Soil Health Important for Sustainable Landscaping?
• Why are Plants Important for Sustainable Landscaping?
• Why is Water Management Important for Sustainable Landscaping?

• Landscape for Life
• CSU Green School
• Beekeeping in the Mountain West

Beren Goguen (00:00):
Welcome to Applied, I’m Beren Goguen. Today I’m joined by Deryn Davidson, the Sustainable Landscape Specialist with CSU Extension. Deryn has many years of experience working in the field of horticulture with a focus on native plants, water conservation, pollinator habitat, and sustainable landscape design. Thanks for being here.

Deryn Davidson (00:18):
Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Beren Goguen (00:19):
So how do we define sustainability at CSU?

Deryn Davidson (00:22):
That’s a good question. So there are different definitions of sustainability, and it kind of depends on what context you’re looking at, but certainly at CSU on campus, and when you’re talking about the context of sustainable landscapes, we want to make sure that our practices, whatever we’re doing, is meeting the needs of the current generation while not compromising the needs of future generations. And so sustainability is a dynamic balance of three factors. It’s social, economic, and environmental. And so we take those three factors and we want to think about the impact that whatever our practices are, we want to think about the impact that we’re having in all three of those realms and where those overlap, we then are being able to have a more sustainable impact and more sustainable outcomes in whatever we’re doing.

Beren Goguen (01:13):
If someone wanted to focus on one of those three first, what would you say is the most important?

Deryn Davidson (01:19):
So it depends. You don’t really want to pull one out away from the other two, right? Because trying to find that overlap. But one of the easiest sort of clearest examples that I often point to, which is actually an unsustainable practice, but is logging so clear cutting forest, using that material for building and heating and whatever it might be. So economically speaking, it’s great. It’s creating jobs. People are making money socially. Again, there’re community around that. You have a good workforce, but environmentally speaking, it’s terrible. So you perhaps have the social and the economic realms covered, but you don’t have the environmental piece. So that is not a sustainable practice. And so when we’re looking at how are we meeting the needs of current generations without compromising for future generations, we want to be thinking about our extractive industries, or if we’re looking at sustainable landscapes, how are we treating the soils? How are we growing the plants? Maybe its we’re getting a good product right now, but we want to make sure that we’re not having a lasting impact that is going to make it more difficult for future generations to have healthy soil, be able to grow their crops, whether it’s food or landscape plants

Deryn Davidson (02:37):
And so on.

Beren Goguen (02:38):
So planting a lot of non-native plants could be an example of a problematic approach to sustainability?

Deryn Davidson (02:44):
It could, yeah. And I definitely like to be careful with comparing native plants versus not native plants. Native plants are always, I think, going to provide more benefit than a non-native plant because they tend to use less water. They’re going to support more biodiversity because they’re going to be nectar and pollen sources for pollinators, things like that. But we also want to look at what it takes to grow those plants. And so if our plant production is relying heavily on inputs, like extractive inputs, we’re having to put lots of fertilizer or pesticides or those sorts of things, that type of industry is not necessarily going to be doing very sustainable practices because we’re having to put all of these inputs in to grow the plants and make them look healthy, and hopefully that plant will then survive in the landscape, but maybe not. And so we’ve spent all this money, we’ve used all these resources, and the plant isn’t even really doing that much in the landscape. So definitely plant choice plays a big part in sustainable landscapes. And native plants tend to be more on the side of sustainability or sustainable practices. But I do like to be careful because it’s not a one size fits all. Just only natives isn’t necessarily the only way to go.

Beren Goguen (04:07):
So in terms of maintaining soil health, is the jury still out on amending?

Deryn Davidson (04:11):
So again, you have to, it depends on what you’re growing. So one thing that happens is we get people who are excited about doing their landscaping and they sort of bring the mentality of vegetable gardening to it, and they’re like, well, first thing I need to do is put a lot of compost in there, get the soil really rich and happy for plants. But a more sustainable approach is going to be, I’m going to do a soil test, figure out what’s going on in my soil before I start to change anything. Cause you need to have that baseline,

Deryn Davidson (04:43):
And then you want to match your plants to your soil. So we have right plant, right place, and a lot of people kind of flip that and they think, well, I’m going to amend my soil. I’m going to try to change the soil and then it’ll be ready to receive plants. But it is really hard to actually have significant impact in changing soils. I mean, they are, soils happen over thousands and thousands and thousands of years. And then if we think, well, we’re just going to dump some compost and it’s going to change it significantly, you know

Beren Goguen (05:15):
It doesn’t really work that way.

Deryn Davidson (05:15):
It doesn’t really work that way. But if you’re doing vegetable gardening or agriculture, yeah, you do want to get lots of organic matter going in there. But if you’re doing landscaping plants and you’re doing Zurich plants, native plants, they don’t want that, they don’t want that rich of a soil. They don’t want that much organic matter. So that’s kind of an added step that people don’t necessarily need to take. But again, it all starts with a soil test. So you don’t want to change something before what’s already going on. Sustainability is definitely a buzzword. And like I said, lots of different sectors and groups and organizations use the term sustainability, but if you really get down to the core of what it is, it’s the triple bottom line. It’s taking those three factors into consideration and finding that balance.

Beren Goguen (06:01):
So I imagine when some organizations talk about sustainability, they’re only talking about one or maybe two of those and not all three.

Deryn Davidson (06:08):
I think that’s probably true. Again, it’s a buzzword. And so if somebody is really trying to work with an organization or find a vendor who claims sustainability, I think doing a little research and due diligence to really see what they mean and how they’re defining sustainability is key. Cause anybody can say we’re sustainable, but unless they’re really, really doing the work, then they’re not necessarily

Beren Goguen (06:34):
Right. What does the due diligence look like there?

Deryn Davidson (06:36):
I just mean really looking into their practices, you know, if they slap that word up on a website and say, we’re sustainable. And if you’re really dedicated to finding someone or something that is sustainable, look at their track record, see how they define sustainability. Why are they calling themselves sustainable?

Beren Goguen (06:54):
What are some of those important things to consider when trying to make landscaping specifically more sustainable?

Deryn Davidson (07:02):
So I think that a lot of people, especially in the last five to 10 years, are really getting on board with things like water conservation, xeriscapes, really paying attention to pollinators and wanting to provide habitat. So those are pieces of a sustainable landscape. But if we’re looking again at balancing those three factors, you have to take more into consideration than just xeriscaping pollinator habitat for sustainable landscapes. So we’re looking at plant selection, where our plants are coming from, how they’re grown, definitely the amount of water we’re putting down, where our materials are coming from for hardscape, timber, rocks, pavers, that sort of thing. Sort of an easy example there is thinking through things like if somebody’s totally redoing their landscape, they might be pulling up a sidewalk. Well, what are you going to do with that sidewalk material? Are you just checking it, taking it to the dump? That’s not a sustainable practice. You’re going to want to try to reuse it somewhere else in your landscape or pass it on to somebody else who can reuse it. So it’s really thinking through kind of the minutia, but every step of the process where material is coming from, how you’re using it. So it’s much bigger than just the plants and the habitat kind of thing. I keep pointing to plants and water and habitat cause those are things that people are really starting to understand, which is great.

Deryn Davidson (08:32):
And often that’s sort of the gateway to getting into this sort of thing. But there is more to it,

Beren Goguen (08:39):
Right? The plants, the water, those are the most obvious choices to make. There’s more layers.

Deryn Davidson (08:43):
There’s more layers, a lot of layers, kind of that onion analogy, and you can just dig deeper and deeper. And we all have to start somewhere. We might have a tiny yard, we might have a huge landscape. And I think starting with bite-sized pieces is really key until you kind of get into the groove of it. But yeah, there are a lot of different things to think through. Another one, I said the social aspect is key for sustainability. So human health and wellbeing, if it’s your garden, your landscape that you’re tending, that’s good for you. You’re getting outside, you’re moving your body, you’re getting sunlight, fresh air. So there’s that social or human component. If it’s a commercial landscape, thinking about the users of the space, not just what is it going to look like, how much is it going to cost, but actually how are users going to interact with the space? And again, thinking through all of that.

Beren Goguen (09:36):
So in your view, if someone is just getting started with this, what’s probably the most important thing to do first?

Deryn Davidson (09:43):
I think that having an understanding of your site. So if we just go to sort of basic landscape design principles, you need to know what you have in your site. You need to do a site analysis, do a soil test, understand your soil. That’s going to help you determine what plants are going to work in your site, and then the plants are going to determine what kind of habitat you’re able to create and so on and so on. But I think even before you’re really trying to put on the lens of sustainability, just really understanding your space and your site and knowing what you have to work with is the first step before you can make any changes. And then as you’re going through the process, you can sort of put that sustainability lens on each of your decisions or your decision making process. So when you get to the point of, okay, I’m going to pick my mulch. What kind of mulch am I using? Where am I sourcing it from? Or it’s time to pick my plant palette. Where am I getting those plants? Where were those grown? How far did they have to get trucked to get to the store that I’m going to go get them from? So on and so on.

Beren Goguen (10:50):
Now, is mulch considered a sustainable choice? I’ve heard mixed things on that.

Deryn Davidson (10:56):
Oh, interesting. Yes. Mulch is definitely, well, it’s an important part of landscaping, and I think if done correctly, then it is going to be sustainable. So mulch is, it’s going to help for lots of different things. It’s going to help with weed suppression. It doesn’t totally eradicate weeds, but it helps with weed suppression. It can help hold moisture in the soil, things like that. If you choose the wrong mulch, it might not be a sustainable choice.

Beren Goguen (11:27):
What’s an example of the wrong mulch?

Deryn Davidson (11:29):
So if you’re doing, say you’re transitioning your landscape to a zero escapee, so really dry, it’s still going to need some water, but you’re choosing plants that match your soil and they hardly need any water. And you’ve heard CSU extension say mulch is really important. So you get your mulch and if you use a really like a shredded bark or a woodchip mulch around those Zurich plants and you think you’re doing the right thing, we call those organic mulches because they’re made out of organic material versus an inorganic mulch, which would be like a rock mulch. So if you use that wood material, that’s going to hold a lot of moisture. And if we’re doing Zurich plants, they don’t want a lot of moisture right around the base of the plant. And so you’re probably going to kill your plant with that mulch selection. So then you’re going to have to source new plants and plant new plants, not a sustainable choice. So it’s things like that. So you can also look at with mulch where it’s sourced. Is it local? Did it come from cedar mulch from the Pacific Northwest? A lot of people say we should not be using that kind of mulch because of how far it has to be trucked when we have things that could be sourced more locally. So a couple different factors. When thinking about mulch,

Beren Goguen (12:43):
What are your thoughts on recycled rubber mulch?

Deryn Davidson (12:46):
Not a fan. It has a place. Like a lot of playgrounds use that as sort of a soft playing or a soft landing material. But even with that, I have some questions. I mean, it’s rubber, it’s a petroleum product. It’s still going to get ground up and broken into tiny little pieces that’s going to probably inevitably make it into the turf grass that’s right next to it or to

Beren Goguen (13:11):
Not biodegradable.

Deryn Davidson (13:11):
Not biodegradable. It’s going to make it into the soil. So then we’re changing the whole system with that. So not a fan. I do appreciate that it’s another use for that material, right? It’s not going in the landfill, but I don’t think it’s a great option for landscapes.

Beren Goguen (13:25):
Conserving water is obviously a big part of sustainable landscaping, especially in arid and semi arid regions like Colorado. What are a few of the best ways to reduce water usage and still have a beautiful landscape property?

Deryn Davidson (13:39):
Well, so you’re absolutely right. Water is one of our, if not our most precious resource here in the arid West, and again, through healthy soil. So if we started our soil, if we know that we have good healthy soil that can really infiltrate water, it’s not compacted, it’s not shedding water that that’s going to allow any water that we do put on, whether it’s natural precipitation or from our irrigation system, that’s going to ensure that that water gets into the ground where we need it. So that’s one thing. And then plant selection. So there’s a misconception that a xeriscape means zero-scape, like just rocks, no plants. And that is one of the biggest things we’re trying to educate on is that misconception. It does not mean zero escape. Some people actually say zero when it’s actually xeric meaning dry. So a xeriscape still has plants.

Deryn Davidson (14:36):
It’s still planted pretty heavily. We don’t have big expanses of rock, but those plants just don’t need as much water. And something that happens is people think, okay, I’m putting in a xeriscape, it’s going to be rock mulch, which is fine, but then they put their plants really sparsely. It’s a really sparsely planted landscape, and then that rock mulch absorbs a lot of heat and then radiates the heat back out, and then you contribute to the heat island effect. So we don’t want tons and tons of rock exposed. We want to have a nice full planted bed

Beren Goguen (15:08):
For shade essentially

Deryn Davidson (15:09):
Basically, yeah, to shade the rock mulch. Exactly. So you can create different microclimates with plants. So if you think about starting at ground covers and then moving up to annuals and perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs and trees. So sort of going up the stair step that way, each of those plants is going to create a microclimate for the next plant. So it’s going to shade the roots. It’s going to create some vertical structure, which is really important if you’re trying to attract pollinators

Deryn Davidson (15:38):
And support invertebrates and insects. So again, there are so many, we’re working with these dynamic living systems. So there are so many things that you can think about. So that vertical structure for invertebrates that doesn’t necessarily have a whole lot to do with low water use, but it’s one of those things where once you start thinking through your landscape, you can just see all of these other benefits unfold. You’ve got good soil, you’re choosing the right plants that don’t use a lot of water. You have a good percentage of plant cover, that plant palette, and that plant structure is then providing habitat for pollinators, and it just keeps building on itself.

Beren Goguen (16:18):
So you have to think about it as a layered approach with multiple tiers and layers that all kind of work together to support the whole system as opposed to, I’m just going to put a bunch of rocks out and put a couple of plants here and there.

Deryn Davidson (16:31):
Exactly. And yeah, I think you just summed up what you said really sort of encapsulates sustainable landscapes is that we’re looking at it holistically. So we’re looking at all of the different moving parts and pieces, and arguably that makes it more complicated than just what you said, just some rocks and a couple plants. But it also makes it more interesting and it makes it more impactful. And that is one of the really cool things is that even if you have a small yard, you can have an impact. You can really contribute to biodiversity and water conservation and all these different things.

Beren Goguen (17:13):
So obviously dealing with weeds can be a big struggle. I know it is in my own yard. Are there weed control methods that are both effective and sustainable?

Deryn Davidson (17:22):
Yes. The struggle is real. Weeds will always be there. Again, we’re working with these living systems, especially if we are applying supplemental water and if there’s an open space of soil, probably weeds seeded there and it’s going to grow. So I would say there are different weed management strategies. Ideally, if you just have a really healthy thriving, there’s going to be less room for weeds to move in, so you’re going to have fewer weeds. We all have to kind of work at this and continually tweak what we have. So I would say weed management, when we’re talking about pests and weeds, we talk a lot about IPM integrated pest management, and that’s a concept where we have a toolbox and there’s a spectrum of things that can be done. Everything from mechanical, so if we’re talking about weeds, that’s hand pulling, putting in the elbow grease and the sweat equity there all the way through the spectrum to using herbicides when used properly, herbicides can be a safe and effective tool. Some people want to stay away from herbicides altogether. So it’s just a balancing act. They have to educate themselves, they have to decide which one is going to work for them, and then that’s probably going to be the most sustainable approach.

Beren Goguen (18:47):
In my yard here in Fort Collins, Colorado, I struggle with a weed that a lot of people strug gle with bindweed, which grows incredibly fast. Pulling does basically nothing but make it have to grow back, which it does very quickly or very persistent, fast, fast-growing weeds and sometimes invasive weeds where pulling isn’t working. Is that a time when you would maybe go to chemical treatment?

Deryn Davidson (19:11):
Yeah. So bindweed, Canada thistle, things like that. So hard to control. And one thing that’s really important to understand is what we see above ground. The vegetative growth is typically a fraction of what’s going on below ground in the soil. The root systems are vast, they’re huge, they’re strong. So like you said, if you’re pulling or mowing or cutting ’em back, you’re just scratching the surface. So some people have been successful with continually pulling or mowing, and by continually I mean years. And every time you do that, you’re starving the plant of its ability to photosynthesize and create energy. And so you’re weakening the root system. However, if you don’t have the time to do that or you’ve just done it long enough and you want a different solution, then yeah, an appropriate chemical applied is going to be probably much more successful. And there’s the hope that you’ll only need to apply it once, maybe twice, and then you’ll be done with it and you can move on. So it’s not like you’re having to repeat over and over and over.

Beren Goguen (20:23):
As far as controlling weeds with the landscaping itself, you had mentioned mulch and you need to put something under that mulch, I assume, some sort of weed barrier. What are your recommendations there? Because I’ve heard mixed opinions on weed barriers from the stuff that you get at the hardware store that water can penetrate through, sort of like a fabric. Some people use newspaper or cardboard, all kinds of different things, right?

Deryn Davidson (20:49):
Yeah. So with a name like weed barrier or weed fabric, you would think it would do a great job of keeping weeds out, but it really doesn’t. So we no longer recommend weed fabric or weed barrier. For a long time, it was the industry standard, but a lot of things we learned, and it really, for most situations, not all, it’s more of a pain than it’s worth. Over time, we get big winds here in Colorado, dirt blows around and it’ll settle. Even if you have your layer of weed fabric and then a layer of mulch, dirt is going to settle there and weeds will grow on top of that.

Beren Goguen (21:32):
Yes, I’ve seen that firsthand.

Deryn Davidson (21:33):
There you go. So a, it’s not keeping weeds out. Some of the really strong weeds like the Canada thistle and the bindweed, they will just grow until they find sunlight and they will peek out from the edges,

Beren Goguen (21:47):
The tiniest crack or hole

Deryn Davidson (21:48):
Exactly, exactly the tiniest crack, the tiniest hole. If there’s a little bit of extra water coming in at the edge, they’re going to pop up out from under the weed fabric. The other thing is that it’s always pulling up on the edges and you have to continually apply more mulch and you have to dig it in.

Deryn Davidson (22:07):
And then it starts to degrade too after a handful of years. And it can, depending on what kind you have, it can get brittle and sort of break apart and then those bits and pieces or getting incorporated into the soil. So weed fabric is out. There are some situations where if you absolutely know that you have a strip or you have an area where it’s not going to be vegetated for any reason, you’re just going to keep kind of larger rock on it, maybe that might be a spot for it. But for general landscaping practices, you want to avoid weed fabric.

Beren Goguen (22:41):
And so just nothing but mulch

Deryn Davidson (22:42):
Just nothing. You just put the mulch right on the soil.

Beren Goguen (22:44):
Okay, no newspaper, cardboard?

Deryn Davidson (22:46):
So you can do that. I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary. One thing that happens sometimes is because we’re so arid, if you put newspaper or cardboard down and then mulch on top of that, it’s so dry that it just sits there. The idea with that kind of mulching is that it’s going to break down over time, but just often with our compost piles here in Colorado, we have to actually water our compost piles because it’s not wet enough, and you need that moisture for the decomposition. Other parts of the country, Pacific Northwest back east, there’s enough moisture that’s coming in naturally that that’s going to decompose and start to build the soil and be great. But yeah, here it’s not going to be a huge advantage. Now, that’s not to say that people haven’t had success with it. Some people, they swear by it, they say, I had great success, it was really good, and that’s fine. And so if people want to experiment with it, then by all means, but it’s not necessary. A good thick layer of the right kind of mulch, whatever it is for your situation, is going to be just fine on top of the soil.

Deryn Davidson (23:49):
And I cannot give you the specific study, but I did recently read that some of our cardboard has some pretty toxic materials in it. And so there again, we’re letting that break down and go into the soils, and so maybe not the best choice. Yeah.

Beren Goguen (24:06):
Getting back to water real quick. You mentioned that soil health is important, looking at the soil in your yard or on your property and determining what that needs to look like in order to be able to take the water. So things like aerating, amending, come into play. Could you talk a little bit more about that and what that looks like?

Deryn Davidson (24:28):
Sure. So it depends on what your landscaping goals are for that area. If we’re talking about turf, you definitely want to aerate. If you can do it in the spring and the fall, that’s great. Recommendations are that your lawn looks like Swiss cheese afterwards. If you’re doing it yourself or you’re hiring a company, you want them to take several passes. A lot of companies will do two passes, one in one direction, and then one in the opposite. But if they can go on the diagonal also, that’s really good. So that’s going to break things up and really be beneficial, and that’s going to help keep your turf healthy.

Beren Goguen (25:03):
So a lot of people are maybe under aerating.

Deryn Davidson (25:05):
A lot of people are. Yeah, a lot of people just don’t do it. A lot of people either do it once a year but don’t have the company do enough passes. So yeah, you want to Swiss cheese your turf, but then if you’re talking about landscape beds where you might have perennials and shrubs and that sort of thing, or if that’s your plan for a space, you might want to amend, but you might not. So that’s where a soil test comes into play. And that’s going back to the beginning when I said, you need to do a site assessment and know what you have.

Beren Goguen (25:39):
What would you be testing for with a soil test?

Deryn Davidson (25:41):
So you’re figuring out the different components of your soil. So we have sand, silt, and clay basically are the materials that make up soil, and you need to know the different ratios along the front range. We typically have pretty sticky clay soils or some pretty lean kind of rocky soils. And so we don’t necessarily, if we have a very lean soil that doesn’t have a lot of organic matter in it, you can definitely add compost and you can do some amending. But what we want to try to get out of people’s heads is no matter what, before I plant, I need to add a bunch of compost and amend. It sounds like a really good thing to do, but you also want to really match your plants to what your soil already is. If possible, you might need to do some amending, but it’s pretty hard to change soil significantly. It’s taken many, many, many years for that soil to build and become what it is. And so if you have a very clay soil, a lot of people think, oh, I’m going to bring in a bunch of organic matter and I’m going to really try to change that. But the other thing that you could do is just find plants that can handle that kind of soil. So

Beren Goguen (26:58):
Some plants just will never thrive in the soil no matter how much you amend it.

Deryn Davidson (27:01):
Exactly. And we say we use the term right plant, right place a lot, but right plant. I think part of that is matching the plant to your soil type. That’s going to be a lot easier than trying to change your soil.

Beren Goguen (27:14):
Yeah. Now soil pH is also a factor. I understand.

Deryn Davidson (27:18):
It is. So again, along the front range and much of this area, we have very alkaline soils. So a high pH, again, there are some plants that can handle that and love it, and there are some plants that hate it. They need more acidic soils. If you move to Colorado from somewhere else and there’s a plant that you loved, again from the Pacific Northwest where they have more acidic soils and you really, really want to grow it here, I think you kind of either need to let go of that or just know that you’re going to have to amend the heck out of that soil to try to get it suitable for the plant, and you can do it. Gardening is so much about trial and error and having fun and experimenting, but you just have to know that it’s much easier, less work, more sustainable. We’re not having to bring in all these amendments if we can match the plant to the existing soil.

Beren Goguen (28:08):
What about a raised bed situation where you’re essentially creating a space for a plant, you’re putting the soil in on top of the existing soil?

Deryn Davidson (28:17):
So that’s a totally unique situation to that raised bed. So then you have a lot more flexibility because bringing in a planter’s mix or whatever it might be from your material yard. So I would say that’s a different situation. A raised bed is essentially a big container, so then you have more flexibility.

Beren Goguen (28:37):
Do you think raised beds can be sustainable or a combination, or is there kind of a preference there?

Deryn Davidson (28:45):
That’s a good question. I haven’t really thought about raised beds with the sustainability lens, but I would say for some people, raised beds are going to be a great option because they’re raised, they’re higher, they’re more accessible. You don’t have to get down so low on the ground, so it might be easier to garden that way. You’re going to have to put considerable amount of money into it, so you have to take that into consideration.

Beren Goguen (29:08):
Yes, and there’s whole irrigation type systems, drip systems that you can install, and even water recycling that you can put underneath of those. Of course, that’s all a lot of work

Deryn Davidson (29:16):
Right

Beren Goguen (29:18):
And engineering.

Deryn Davidson (29:19):
Right, so I think, again, sustainability, if we’re looking at it on sort of that micro scale of your backyard, you have to determine what’s sustainable for you. So there are always going to be certain things like we want to try to work with the soil, we, we want to choose the right plants. We want to have water conservation, those things. But it also is dependent on you, what you’re willing to into your garden, how much time you have to spend, how much resources you have. So there’s sort of the kind of macro sustainability lens, and then kind of a micro sustainability lens.

Beren Goguen (29:52):
If people in Colorado have questions about sustainable landscaping, such as the types of plants that they should probably look for, how to test soil, what’s involved there? What are some good resources?

Deryn Davidson (30:04):
So we have several different resources. I would check out the CSU extension website, and if you go under publications, we have lots of fact sheets and bulletins and information there. And then also contact your local extension office. So CSU extension serves all 64 counties of Colorado, so if you get in touch with them, there’s going to be somebody there who can help point you in the right direction. And then we’re also going to be having some new programming coming out that is all about specifically sustainable landscaping practices, sort of the big picture of why we want to do it, and then diving into more of the how to do those practices so people can be on the lookout for that too.

Beren Goguen (30:45):
Now, for folks outside of Colorado, should they contact their state extension office if they have one?

Deryn Davidson (30:51):
Yes. The extension Cooperative Extension Service is national, so it’s a wonderful resource for anybody absolutely contact. You can contact the state, go straight to the university or see if there’s an extension office in your county. And then actually, some of the programming that I was just referencing that we’re going to be launching in the spring is going to have national reach. So it’s not going to be Colorado specific.

Deryn Davidson (31:17):
It’s very much sustainable landscaping specific, and a lot of these principles apply no matter where you are. But then we have opportunities for extension offices to sort of customize those and make them more local. So lots of ways, lots of resources for people in Colorado and beyond.

Beren Goguen (31:38):
Great. Thanks so much for being here.

Deryn Davidson (31:39):
Thank you.

Beren Goguen (31:47):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Applied. If you’d like more information on landscaping, gardening native plants, soil health, xeriscaping, and much more, CSU extension has more than a hundred different articles available on the topic of yard and garden. And you can find a link to that resource in the show notes. Take care.