I just returned from a late winter mountaineering trip to Durango, Colorado where snow abounds and the locale’s high-desert-arid ways were seasonally hidden from sight.  And though my main focus was simply to make it off of the high peaks in one piece, I couldn’t help but aim my attention to the sheer amount of [...]

I have to admit that I’m not sure I’d want fake grass in my own backyard.  But, in a recent twist of reason, I’ve started to warm up to the notion.  Though I couldn’t imagine taking a midday nap in a meadow of green plastic fibers, there are applications that warrant its use.  And, no, [...]

Ask ten different landscapers how they would install a single irrigation system and you would get ten different answers.  So how is anyone supposed to know how to set up what is essentially, in the desert Southwest, the lifeblood of a landscape?  Though it is probably easier to explain what not to do, the following [...]

Can we all just agree that less material putrefying in landfills across this country would be a good thing?  Great.  So now that we’ve gotten over that hurdle, we can tackle the big, ugly and almost completely closeted fact that we are essentially being buried in a dearth of debris.  There are over thirty-five hundred [...]

Believe it or not, even though the desert Southwest is best known for its intense heat and parching aridity, the cold is always in the back of my mind.  When I consider plant material, I try to choose plants that won’t need to be babied.  That’s easier said than done, of course, when even some [...]

OK…so by now we’ve all seen and heard them more times than we care to remember.  Those words.  You know the ones.  “Organic”.  “Sustainable”.  “Green”.  “Earth-Friendly”.  I’m just as guilty as the next guy.  My company, Urban Organics Landscaping, has been touting the benefits of organic and sustainable landscapes for over a decade.  There exists [...]