Xeriscape your garden before vacation

Ozarks Travel Examiner: Xeriscape your garden before vacation

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Prepare your gardens and select plants
that can survive while you are away on vacation.

When you plan a trip to the Ozarks this spring or summer, stop by the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden to get ideas for your home landscape or garden. The xeriscape garden is designed with hardy water-saving plants, many are Missouri natives. See how to prepare your gardens and select plants that can survive while you are away on vacation.

A stroll through the gardens will help you prepare your garden for vacation, save water and reduce watering chores all season. Landscaped to be attractive year round, something is blooming in the demonstration garden every day three seasons of the year.

On our way to Branson, we stopped for a stretch break in Springfield and checked out the garden. The Xeriscape Demonstration Garden, is on the corner of South National and Linwood.

Established in 1992, the garden is a volunteer project of Springfield master gardeners. Their goal is to demonstrate efficient use of water in landscaping in an urban setting.

The Xeriscape is divided into three zones:

• high water use zone which depends on frequent irrigation
• moderate water zone which utilizes less irrigation
• low water use zone which receives no supplemental irrigation

Xeriscaping will lower water bills, require little or no lawn mowing and plants tend to survive when water restrictions are implemented.

See what trees, turf, perennials and ground covers can best survive our hot, humid Missouri summers. Most gardeners love to see other gardens, bringing home new ideas and landscape solutions with every trip.

This summer I’ll visit several gardens in Missouri and surrounding states. Two other outstanding demonstration sites are Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis and Kansas City’s botanical garden, Powell Gardens. Both of these gardens are a full day trip and are worth a visit in every season.

In Springfield, a botanical garden is in the works at Nathanael Greene-Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic.

The two not-to-be-missed gardens in Springfield are the Mizumoto Stroll Garden, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., and the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden, South National and Linwood streets.

Visit Springfield, Missouri, Convention & Visitors Bureau for a free Visitors Guide, accommodations or area maps.

For more info: Send your travel ideas and suggestions to the Senior Travel Examiner Patsy Bell Hobson at patsy64068@yahoo.com . To get notice of new Senior Travel Examiner columns please subscribe via email. Patsy also blogs about Southeast Missouri and Senior travel She also has a gardening blog: Oh, Grow Up!