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WaterSmart Landscapes for the Dickinson Bayou Watershed

 

 

 

From sprinkler to storm drain, from bayou to bay, the water used to maintain your yard remains

untreated. What you do to your lawn and what runs off your yard determines the health of Dickinson

Bayou and Galveston Bay. If you think your contribution to water pollution is insignificant, add your

runoff to that of your neighbors and combine that with the rest of your watershed. The result is

stormwater runoff pollution, one of the main sources of water pollution for Dickinson Bayou.

A WaterSmart yard utilizes plants and practices that require less water plus little or no fertilizers and

pesticides. With minimal grass cover and maximum use of native and adapted plants, the WaterSmart

landscape is beautiful and easy to maintain and environmentally friendly. By converting your lawn one

section at a time you can create a landscape that helps preserve the bay area and gradually reduces

your maintenance time.

WaterSmart Landscapes Fact Sheet

WaterSmart Resource guide

Map of local WaterSmart Landscapes

 

Native plants

 

Aesculus pavia
Callicarpa americana
Iris virginica Rudbeckia texana

 

Certain varieties of plants are suited to the Upper Texas Gulf Coast Area and thus require less water

and fewer fertilizers and pesticides. Many plants are native to this area and have been thriving here for

centuries. Other non-native plants and heirloom varieties have been successfully adapted to the Gulf

Coast.

Check out these lists of plants to use in the Dickinson Bayou Watershed: 

Totally Tenacious and Texas Tough by Heidi Sheesley with TreeSearch Farms, Inc

Native host plants (food sources) for southeast Texas butterflies by the Native Plant Society of Texas –

Houston Chapter

Native plants that provide a food source for humming birds by the Native Plant Society of Texas –

Houston Chapter

Top 100 native plants for Harris and adjacent counties by the Native Plant Society of Texas – Houston

Chapter

 

Compost

 

compost pile compost bin

 

Composting is an easy, free way to add nutrients to soil, improve soil structure and increase the

moisture-holding ability of soil. Composting recycles organic material through controlled decomposition.

Organic materials are grass and yard clippings, kitchen scraps (no animal products), wood shavings,

cardboard and paper. As organic materials decompose they turn into a rich, dark humus material that

improves all soil types.

Back yard composting

Cool and easy compost recipe

Hot and fast compost recipe

Troubleshooting your compost pile

 

Low Volume Irrigation

Information coming soon!

 

Additional Resources

YardWise

Texas Forest Service Tree Planting Guide

Texas Parks and Wildlife Wildscapes

Aggie Horticulture, Don’t bag it – Compost it!!

 

 

 
 

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Last modified: Jul-18-2011. Contact Webmaster: Rhonda Meyer