Thursday, April 23, 2009

The New Rotor!


The MP rotator provides the crucial ability to water small areas normally covered by pop-up spray heads, and to do this at a precipitation rate that is matched to typical rotor sprinklers. It is normally an extremely poor design practice to install pop-up spray sprinklers on the same station as rotor sprinklers due to the widely different precipitation rates between spray and rotor sprinklers. The MP Rotator has, however, been specifically designed with this application in mind. By matching the precipitation rate of typical rotors, the MP Rotator has made it practical to add those small problem areas that are tough to cover with rotors, yet keep those sprinklers on the same station as your rotors. In many cases this can save long runs of pipe or dedicated stations which result from small odd-shaped areas in the landscape located near large areas being irrigated by rotors. Sometimes, the use of only one or two of these MP Rotator nozzles can eliminate an additional station, resulting in savings on valves and allowing the use of smaller controllers.
I would recommend this application of rotor because of its high efficency and great coverage advantages. The MP Rotator® sprinkler is the intelligent choice for irrigation because it offers design, performance and cost advantages over sprays and single-stream, short-range rotors. The high-uniformity, low-application rate MP Rotator is also the most efficient, water-saving sprinkler in its class. The MP1000, MP2000, and MP3000 can be combined on the same station because they all maintain matched precipitation, even after arc and radius adjustment. This provides a new level of design and installation flexibility for turf and landscape irrigation. If you have any questions contact us at: http://www.arborlife.com/contact.html

Friday, April 17, 2009

The Beautiful Texas Sage!



Texas Sage

The Texas sage is a native of the Chihuahuan desert in Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico. It is known as Texas Ranger or Silverleaf. This plant does well in the rugged conditions of the southwest. It has gained some popularity in the southeastern U.S., however is more susceptible to root rot in this humid location. This evergreen shrub is a member of the Scrophulariaceae family and it's genus name Leucophyllum means white-leaf. It is a low maintenance plant that will care for itself after some intial water supplements. It does not like artificial fertilizers, in fact the plant will bloom better if it is kept hungry.
Size: 5-8' tall, 4-6' wide -- Slow growth rate.
Habit: compactly rounded
Hardiness: Zone: 8 to 9(?)
Leaf: 1/2-1", obovate, silvery pubescense
Flower: 1" Bell shaped, rose,purple,white. Completely covers plant for a week in the summer.
Culture: Low humidity, very well-drained soil, acid or high pH soil, full sun, wind tolerant
Disease/Insects: Just Root rot.
Landscape Value: It's abundant flower display and silver foliage makes this plant a fine addition to any southwestern landscape. It is best used as a border or low screen, is also a good accent plant in perennial/wildflower beds.
Cultivars:
'White Cloud' and 'Alba'- White flowers
'Green Cloud' - Green Foliage
'Compactum' - smaller habit, pink flower
'Rain Cloud' - Violet-blue flower
'Thunder Cloud' - abundant purple flowers, drought tolerant
'Sierra Bouquet' - very silver foliage, lavender-blue flowers

Propagation: Take 4" inch cuttings of new growth after flowering in summer. Put cuttings in a 50/50 mix of perlite and sphagnum peat. Make sure the growing medium does not remain too soggy.. Rooting will take place in about 4 weeks. Plants can be started by seed but the stock will vary greatly. Lightly press, not cover, seeds in a moist medium, germination will be in 4 weeks.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Soft Leaf Yucca

Yucca recurvifolia is a 4-6' tall evergreen shrub with lance shaped recurving to arching leaves. The foliage is more blue green than most Yucca spp. Soft Leaf Yucca is generally a single stem in youth and can become multi trunked with age. The growth habit is rosette in youth, with age the plant can become tree like. This Yucca will bloom late summer to fall, the flowers are creamy white and bell shaped and are borne on 3-5' spikes. This shrub has excellent heat and drought tolerance.

Hardiness: USDA Zones 6-9
Plant Use: Shrub
Exposure: Full Sun
Water Requirements: Low

Call us at : 281-914-7788; If you have any more questions about this material.