What is HydroZoning?

Hydrozoning = is the practice of clustering together plants with similar water requirements in an effort to conserve water.

Essentially, each zone of the irrigation system will supply plants with similar or the same water requirements. This prevents plants from being overwatered by having to meet the requirements of plants needing more water in the same zone. Rule number one in hydrozoning is not to group trees/shrubs and turf together. For this practice to be effective the irrigation system operator must be familiar with water usage of turf and landscape plants. Lastly, a water conscious homeowner should consider using a smart controller. These new controller have access to national rainfall information through your home wifi, and in conjunction with a properly hydrozoned landscape you can conserve water protecting this limited resource, while still enjoying a beautiful landscape.

In Houston most of the plant material for landscape is native or comes from Japan or Southern China. The plant materials come from this area because they share the same climate as we do which is humid subtropical. Hydrozoning is relatively second nature to Landscape design because shrubs are not normally randomly placed in the middle of turf. Shrubs and trees are normally placed in beds close to homes or bunched in one area in the yard. So dedicating a separate zone for these plants is standard. Final tip do not be afraid to cut off irrigation to plants that have been established or are fully mature as long as they are not exotic, more likely they were selected to be ornamentals because they could survive once well rooted.

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