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Letter to the editor

Texas city greens the scene

By MARY COLLISTER, Gardening
Published November 16, 2007

Traveling to other areas of the country gives me the opportunity to study other plants and different landscape designs and even hear other opinions about gardening. An October trip to Denton, Texas, enabled me to enjoy a little of all three of these elements of gardening.

While visiting Denton, I took a short field trip to one of the city's firehouses. Completed in April, it is considered a "green building" both inside and out.

It's wonderful when government takes the lead in conservation. What better way to send a message to the masses that careful use of our limited resources is everyone's responsibility?

The 15,000-square-foot Denton Firehouse No. 7 includes $3.4-million worth of recycled construction materials, natural light and four 5,500-gallon cisterns to store rainwater.

During construction, about 30 tons of waste materials were recycled into Denton Dyno Dirt, which is then sold by the city's utilities department.

Seven Dyno Dirt products are available. There are mulches in a variety of sizes and colors, soil (40 percent compost and 60 percent sandy soil), and dirt (compost). Quite a lot from which gardeners can choose!

What interested me most was the exterior of the building. The landscape at Firehouse No. 7 is watered using a rainwater harvesting system that stores 22,000 gallons of water in the four cisterns scattered throughout the property.

Plantings require little care and, once established, will require little supplemental water. These include a large variety of ornamental grasses, oak and ash trees, juniper, Sansevieria and Russian sage.

To further cut down on water use and maintenance, an extensive amount of hardscape is used. Driveways leading to the truck bays and the sidewalks are concrete, but paths throughout the landscape are composed of a variety of crushed stones and gravel.

The different colors and textures of the stones added interest to the landscape and will require little care, perhaps weeding and renewal of the stones periodically.

I was impressed that a city took the lead in building green. It was reported that the building cost about $200,000 more in upfront costs than a nongreen building, but they project a $1-million savings in the years to come.

Other cities, and individuals, should follow Denton's lead.You don't have to travel out of the state to see examples of creative conservation.

Hillsborough County used to have free mulch but has turned over the operation to Consolidated Resource Recovery. The mulch is available at three recovery sites in the county for a fee: 13000 U.S. 41 S, 350 Falkenberg Road and 8001 W Linebaugh Ave. When I called CRR at (813) 662-0977, I was told I would have to visit the sites to get prices and information about the product.

Another source for mulch, often free, is a tree service. Usually these guys have more chipped product than they know what to do with, sometimes even paying to dump it. Certainly if you have tree work done, ask them if you can keep the chipped material.

If you want more information about what works in our area and is earth friendly, visit the Bette S. Walker Discovery Garden at the Hillsborough Extension Office, 5339 County Road 579 in Seffner.

The garden is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday,

The themes include a backyard barbecue patio, sensory garden, Florida-friendly water gardens, an Asian-influenced garden and a wildlife habitat area.

The area is set up as an educational experience, so give yourself plenty of time to wander. Bring a notebook and camera so you can record information on both the plants and nonplant elements you think you might want to incorporate into your garden.

You'll see paving, trellises, containers, lighting, seating and decorative features.

Keep your eyes open as you drive through our community. There are many examples of earth-friendly landscapes. And when you see them, let us know so we can share the knowledge.

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 06:55:12]