Our Crazy Colorado Weather

This has been a very unusual winter, spring and summer so far for our state. The winter was very dry and windy with very little snowfall in the front range until late, the spring was a bit dry at first and then BOOM! - our rainfall has been some of the highest on record for late spring and June. And, compared to this winter, we have had relatively low winds.

There are both advantages and disadvantages when you have these extremes in weather. First, it put all of the plant material in a stressed state this winter, especially if you didn’t winter water your trees, shrubs and even grass (you did winter water didn’t you?!). Especially hit hard were the broadleaf evergreen shrubs and ornamental grasses. The spring started out a little dry which didn’t jump start much of the plant material like it should have. But then the extreme rains have been very beneficial for everyone’s plant material and grass.

However there have been some disadvantages to all of this rainfall.

It has caused many erosion problems especially in unlandscaped properties bordering on freshly landscaped properties. The volatile rain on Friday a couple weeks ago caused damage in areas that should have had erosion controls and silt fences erected by the builders. It has also caused erosion problems in swales before landscaping begins, carrying off much of the soil and causing the drainage swales to have low spots.

It has caused sinkage issues around foundations, behind walls and under concrete areas. If the soil was not compacted extremely well around your house foundation, the rainfalls puddled the fill and the grade dropped. This is especially obvious when you see a PVC underground drainspout extension with a gap between the adapter and the pipe. It is like a barometer that shows just how much the fill has sank around your home. We have also seen sinkage holes under driveways and sidewalks that the builders installed. Some neighborhoods with bentonite issues have seen the majority of builder installed walls fail because the excess water interacted with the clay and destabilized the walls.

Another problem that we have been hearing about is turfgrass issues. We have sent several turfgrass samples to the Colorado State Extension offices by Jeff Co Fairgrounds to see if there has been a mold or insect issues at work and have found the samples relatively free of these pathogens. We feel that the frequent rainfall has caused much of the turfgrass this year to grow its roots and stolons closer to the surface since it could anticipate daily rainfall. However, once the rainfall stopped and the extreme heat blasted the grass for several days, the grass stressed very quickly, especially if customers didn’t immediately begin their normal water cycling. Most people had their irrigation systems off during all of the rainfall and didn’t anticipate the quick return to normal heat.

The best way to return this grass to normal is to immediately start watering it more frequently to get the green back and keep the roots alive, then slowly start backing off the watering to get the turfgrass to grow its roots deeper. This will help it become less susceptible to heat and water stress. An aeration and light fertilizer application will also be beneficial. Please print our turf maintenance instructions for more helpful hints for mowing and fertilization practices which will help your turfgrass through the summer.

Hopefully our weather will average itself out to more normal levels in the future. In the meantime, the rains have been beautiful.

As always, we really appreciate referrals if you know a friend or neighbor that needs a landscape consultation and design!

Thank you for your continued support.