Michael Clark
Living Water Irrigation and Landscape, LLC won an award for the design at this property in Santa Fe. The water fountain and irrigation is supplied by a water catchment cistern, and all plantings are drought resistant.
The lawn is a soft sprouting square that seems to be integral to the American dream of white-picket-fence suburbia. Here in Santa Fe, though, the lawn is more likely to be a thirsty beige-green than the deep dream green of wetter climes, and the fence that shields it from the eyes of passersby is more likely a wall of upright wooden branches lovingly known as the coyote fence.
Nonetheless, we've got lawns aplenty in Santa Fe, which is part of the reason that summer irrigation is the number one biggest source of water waste in Santa Fe, when use shoots up two to three times compared to winter months, says Christine Chavez, the city's water conservation manager. With summer water use regulations in effect this week, now's the time to consider upgrading to a more efficient irrigation system and employing water-efficient landscaping techniques to slash your summer water waste. And in the long term, it might be time to think about tearing up the lawn and replacing it with a more desert-friendly landscape design. The good news is, once you start the think outside of that water-guzzling green box, the possibilities for sustainable desert gardening have a lot to offer.
Helping clients reimagine their outside spaces to achieve stunning sustainable alternatives to traditional and wasteful garden designs is one of the passions that drive Mark and Lisa Brotton, whose Santa Fe-based landscape design company Living Water, Irrigation and Landscape just won two international industry awards from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers for designs at two properties in Santa Fe County. Mark tells SFR that his focus on water catchment systems, smart irrigation and drought-sustainable planting are the features that helped his designs score the silver award in the "special projects" category.
Living Water specializes in landscape water management and low-impact designs that include passive and active water catchment systems, high-tech advanced irrigation, land restoration and soil regeneration, permaculture and xeriscaping—the practice of using drought resistant plant varieties and efficient watering techniques.
Michael Clark
"I've been in the industry for 35 years," says Mark, "and in Santa Fe, we're always in a drought. … As a designer, I'm always trying to push the envelope of, 'How do I do this better?' Sustainability is about doing things differently than we used to do them, so we always strive to keep learning how to be better stewards of our environment and the resources we have. I love what I do. I love this challenge."
While every site is different and requires a unique approach to design, Mark says that the feature that he installs for efficient water use in every garden is a flow meter that measures the amount of water used to irrigate the property in conjunction with a high-tech hydrolyzed timer that turns water on and off according a preset schedule and flow rates. The timer connects to the cloud, which means that it can be remotely controlled for even more precise water management.
Mark is certified a member of the ADLP and is the chair of the sustainability board for the association. In this role, he says, he is working on national sustainability initiatives in the horticulture industry, including advocating to eliminate the use of plastic pots in nurseries and greenhouses. These pots are generally only used once and are one of the greatest sources of plastic waste for commercial plant sales.
Locally, his focus is on inspiring property owners to see sustainability as an asset rather than an onerous obligation.
You don't have to give up beauty or color to maintain a sustainable garden, he says. "It's all about creativity and good design."
