Summer is upon us and so is the hot weather. We can choose to be miserable and suffer through the heat, or we can be smart and make a difference. One way to be more comfortable is to turn up the air conditioner and enjoy the arctic air. This works well until the utility bill comes. Energy rates have increased rapidly in the last few years, making the arctic air solution not very practical.

There is one solution that not only makes you more comfortable, but can also save you money or even make you money. The key to comfort lies in the landscape. With properly placed trees and shrubs, you can reduce your energy bill by up to 50%. When plants, especially trees, photosynthesize, they release a large quantity of water into the air, resulting in natural evaporative cooling. Research has shown that an environment that is shaded by plants will have an air temperature 3 to 9 degrees cooler than non-shaded areas.

When planting trees and shrubs you should be careful where you plant or you will actually waste more energy than you save. You want to reduce the summer sun as well as allow maximum warming winter sun. Placing trees on the east and west sides of the house has maximum summer cooling effect. These shade the walls and windows when the sun is low in the morning and evenings. If you place trees that shade southern winter sun, you may well have a decreased energy bill. To create maximum savings, you need to select a large shade tree such as a Chinese elm or a camphor tree that will grow large enough to shade the southern roof in midsummer and lose its leaves in winter to allow the needed heating. Shrubs and vines also provide sun protection and increased insulation and result in significant energy savings.

Proper placement of trees and shrubs not only saves you money, but can also make you money. There is nothing that has a higher return on home resale value than the landscape. On the average, landscaping returns 110% of the investment and continues to increase over time.

So get out and make your summers more comfortable and more affordable by planting trees and shrubs in your yard today.

Cool-season grasses:
Just as in June, cool-season lawns such as perennial ryegrass, bluegrass, and fescue are growing slowly now, so do not mow short. Be sure to cut ryegrass and bluegrass to 2 inches. Tall fescues should be left even taller - between 2 and 3 inches after cutting. Mow tall fescues often, but never cut off more than one-third of their total height.

Extend the time between irrigation of all fescue now, and water it deeply to encourage deep roots. Most other cool-season grasses tend to seed shallower than warm-season lawns, and require more frequent watering than warm-season grasses. In hot weather most cool-season grasses need to be watered twice or three times a week in interior zones, and at least once a week in coastal zones. Early in the morning (any time between midnight and dawn) is the best time to irrigate both for water conservation purposes and also for lawn health.

Do not fertilize cool-season grasses now in interior zones. Along the coast fertilize very lightly - one half of the normal amount.

Healthy trees can reduce utility bills for air conditioning by 15-50%.
The net cooling effect of a young healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours per day.