Water wisdom: Encinitas octogenarian crafts award-winning drought-tolerant landscape

| Friday, June 13, 2008 10:36 AM PDT ∞

KATHY DAY
For the North County Times

ENCINITAS ---- Adele Selinger ought to be on the Do It Yourself network as the Conservation Gardener.

The Encinitas woman recently won the Olivenhain Municipal Water District's California Friendly Landscape Contest for "transforming her front yard into a water-wise landscape utilizing a variety of drought-tolerant plants that display brilliant color."

But that’s only a small part of the story.

"I'm 88 years old," she said. "If I can do it, so can you."

And she did it without spending a lot of money. "I didn’t buy any of the plants because I had bits and pieces of them."

But, she cautioned, it just takes time and effort to acquire a "consciousness about water conservation."

Selinger says her yard, accented by carefully planted sections of ground covers, and succulents and cacti she brought from Arizona, draws rave reviews from neighbors and has dramatically cut her water bill.

She says she did nearly all the work herself and has reduced her water bills from more than 30 units per month to fewer than two.

One unit amounts to 748 gallons a month, which costs just a couple of dollars, although surcharges make the bill higher, according to Teresa Chase, the water district's conservation and education coordinator.

Other water-wise winners in the landscape contest were Joseph and Jeanette Bellisario (second place) and Linda and Don Laspesa (third place).

Now Selinger is one of the lowest water-using customers in the 60,000-customer district and one of its most enthusiastic, Chase said.

In explaining why she converted her yard, Selinger said, "The supply of water is our No. 1 concern. We need to live on this planet, and without water we perish."

Selinger, who radiates energy, said it makes her feel good when neighbors stop to admire her yard, which at full bloom is chock-full of pinks, oranges and yellows and accented by green and gray foliage.

"I have a neighbor who told me she's very grateful for the change," she said. "She told me that she suffers from depression and when she walks by my garden she feels good the rest of the day."

Selinger said she started changing the way her garden looks three years ago, when she realized that turf is the "biggest water waster."

She also was looking for a way to get around the problem created by a neighboring liquidambar tree that shaded her yard, sent roots into it and left her with seedlings popping up.

By cutting her water use, she's slowed the growth of the seedlings, and there’s no lawn to be hurt by the shade, she said.

She hired someone to remove her 24-year-old lawn ---- the only outside help she used. The lawn had been an issue for a while because she lives in a neighborhood with a homeowners association.

"They didn't say anything because at first I left some grass in the middle," she said.

"All we have is sandy soil left," she said. "The good soil was all used up â€- With the gardener, it just meant more water."

Once the lawn was gone, Selinger, who has studied botany for years, sectioned the yard out the way she wanted it. Then she made a trip to Home Depot for 31 concrete edge pieces that now encircle the centerpiece in her front yard that includes a large agave plant.

She had new topsoil delivered and spread it out herself. Using a tool that pokes holes in the ground as she steps on it, she was able to plant without kneeling.

"I stuck in the plants where I wanted them," she said, adding that she planted the front yard in November 2006.

Selinger said she also availed herself of the water district's offer of sending someone out to evaluate her water use.

"The man told me I didn't need to water my bushes so often," she said. "I still have beautiful blossoms, and now I only have to trim them once a year."

Now, she uses her hose sparingly and collects sink water when she's washing fruits and vegetables to use on her plants.

"I haven't watered since it rained that little bit a couple of weeks ago."

Selinger isn't at all shy about her success and says she often gives cuttings to people who stop to chat.

She’s got an abundance of jade plants, aloe vera, and geraniums in her backyard with colors from reds to pinks to oranges.

"Right now, though, you don't see those colors," Selinger said. "There's a beautiful red that I'm going to add in the fall."

One of the biggest benefits of the yard, she added, is that "I don't need a gardener and there's no dust and no gas fumes from the mowers and no noise from the blowers."

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