The Water Spot

Rain Barrel and Native Plant Sale

The City of Round Rock’s Water Conservation Program is hosting a rain barrel sale along with a Central Texas Native plant sale! We know that Round Rock residents love keeping their landscape looking beautiful and we appreciate that! Oftentimes, yards are filled with non-native plants that are not suited for the climate in Central Texas. This means that the plants tend to use significant amounts of water to stay green or alive. On the other hand, most yards are filled with grasses that do well in this climate but are still overwatered. Luckily, you can cut your outdoor water use in half and still have a beautiful landscape filled with color.

Use Rainwater

Say your grass or plants are starting to look stressed and you are contemplating on increasing the minutes on your sprinkler timer or adding an extra day to your watering schedule. Increasing outdoor watering will increase your water bills and use more of the City’s drinking water supply. Collecting rain and using it weeks later when it’s hot and dry is a great way to keep plants flourishing.

Rainwater is more beneficial than tap water because it has naturally occurring nutrients like nitrogen which helps plants grow! Collecting rainwater also helps with poorly drained yards and standing water. It’s common for the narrow shady sides of houses to become a swampy mud pit after it rains. Collecting the rain that falls from the roof can help reduce the amount of water that cannot soak into the heavy clay soil in your yard.

The 50 gallon rain barrels that you can buy are very easy to use and the setup is quick. The barrels come with all the hardware and basic instructions so you can set it up the day you pick it up. These rain barrels fill up extremely quick too! My rain barrel filled up in just one heavy rain event! The black color helps prevent water from evaporating so you can save it for dryer months ahead.

Use Native Plants

Native plants are adapted to the climate which means they are drought tolerant. They are also an excellent food source for several native insect species and pollinators. Having native plants in your landscape is the best way to revitalize biodiversity and conserve water! The Go n Grow Pollinator Pack by Rooted In is specifically designed to provide color to your landscape from spring to fall! Also, these plants are perennial meaning they come back every spring!

The Pollinator Pack comes with 24 starter plants sown in 3-inch pots and bundled into a 2 ft. x 1 ft. box. Each plant is tagged and numbered to correspond with professional designs to make planting as easy as possible for your DIY installation! There are three designs that you can apply to a landscape of any size or shape! Of course, you can be creative and place the plants wherever you would like. Keep in mind that these plants are native to Texas, so they are going to love the sun!

If you have sprinklers, you can plant these in one or two zones of your yard and minimize the amount of water that the zone uses. This practice is called hydrozoning and improves efficiency and avoids overwatering plants that do not need it.

Rainwater Harvesting and Native Plants

Get your native plants and use a new rain barrel to water them!
Visit cityofroundrock.gov/conservation to learn more and to order!

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