Weather, water impact spring sales At this year's California pack trials some of the participating breeding/propagating companies expressed concern about the small number of growers who visited their trials. Considering that the second week of the trials was during Easter week (April 20), it was not surprising that grower attendance may have been down. Many growers, especially in the South, were already heavy into shipping spring crops. Growers in the Midwest and Northeast were wishing for better Easter weather as winter seemed to be in no hurry to end. Average temperatures in these areas were at least 10-15 degrees below normal. Drought was also still a concern in some parts of the country, especially in Great Plains and Western states. Grower concerns over the state of the U.S. economy and the events in Iraq pale in comparison to their concerns over what kind of weather was in those areas where they were shipping product. Colorado growers especially were wondering how water restrictions would impact spring sales. As of May 1, Denver residents were restricted to the number of hours, days and times (no watering from 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.) they could water their lawns (twice a week) and flower and vegetable gardens (any day except Monday). In nearby Aurora, some residents and businesses were relieved when in April the City Council adopted watering restrictions less stringent than those proposed earlier in the year. Aurora adopted most of the same restrictions as Denver to avoid last year's confusion when water restrictions varied between cities. Other nearby cities were expected to adopt similar rules. Denver officials were discouraging the installation of new lawns due to limited water use, and Aurora banned new landscapes effective May 3. Limited flower plantings Denver and most surrounding cities planned to reduce the number of flower beds they planted in municipal parks and on other city property. Gary Douglas of the Denver Parks and Recreation Department told the Rocky Mountain News that the city planned to use more heat- and drought-tolerant plants such as ornamental grasses, gloriosa daisies, salvias and coreopsis in its landscape beds. Also, flower beds were to be limited to high-visibility public areas such as the city's civic center and its major parks. Douglas said the department would avoid higher-water-use plants, including geraniums, petunias, snapdragons, coleus and impatiens. Aurora plans to eliminate flowers altogether from its landscaping this year and will limit watering to trees and shrubs in most city parks. Jack Cooper, director of Aurora's parks and open space, told the Rocky Mountain News that the city doesn't even plan to use plastic flowers in its community parks like it did last year. He said a lot of the flowers, which were put in as a symbolic gesture, were stolen. Drought, water consumption and water restrictions are going to become more important as weather, population growth and new construction issues have an increasing impact on many municipalities' antiquated water storage and delivery systems. Some breeding companies have focused much of their marketing efforts on crop adaptability to light levels, seasonal use and color matching, with little attention given to plant water requirements. Expect this to become an increasingly important plant characteristic for growers, retailers and consumers as water issues gain government and public attention. Send this article to a friend Enter your e-mail address: Enter your friend's e-mail address: Click the image below to send: © 2002 Branch-Smith Publishing