West Palm Beach & Las Vegas!

October 2013 promises to be an eventful month in urban landscape irrigation for our group in South Florida.

Back for fall
On October 3^rd UF/IFAS Extensions from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties are joining forces once again for a day of information sharing and product demonstrations at the fall edition of the South Florida Landscape Irrigation Symposium.

SFLIS in April: Standing room only!

If you were fortunate enough to attend last spring’s sold out event, you know it was teeming with property managers, municipal workers, and technicians, and that it showcased seven vendor booths with reps answering questions and sometimes giving away product samples.

Experts also presented about smart irrigation technology, low-maintenance landscaping and irrigation basics. You can watch the video above and relive the magic, or register for October to experience it live!

Dr. Migliaccio on the mic in April

Our very own Dr. Kati Migliaccio will be presenting at the upcoming symposium, informing on all things smart, including a smart turf app for mobile devices she has developed that is about to take the marketplace by storm.

They still make those? U.C.U. tech Jesus Lomeli evaluates a potable system

Miami-Dade’s Urban Conservation Unit (U.C.U.) will also be in attendance. And of course cameras will be rolling for a video project filming in different corners of the U.S. at the same time.

UF/IFAS Extension: Solutions for your life!

The fall edition of the South Florida Landscape Irrigation Symposium takes place in West Palm Beach. The complete agenda can be found here. Register now!

WaterSmart!

This month to celebrate Labor Day one of the largest landscape management firms in the country recommended several videos to its web audience for engaging leisure viewing. The list included shorts from several western U.S. water utilities and a U.C.U. production!

I mention this because those utilities we were grouped with are some of my water heroes – developing successful conservation initiatives and promotional campaigns in the context of severe droughts. During the first week of October, I’ll be attending the 2013 WaterSmart Innovations Conference (WSI) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and meeting them all.

WSI is the premier west coast water event uniting vendors, utilities, non-profit organizations and academics. Attendees will include many forward-thinking municipalities whose water conservation programs have not only changed the way homeowners think about landscapes and conservation, but also resulted in significant water savings. There are hundreds of presentations planned over several days, including those of UF graduate students Stacia Davis and Mackenzie Boyer.

EXT. DAY - EL PORTAL VILLAGE: Michael Gutierrez doing work!

While at WSI, I’ll be representing for the U.C.U., taking hundreds of pictures, filming for a future video, and live-tweeting my fingers off! Stay tuned to this space for report backs from both events!