When the weather is hot and dry, it's important to protect your plants and keep them healthy. Even established plants, like street trees, suffer from a dry summer, so get out there and water! Here are 7 water-wise tips to keep your plants hydrated and make watering your garden easy and effective.

Do you know what the No. 1 cause of poor health or death of plants (especially new plantings) is? It's not disease. Not unexpected freezes. Not mistakes made during planting. Watering, you say??? Aww, you looked at the title of the post — yes, it's insufficient or incorrect watering. These living organisms you've just planted can be delicate and demanding, and neglecting their water needs, even briefly, can undo all your hard work getting them planted.

Rain gardens have become a tool that homeowners, developers, restoration workers and others have used to mitigate water in areas of high amounts of winter precipitation and large swathes of impervious surfaces. Instead of a concrete jungle, water tolerators are thriving in moist hydrozones.