Monticello yard awards

Eric and Brenda Rowley are the new owners of the traveling beautiful yard award in Monticello this month. They are one yard among several around town that could have also received the xeriscape award, as one of their front beds is completely full of native desert foliage. Rowley has recently spent many sweaty hours completing a rock terrace that runs along the outer border of the yard. He states that the rocks making up the terrace have been hand selected and come from as far away as Oregon. Rowley said that in the future, he plans to extend the terrace wall to come all the way to the front of the property. Passing by the Rowley residence, the most stunning native sunflower plants are noted right off the bat. Brenda said the sunflowers are volunteer plants that just appeared one summer, and they have since grown full size to become one of the crowning pieces of the Rowley yardscape. 
Ron and Wanda Skinner are the deserving recipients of the Xeriscape award for the month of August. They have recently completed two desert scape beds complete with sage brush, cactus and native grasses as well as an old family farm plow and a garden ornament squirrel perched on top of the enormous rock placed in the front. Wanda states that they were surprised at how much money they were able to save by purchasing their rock from a local business. Both recipients this month told of their future plans to take out more sections of lawn to accommodate additional xeriscape beds. The Monticello Parks & Beautification Committee would like to thank these two families for their work and future plans to make their contribution to making our community attractive and water wise.