Container Gardening: Learn the basics of container gardening and how to make your potted plants thrive. The workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, at the Tempe Public Library, 3500 S. Rural Road.

Common Mistakes When Planting Trees: Proper planting is essential to the long-term health of trees. A mistake that seems small now may greatly affect the health of a tree years down the road. Learn from proper tree planting practices from Tempe’s Urban Forestry team. The workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Women's Club Park 1265 N. College Avenue.

Your Water Use at Your Fingertips: Learn about the WaterSmart customer portal, designed to help customers track their water use and monitor for potential leaks. This workshop is designed for Tempe residents with a water utility account. The workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to noon, Saturday, April 12, 2025, at the Tempe Public Library, 3500 S. Rural Road.

Sustainability in Tempe: Learn from Tempe’s Sustainability team what Tempe is doing to promote a healthy and sustainable future right here at home. The workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 17, 2025, at the Tempe Public Library, 3500 S. Rural Road.

Tempe Video Library

• All About Soil: Thriving landscape plants grow in healthy soil. Learn strategies for increasing the health of soil in the urban desert, including best practices for mulching and composting. 
• Desert Tree Selection and Care: Learn how to choose the right plant for the right place. Explore best practices in maintenance and watering to ensure successful and healthy trees.
• Drip Irrigation Maintenance, Troubleshooting And Repair: Get the basics on maintaining, troubleshooting and repairing residential drip irrigation systems. 
• Commercial, Industrial and Institutional Programs: Learn about everything Tempe’s Water Conservation Program has to offer city businesses, from consultations to rebates and even some grants.  
• Common Mistakes when Planting Trees: Proper planting is essential to the long-term health of trees. A mistake that seems small now may kill a tree years down the road. Don't miss this workshop on common mistakes made when planting trees and how to avoid them.
• Find and Fix Leaks: Learn how to find and fix leaks that are draining your budget. Taught by Tempe Water Conservation staff, this live recorded workshop reviewed the signs of a leak and steps on how to detect and isolate leaks at a residential home. The workshop also featured a demonstration of the WaterSmart Customer Portal and video footage of how to isolate a leak at a home.
• How to Use the Landscape Watering by the Numbers Guide: Become more familiar with this valuable guide to better manage watering frequency, appropriate soil moisture depth and proper watering techniques for different landscape plants.
• Irrigation 101: Review the basics of outdoor watering efficiency. This workshop covers sprinklers, drip, bubblers, microbubblers and hose watering, along with a brief overview of earthworks and graywater systems.
• Landscape Trees for the Arizona Desert: View this recording to learn how to select the right tree for your unique landscape. Discover trees that thrive in Arizona's climate and soil.  
• Landscape Watering 101: View this recording of a LIVE workshop to learn the basics of how long and how often to water the landscape using the watering by the numbers method. The curriculum follows the Landscape Watering by the Numbers method.
• Landscape Watering Basics: Learn how much and how often to water plants and lawns in Tempe.
  • How long to water lawns
  • How long to water landscape plants
• Pollinator Gardens:  Learn about over 200 desert friendly shrubs, cacti, succulents, groundcover and wildflowers that can add diversity to the landscape and support pollinators.  
• Pruning & Maintaining Shrubs: Learn how to properly prune and maintain shrubs.  
• Rainwater Harvesting: Learn the benefits of rainwater harvesting for your residential property taught by a Certified Water Harvesting Practitioner.
• Save Water and Energy at Home: Learn practical tips for saving water and energy at home. 
• Right Tree, Right Place: Learn about landscape trees that enhance the Arizona desert landscape. Explore best practices in selecting and planting new trees. 
• Smart Controllers: Take control of your landscape with smart irrigation controllers, which automatically adjust irrigation based on your yard's needs and changes in weather conditions. This technology can save up to 30 percent on your outdoor watering. 
• Smarter Irrigation: Learn tips and tricks that work for the landscape you have, as well as review the latest advances in outdoor watering efficiency. Taught by Tempe Water Conservation staff, the workshop covers sprinklers, drip, bubblers, microbubblers and hose watering. Technology review included smart controllers, smart timers and flow sensors. Tips included earthworks and soil science.  
• Sprinklers and Bubblers:  Maintenance, Troubleshooting and Repair: Learn how to repair everyday issues with sprinklers and bubblers in a residential irrigation system.  
• Tempe Water Resources 101: Learn about the ongoing efforts Tempe is undertaking to ensure we maintain a robust and resilient water resources portfolio sufficient to meet the needs of the community.  
• Tree Care: Take this interactive tutorial at your own pace to learn how to properly plant and care for trees. The class takes approximately 45 minutes and offers quiz questions throughout to test your knowledge as you advance. Tempe residents who take the class and complete the form at the end of the class may also qualify to apply for the TreeBate.
• Tree Pruning Basics: View this recording of a LIVE workshop to learn the valid reasons and proper methods of tree pruning in an urban landscape. This recording features a live pruning demonstration and QA with Richard Adkins, Tempe's Urban Forester.
• Vegetable Gardening (Fall): The mild weather of fall and winter is prime time for growing great vegetables in the desert. View this recorded LIVE workshop to learn the best practices for producing a bounty of delicious and nutritious food, right in your own backyard.
• Vegetable Gardening (Spring): Early spring in the desert is the perfect time to plant tomatoes and a bevy of other delicious home-grown favorites. Learn about the veggies that thrive in warming weather and how to grow them successfully in your own garden. 
• WaterSmart for Commercial and HOA Properties - Become more familiar with the WaterSmart customer portal and how it can be used to help HOAs and businesses monitor their water use, track multiple sites at once and watch for leaks.
• WaterSmart for Residential Properties - Become more familiar with the WaterSmart customer portal, designed to help customers track their water use and monitor any potential leaks.

Partner Video Library

• Backyard Composting and Worms (Peoria)
• Hummingbird and Butterfly Plants (Gilbert)
• Irrigation Controller Programming (Gilbert)
• Knowing Your Plants Water Needs (Peoria)
• Plants for Pollinators (Peoria)
• Plants for Your Arizona Yard (Gilbert)
• Time to Overseed (Scottsdale)

Smartscape is a water conservation training program specifically designed for professionals in the landscape industry. A range of students seek Smartscape training, including landscape designers, supervisors, and crew members from professional landscaping companies; municipal employees, and Homeowners Associations board members. Classes cover essential topics and important skills for planning, planting, and caring for low-water-use landscapes in the Sonoran Desert. 

• Smartscape: This series of ten, 3-hour workshops will take professionals through eight key topics of water-wise landscape management, including plants, soil, and water; landscape water management and irrigation controllers; drip irrigation design and installation; pruning; desert adapted plants maintenance, plant selection and installation; plant problems; and more. Smartscape is offered February and July of each year. Visit the website for more information.
• Advanced Smartscape: Irrigation: This series builds upon the Smartscape series with 18 hours of in-depth instruction on the design, installation, and maintenance of drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Attendees should have completed the Smartscape series or have a basic knowledge of irrigation systems design, installation, operation, and maintenance. This class is offered every April. 
• Smartscape en Español: Each year Smartscape provides a class that is taught in Spanish. Email smartscape@cals.arizona.edu or call 602-827-8206 to register.