Warm Seattle Summers Call for Drought Resistant Plants and Trees

Over the past several years, Seattle’s weather has changed. We no longer get the typical misty June weather before the hot, dry summer season. Higher summer temperatures and a dryer climate worsen the situation and forecasters expect these trends to continue. Increasingly warm Seattle summers call for drought-resistant plants and trees. Our ISA certified arborists suggest a few modifications to help your landscape handle complications from extreme heat and prolonged drought in the summer months.

Certified Arborists in Seattle Recommend a Thorough Tree Health Assessment

Is your commercial property currently filled with dead or dying trees and greenery? It’s time to begin your transition to a more drought-tolerant landscaping approach. To ensure your landscape survives and thrives despite the changing climate, replace ailing plants and trees with more drought-tolerant, and native options. Equally important is improved soil health, which offers a path to a lower maintenance landscape with reduced water requirements.

Why Soil Health is Crucial to Mitigating Seattle’s Increasingly Hot, Dry Summers

With the right soil amendments, your plants and trees will better tolerate hotter, dryer Seattle temperatures. Healthy soil retains more water, whether from a slow rain or a hard-hitting, fast storm, holding on to moisture like a sponge to prevent your landscape from drying out long after rains subside. Compost is just what the doctor ordered if depleted soil has left your Seattle landscape thirsty and in poor health. Packed with nutrients and teeming with beneficial microorganisms, it guards against pathogens like viruses and fungi, supporting stronger, healthier trees and greenery.

How to Improve Soil and Plant Health with Compost

Our Seattle tree care experts include compost as a regular part of plant wellness routines. We perform soil tests before adding soil amendments, ensuring the right blend for your site to achieve optimal growing conditions. The typical regimen includes two to three inches of compost applied annually to the soil surrounding existing trees, shrubs, and other plant life. For grass-filled landscapes, as little as one-quarter inch of compost incorporated into your lawn each year may be sufficient.

Sustainable Landscaping Makes Dollars and Sense

Setting off on the path to a waterwise, climate-friendly landscape with naturally healthy soil is a great way to support the environment and save on landscape maintenance. Strong, healthy trees surrounded by nutrient-rich soil create a haven for beneficial bugs, reduce watering needs, eliminate unnecessary pesticide and herbicide application, and keep pollutant-laden runoff out of waterways and drainage systems.

Warm Seattle summers call for drought resistant plants and trees. Maximize water conservation through prudent tree and plant choices and optimal soil health, ensuring strong, resilient landscapes with help from Arborwell Professional Tree Management. Contact us at to schedule a tree assessment today for your Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Kent, Edmonds, or Bothell property.