Passing of a Waterwise Pioneer

Ellen C. Wells

We’re sad to the announce of the passing of David Salman, a pioneer of the practice and promotion of xeriscaping, or waterwise landscaping, in the West this June. He was 65.

David was the founder of Santa Fe Greenhouses, High Country Gardens and Waterwise Gardening. He had encouraged environmentally conscious gardening practices for decades, long before it was “the thing.”

Because of his dedication to keeping the environment top-of-mind in the field of horticulture, David was awarded the American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardeners Award in 2008. He was almost prescient about the need to find, breed and develop plants that use less water—not only in the Southeast, but in regions where average temperatures have slowly been rising. GP