Hruby Residence

New York architects Stephen Hruby and Regina Vaccarella often depart from convention. When they renovated their own home in south Florida, the couple shunned the local norm of estate homes engulfed by expansive lawns. Instead, they transformed their landscape into a rain forest, planted with an array of tropical natives.

When the couple considered drip irrigation to conserve water, they found they were bucking another trend: conventional sprinklers. Steadfast in their beliefs, however, they installed the full line of Rain Bird Xerigation® products and soon realized the kind of high performance, low maintenance and flexibility possible with drip irrigation.

Renovation Leads to Tropical Garden

The Hruby and Vaccarella residence is located in Naples, an upscale suburb on Florida’s subtropical Gulf Coast. The couple renovated their home to expand the inside living space out to the landscape. For example, every opening of the house was turned into a doorway or sliding glass wall leading out to the garden spaces.

Conservation prompted the landscape concept. "We wanted landscaping that would be decorative but not in the traditional water-wasting ways," said Hruby. "Florida has a very limited water table and unwise use depletes the aquifer."

To create their garden, Hruby hired J. Roland Lieber, a Naples landscape architect who designed a dramatic tropical setting with vistas through thick layers of flora. For instant density, Lieber deployed more than 60 specimen-size exotics of varying heights, textures and colors, including palm, citrus, philodendron, heliconia, ginger, bird of paradise, lily, banana plant, liriope and bromeliad. He created rooms on the 90-by-135-foot lot, such as a Japanese stone garden, small orchard, entry courtyard and screened lanai with lap pool.

"The garden feels like acres of land with space beyond," said Vaccarella.

Drip Concept Meets Resistance

With such lushness, Hruby and Vaccarella knew they would need a well-conceived irrigation plan. They liked the idea of drip to conserve water, but they were unable to find anyone to recommend it. "I was concerned about maintenance," said Lieber.

Others were equally hesitant. "Everyone we contacted said drip wasn’t perfected," said Hruby. "We called Rain Bird and received videos and literature, and the name of a consultant who ultimately confirmed our belief that drip was the way to go."

James Abney, a Naples irrigation consultant, has specified drip successfully for some time. He believes that negative experiences are due to improper design and installation. "When done right, drip has a lot to offer, such as low maintenance," he said.

As Abney studied the Hruby’s site and the plant list, he saw drip’s advantages. Drip could be flexible enough for the wide-ranging water requirements, seven different microclimates and five different soil conditions. It could deliver water with precise control, avoiding overspray and water waste. And drip could uniformly irrigate in the midst of large, dense plantings.

For a design concept ensuring low-maintenance irrigation, Abney devised a system of tubing that forms a series of loops. The loops keep water moving in all directions, reducing the chances of clogging and ensuring that a zone can irrigate if one line is damaged. Pressure gauges at each zone indicate clogging or a broken line.

Xerigation’s Full Range Serves Plants Well

Abney specified Rain Bird’s complete line of Xerigation products. For tall shrubs, Abney specified pressure-compensating (PC) modules because of their high, uniform flow at various pressures and their wide coverage. They are connected to Xeri-Tube™ laterals and to distribution tubing, which is staked and terminated with a Rain Bird diffuser bug cap. The spreading root system of trees required equally wide coverage. Xeri-Bubblers™ were specified because, with a twist of the outer cap, they can be adjusted from a drip emitter to a 2-foot radius micro-stream bubbler to grow with the root system.

For plants that prefer wet foliage, Xeri-Sprays™ were chosen for overhead watering. Their flow and radii are adjustable and there are quarter-, half- and full-circle patterns. To irrigate ground cover in sandy soil, Abney specified Xeri-Tube™-PC because of its factory-installed, pressure-compensating emitters available in a variety of spacings and flow rates. "It would have been difficult and expensive to install emitters at each plant," he said.

At the heart of the system is Rain Bird’s ESP-MC controller. Stations can water up to 12 hours which is perfect for drip. ESP-MC’s four programs accommodate the range of water requirements while its eight start times help to reduce runoff. To conserve water, a Rain Bird Rain Check™ sensor was connected to the controller for system shutoff during rainfall. Water budgeting adjusts the irrigation schedule from 0 to 300 percent in 1-percent increments and provides precise control of Rain Bird’s new Automatic Filter (AF) Kit. The AF Series Kit was installed at the point of connection and includes a unique "Wye" style filter with a 200-mesh, stainless-steel screen. The screen is continuously cleaned by a hydraulic scrubbing feature that reduces pressure loss. The flush port of the filter is controlled by Rain Bird’s PESB electric remote-control valve, which flushes the filter on programmed command from the ESP-MC to keep the system nearly maintenance-free.

The new system has exceeded expectations. "We didn’t lose one plant to irrigation system failure," said Hruby. "The garden is flourishing and installers are amazed." He expects to recoup his investment through water savings in five to 10 years.

Abney said, "Thanks to drip we were able to put plants with different water requirements side by side, allowing greater design creativity. And, thanks to the broad selection of emission devises in the Xerigation line, along with the various flow volumes per device, we provided each plant with a suitable amount of water yet kept the number of emitters per plant to a quantity that offered maintenance ease. We probably wouldn’t have done it without Rain Bird."