- Lower water bills
- Reduced water use
- Attractive plants with less maintenance
- More wildlife habitat
- Less plant disease and more pest resistance
- Deeper roots help to stabilize slopes and prevent soil erosion
- More groundwater recharge
- Less polluted runoff flowing to the ocean
- When your property blends with your surroundings, the property looks larger and more graceful
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Benefits of Drought Tolerant Landscaping
February 18, 2021
The Southern California Homeowners Dilemma
Save time, money, & water
One of the biggest challenges facing today’s southern Californian homeowners is how to keep and maintain their landscapes without spending more time and money than their budget can afford, while also adding an extra burden to the environment by using the scarce water available due to ongoing drought conditions.
Landscapes are essential to the long term stability of the southern California environment. A well designed landscape provides incredible benefits. They positively impact economic welfare, public health, and ecological well being. They also protect aquatic environments, clean the air, and provide a wealth of recreational opportunities. Nevertheless, some of the unintentional costs to the environment occur when the pesticides we use kill not only the targeted pests but also the beneficial ones. The petrochemical fertilizers we use often get into the ground water ending up polluting our rivers and oceans. The herbicides to control weeds may be harmful to natural wildlife. Furthermore, the equipment used to maintain landscapes contributes to noise and air pollution. There is even a tremendous cost to the environment from the extraction, transportation, treatment, distribution and the handling of wastewater.
So what kinds of solutions do homeowners have to address the kinds of problems inherent with keeping and maintaining a well designed landscape? The most practical choice that is now becoming a requirement throughout the state of California’s a result of water restriction laws such as assembly bill 1668 and senate bill 606 is to create new drought tolerant landscapes.
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Some of the benefits of drought tolerant plants include:
4 primary options for creating a drought tolerant landscape:
List of Services
- The ‘Minimalist effect’
List Item 1
This kind of landscape focuses on the removal of the majority of plants and natural grass and replaces it with decorative rock, decomposed granite, and a handful of cactus and succulents.
For a list of drought-tolerant plants, you can go to: https://www.calwater.com/conservation/low-water-drought-resistant-plants/Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special, or a unique service that you offer.
- The ‘Southwestern effect’
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This kind of landscape utilizes a combination of plants native to the southwest along with a greater proportion of succulents and cactus to fill in space. Sometimes the ground will be covered by succulents such as sedums and ice plants but also with decorative rocks and decomposed granite.
- The ‘California natives effect’
List Item 3
This kind of landscape focuses on a combination of California indigenous native plants such as ceanothus, Arctostaphylos, salvia, rhamnus, and others along with ornamental grasses such as Muhlenbergia, Pennisetum, and miscanthus.
- The ‘Mediterranean effect’
This landscape offers the most amount of color but also requires the most amount of maintenance. Plants like lavender, rosemary, sage, and olives are often used in these kinds of landscapes.
Lawn Replacement Options
The biggest source of water consumption in a landscape but one that most homeowners have a difficult time parting with is a natural grass lawn. With penalties for local water use skyrocketing, many homeowners are choosing to replace their natural grass.
Drought tolerant natural grasses:
- West coast bentgrass
- Bermuda grass varieties
- Kurapia
- Buffalo grass
Synthetic turf:
At southwest greens southern California, we manufacture and install up to 70 different varieties of synthetic turf including our most realistic-looking bolt natural turf. Turf can be used for front, side, and rear yards, for pet areas, for play areas, for concreted and rooftop spaces, for event spaces, and as a source of entertainment such as our award-winning golden bear turf putting greens and bocce courts. With turf, you use virtually no water, require no mowing, fertilizing, or weeding, and you keep your area dirt-free
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