Response from R & R Landscape Services Inc
I was called out to this property for a drought tolerant landscape, usually I do the design but in this situation the member already had a very clear idea of what he wanted and although I made some suggestions to altering it to make it a bit more interesting he seemed pretty firm to stick with the plant which involved about 90% gravel and decomposed granite in the front yard. I understand his reasoning towards this design, we have a drought heading in our direction and a lot of homeowners are faced with either we violate the restrictions while cheating on irrigating our landscaping that requires high volumes of water that cost us an arm and a leg to install or do we rip everything out and make it look like Phoenix Arizona. I'll tell you what I've done, I for one am a California native and although I've visited many beautiful parts of the country I prefer to live here obviously because of the weather and I prefer Bamboos, King palms and a wide variety of other plants that require moderate to high water needs. I am a firm believer that if you manage your water you CAN still have this landscape as long as you know what you are doing. First thing to consider is to come with a well balanced hard scape plan that can include permanent solid surfaces such as concrete, pavers or other materials that will reduce the amount of watering along with softer surfaces that you can include some plants to soften the area such as decomposed granite or gravel. For the areas that will be landscaped you can select lush plants to fill in and irrigate if possible with drip irrigation or underground drip. I suggest underground drip only if you will not constantly garden the areas otherwise you will damage it. Add mulch or gravel to further conserve moisture. For the lawn areas and if the budget permits it underground drip, if not drop your lawn grade level and bedding areas below your hard scape so that any water run off will drain into the soft scape. Eliminate drains from your lawn and bedding areas unless these are up against your house and run a risk of damaging your house if flooded. Smart controllers are the future, there are basically two options those that are connected to the internet and sync with the weather channel to adjust the watering according to weather predictions and those that have wireless sensors in the ground telling the controller exactly how much water is needed for that zone. The latter is always more accurate and more expensive. When you have taken all the necessary steps you can still have a beautiful lush landscape while still saving the environment. For this member I don't think that he wanted to sway away from the plan which is fine. I don't think that he really needed a company like ours to just install gravel, a few drips and a few plants. I did try to give him some pointers as to watering the two trees that he had planted and for killing the weeds that still remained and I'm sure the job got done, I am grateful that he took the time to put in this review and I think it's only fair that we post a response for other members that are facing the same situation. Hope this was helpful. Ray