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Good reasons to take out your grass:

• Would you prefer lower water bills and less yard work to worry about?
• Do you have an old, tired lawn that seems to require more and more effort to maintain?
• Is the only time you walk on your lawn when you mow it?
• Are you interested in a cash rebate for installing the latest in irrigation technology?

If you answered yes to any of these, you should at least consider the thought. Just take a look at the following to see where we’re coming from and to learn more.

If you only step onto your lawn to mow it, there’s no use for it. It’s the cold truth. We agree that greenery looks beautiful, and lawns provide a low, lush green look that in many people’s minds just can’t be matched, but times and trends are changing and the lawns we know and love are on their way out. Here’s a quick history on lawns, which may help to explain why we have such a hard time letting go of them, but why we really should tear them out ASAP.

Lawns are something passed down to us here in California from out East Coast relatives, and from their forefathers in places such as Great Britain and France, where frequent rain and cool weather support grasses that grow wild as pastures without the need for irrigation to keep them alive, and where livestock is nature’s lawnmowers. This landscape is what the early settlers of America were already familiar with when they arrived, and the weather on much of the East Coast supported the continuation of the pasture, which later evolved into the lawn, but the West Coast is a different story. We live in an arid climate in Southern California. Seasonal rainfall is not enough to naturally support lawns here, let alone our need for drinking water for the tens of millions of people that populate this region, so we turn to our water rich North and take their water to sustain our ever growing population. However, in the coming years, California will be experiencing an mounting water crisis due to a number of factors, most notably population growth, so a number of laws, such as AB 1881 (The Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance), have already been put into effect to more strictly regulate the use of water in order to conserve it and hold cities more responsible for water inefficient landscapes. So what does this mean for you? In short, this basically means that your water prices WILL go up in the coming years in order to pressure to you to conserve more water. Since grass uses the most water out of any other plant hands down, your landscape should be the first thing you evaluate in the coming years to change so as to cut long term water costs and make your property more efficient. Similar to the latest trends in residential solar panels, so too will smart irrigation timers and portable weather stations become the future rage, with these technologies costing only hundreds of dollars as opposed to tens of thousands for solar panels. Another reason to think about doing away with that green carpet of yours is that the latest landscape designs and trends no longer incorporate lawns. Just take a drive through some of Ventura County’s newest neighborhoods, such as Oxnard’s master planned community of Seabridge, and you won’t see many lawns. If you can spot a lawn in one of these communities, its usually tiny and insignificant compared to the lush low water use planting surround it. So unless you have real use for your lawn, like for playing games, there’s really no reason to still hold onto it.

The solution as well as the latest in design trends embraces low water use planting. Before jumping to conclusions, we assure you that we’re not talking about landscapes filled with barrel cactuses and wagon wheel decorations. We’re talking about lavenders, rosemary, sage, ornamental fountain grasses, cypresses, olive trees, date palms and so many more. When you hear these names, many of you may think of the lush gardens of the Italian Renaissance or of Ancient Rome. These plants scream beauty, elegance, as well as usefulness. Some of these are California Natives, while many are natives to one of the other four places of the world that share our unique climate, such as Italy (Mediterranean Region), South Africa, Chile, and West Australia. So when considering the future of your landscape, consider one with the latest trends that is elegant, beautiful, efficient, and technologically advanced. The long term savings, as well as the satisfaction of knowing that your new landscape will stand the test of time with the incorporation of classical design roots, will leave you happy for years to come!