January | 2014 | FormLA Landscaping

: Xeriscape with Dry Rock Riverbed

: Allium Unifolium: Photo courtesy of the Theodore Payne Foundation. You may never guess it from the charming blooms, but Allium are part of the onion and garlic families! Most will range from 1-2 inches in height with their diaphanous blooms emerging from the top of a leafless stalk.

: Yarrow: Drought tolerant and fire retardant

: Salvia: Drought tolerant, brings birds and butterflies while repelling

Earn or Lose Money with Landscape Choices

Governor Jerry Brown called for voluntary water conservation efforts as he declared the drought, but your efforts to conserve water – or not – may be worth a pretty penny to your municipality.

Cities and governmental organizations throughout the county began offer intricate incentives for drought tolerant landscaping and rate hikes for excessive water use . There is evidence these programs have produced the intended consequences. According to the Los Angeles Times, LA water use has remained at 2007 lows, evidence that carrots and sticks produce lasting changes to our habits.

Whether you come to smart landscaping choices out of necessity, altruism, or an incentive, it doesn’t hurt to cash in! Check out some of the more noteworthy ways to make your smart landscaping choices make money:

$1 Per Square Foot: Earn a dollar for every square foot of thirsty lawn you replace with an IdealMow® lawn alternative or other drought tolerant landscaping material via the Los Angeles County Waterworks “Cash for Grass” program.

Water Saving Device Rebates: Los Angeles County Waterworks renewed past rebate programs for 2014, offering rebates for rainbarrels, irrigation stations, and soil moisture sensors.

Here is the latest on sustainable landscaping policies and incentives in some of the cities we serve throughout the County of Los Angeles:

Beverly Hills – Sticks: Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants presented a potent case to city council explaining the need for a shift in the way they manage their water. To date, we have not seen movement parallel to their counterparts around the county.

Los Angeles – Carrots: Expect graywater to be the wave of the future as Los Angeles shifts away from imported water to local sources derived from treated storm water run-off and rain water capture.

Pasadena – Carrots: Pasadena’s water saving efforts include its well-rounded Turf Removal Program. Multi-family and commercial projects can earn as much as $10,000, while single-family homeowners can earn up to $2500.

Santa Monica – Carrots: Look for this city to become completely water independent in the very near future, setting an amazing example for the county and the country. Santa Monica reduced dry run off from over 700,000 gallons per year to under 200,000gal/year over the last decade. Its incentives include Cash for Grass and rebates for drip irrigation, sprinklers, rain barrels and cisterns, downspout redirects, and weather based irrigation controllers.

Sierra Madre – Sticks: The city, having lost its ability to support its water needs with well water, is considering a 20 percent water rate increase. The city seeks ways to cost with the cost of importing water, which is 2.5x more expensive than utilizing its own water resources.

Of course, FormLA Landscaping ensures each of our design+build projects maximize both sustainability and incentive program eligibility. If you have questions about the carrots or sticks in your municipality, please contact us.

: Photo courtesy of the Theodore Payne Foundation. This native Lily grows as tall as your head along river beds just above the water line. Its exceptionally striking orange color contrasts with native counterparts in the vicinity, as it splendidly emerges once other blooms have faded. Walk your local LA shaded stream beds in the foothills to find these gems.

: C.Pansa can be left at a longer meadow-like height. It provides a charming vertical from the patio of this Tudor home and a wonderful border to a permeable pathway traversing the home’s significant slopes.

Going the Extra Mile to Make Every Drop Count

Three simple landscaping decisions produce profound and powerful water savings: replacing a traditional lawn with an IdealMow® lawn alternative, integrating smart irrigation, and planting natives. The first two alone can save more than 70 percent of the water you use outdoors – (household – what is 70% of 60%?).

For those of you who are always looking to go the extra mile, here are choices that earn extra credit, delivering the most powerful water savings possible.

Choose an Optimal IdealMow® Variety

While we select all IdealMow® lawn alternatives for their ability to thrive in dry months without chemical fertilizers and with little water, some are super-savers. Dune Sedge (Carex Pansa), for example, can save 80 percent of the water needed to support a traditional grass like tall Fescue. This is 10 percent more savings than some of our other IdealMow favorites!

Be Picky with the Natives

California’s terrain consists of an extraordinary diversity of climates from bogs to dessert, and our native foliage reflects what it takes to thrive in this variety of microclimates with unmatched biodiversity. This is to say that, while simply going native will reap great water savings, ensuring the specific natives you choose are adapted to the specific microclimates of your neighborhood and property will bring even greater savings. As a bonus for your extra effort, foliage placed in its ideal microclimate will grow strong and perform to its most optimal aesthetic.

Invest in Hydrozones

Weather based controllers, water management, and low volume, subsurface irrigation all conserve amazing amounts of water while keeping your garden in tip-top shape. For extra credit, create hydrozones – retrofit or change irrigation to match the needs of your new planting schemes. Each side of your home has a unique microclimate. Embrace these distinctive climate zones, customizing the delivery of water to meet only what is needed by the foliage within each zone. Use as many zones as your project and plant pallet demands. A diverse plant pallet with proper watering will result in a healthy, pest and chemical free garden.