JUNE 2015 NEWSLETTER

Little did I know when I started working with my brother in 1974 that droughts would have a heavy impact on our careers. The big dry spell of 1976-78 was so bad that if you didn’t have a well, you lost your lawn. Our budding maintenance business sank into the drying mud and we began installing drought tolerant landscapes where the once green lawns had been so happy. There wasn’t enough work for two of us, so I built fences for awhile and since working with wood had been my strength, I went into construction. For the next 30 years I built houses in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area. Maybe I’m bad luck, but almost as soon as I rejoined Waldron Landscaping, bang, another drought! At least, for now, our water supply is much greater with Lake Sonoma’s huge capacity.

The lessons we learned from the first dry spell influenced the companies’ philosophy of conservation from the very beginning. We’ve not only learned to use attractive plants and underground drip systems, but have spent considerable time designing xeriscapes, which, combined with paths and patios are not only attractive, but utilitarian. After the first drought a lot of rock-scapes were quickly put in, turning once nice front yards into quarries, with the occasional juniper thrown in for variety. This is ‘verboten’ in our scheme and part of the reason Dave went back to school to become a landscape architect and begin to design attractive alternatives to lawn.

Since we can only water our lawns on Mondays and Thursdays from 7pm to 7am, many of you are once again weighing the value of your turf. If you decide to keep watering at a minimal level, your lawns will probably come thru the summer fine. Lawns have amazing resiliency to stress. If you decide to remove the lawn (and you are a VOM or city of Sonoma water customer) check into their rebate program. It can get you a check for up to 1000 dollars. Don’t let the lawn die before you call for an inspection. Only green lawns are eligible.

The drought has not only affected us, it also changed long-time employee, Nacho Navarro’s life as well. He worked for the Skylark native plant nursery in the 1970’s. The nursery did very well during the dry spell. When the heavy rains finally set in, almost everyone forgot about native plants and once again began a love affair with their lawns. Nacho went from a now failing nursery to us, where his brother Ramon and two other ex-Skylark employees had taken refuge. All the wet and dry cycles have covered a few decades and now Nacho will be the first employee at Waldron Landscape to turn 65 and enter the social security zone. I know how he feels, being only three years behind him! Not to worry, Nacho plans to collect his SS and work part time for a couple more years, so he can roll out a couple hundred more miles of drip line to help conserve some extra water.