Drought

We have preached for years that you only need to water 1x per week to maintain your landscape. When the final water plan is designed and implemented by the state and counties, most likely it will allow one watering per week. It is essential that we maintain our trees, shrubs and turf to act as bio-remediators (absorbers of contaminants), heat pool moderators (lowering the high temperatures that result from urbanization) and oxygen producers. Without our landscapes, our streams become more polluted, temperatures increase and oxygen levels drop. The effects over time become exponentially worse, with one problem feeding another. The more prepared western states have realized this and have designed their water conservation plans to accommodate landscapes. Our problem in the southeast is that water conservation is a new concept for us. As we move forward we will have to adapt to this new way of thinking.

On your end, even with judicious conservation of water, you will be able to maintain your landscape investment. It is penny wise and pound foolish to allow your landscape to deteriorate. Use proven water saving techniques which can be found at many water conservation web sites. For instance when installing new plantings use plants designated as xeriscaping or low water use plants. Use gray water to hand water drought sensitive plants.

Prestige has always practiced water conservation and we continue to find ways to reduce our water use. We have modified both the tree and shrub and lawn care programs over the years so that less water is required to service your landscape. Most importantly and uniquely, we use additives in our spray and fertilizer mixes that not only increase water penetration but also improve the soils ability to retain moisture.

The key is to stay the course. Practice water conservation whenever possible. As weather goes we could just as easily flip into a year of excessive rainfall and overflowing reservoirs and then flooding will be the problem.