Access to fresh water is something that’s easy to take for granted until a drought hits. With frequent droughts as well as fast population growth, Texans are becoming increasingly aware of the challenges that water shortages can present.
As clients become more water-conscious, the demand for drought-resistant landscaping services rises. A significant portion of drinkable water ends up on lawns each year, and finding ways to reduce water use on lawns can make a big impact in supporting water conservation efforts across the state.
This focus on water conservation presents a unique opportunity for lawn and landscape professionals. Drought-resistant lawn and landscaping services that offer solutions to lower the water needs of a yard are in higher demand, and clients place a higher value on those services.
Water Conservation in Texas
In the publication “Planning for a Water Resilient Texas: Water Loss & Conservation Over the Next 10 Years,” the Texas Living Waters team highlighted predictions from the 2022 State Water Plan that in the next 50 years, “municipal water demand is expected to rise by 63%, and water supply is expected to decline by 18%” (p. 3). This will place a high demand on an already strained water supply.
Texas Living Waters’ proposed solutions focus on “water conservation and water loss mitigation strategies,” including residential changes that “range widely from conservation-oriented rates to landscape conversions and time-of-day water restrictions” (p. 8). A lot of residential water goes to outdoor uses like irrigating lawns and watering vegetable gardens. Drought-tolerant landscaping and smart irrigation techniques can help mitigate water loss.
Much of the burden for handling water conservation and mitigating water loss falls on water utility services and state and local governments. Those solutions will trickle down into affecting residential life, though. For example, permanent irrigation restrictions would necessitate changes to lawn and landscaping care. Some locations, including Dallas and Fort Worth, already have permanent outdoor watering restrictions in place.
Examples of Drought-Resistant Landscape Services
When offering drought-resistant landscape services, you’re providing customers with long-term solutions to thirsty yards. With water-conservation becoming something that more and more people care about, your company can situate itself to offer professional and sustainable solutions. Examples of these services include:
- Updating, replacing, and optimizing irrigation systems.
- Landscape redesigns utilizing drought-tolerant and/or native plants, trees, and shrubs.
- Xeriscaping and yard redesigns with reduced lawn sizes.
- Drought-tolerant lawn installation and lawn care practices to reduce water use.
- Soil conditioning and mulching to retain water.
- Routine lawn and yard care focused on reducing water use.
- Tree monitoring and health assessments.
It’s important to market these services with a focus on outcomes. When customers invest in their irrigation systems, such as by installing a smart irrigation system, they save water and money in the long-term by reducing water use. When they invest in a professional landscape redesign, their plants are more likely to live longer, use less water, and survive extreme weather conditions. By investing in soil conditioning, amendments, and mulch, they’ll benefit by seeing healthier lawn grass and landscape plants while using less water. Those big fixes, as well as ongoing maintenance focused on conserving water, can have much better long-term outcomes than seasonal fixes.
Ongoing Drought-Tolerant Lawn Care
Drought-tolerant landscaping typically has lower maintenance requirements than traditional landscape designs. It does still require ongoing care, though. Offering drought-tolerant landscape updates to clients can still lead to long-term contracts. Ongoing drought-tolerant yard care includes:
- Mowing schedules that take into account slow grass growth during drought.
- Mulch refreshes to cool soil and help retain moisture.
- Monitoring trees and sensitive plants for drought stress.
- Maintenance and checkups for irrigation systems.
You can integrate drought-resistant practices into your company’s typical services as well, and use the fact that your company is water-conscious as a selling point in marketing.
Drought-tolerant landscaping and water-conservation in lawn care are both excellent topics to cover in a blog or newsletter. Maintaining a blog and/or newsletter helps you keep in touch with potential and existing clients, and talking about timely and educational topics can increase engagement. These are also good topics to focus on in ongoing staff education.
Considerations for Working in Heat and Drought
Working during the hot, dry Texas summers can be particularly challenging for lawn and landscaping teams. Drought conditions can affect mowing schedules and lead to additional water restrictions. Heat poses a danger for outdoor workers, and it can also affect equipment performance.
There are several ways for lawn and landscape companies to handle drought’s effect on mowing schedules. Make sure that your contracts include details about how you will handle lawn care during drought and what happens if customers cancel one week. Take care to educate customers about how drought affects their lawns and landscapes, and offer solutions when available. Reducing fertilizer use and raising the cutting height for their lawns is a simple way to help grass resist drought. For a more robust solution, you can offer water-saving irrigation system installation.
Make sure that your team knows how to prevent, treat, and recognize heat-related illness and injury. Everyone working outside in hot weather should drink plenty of water, wear light-weight and breathable clothing along with their necessary protective equipment, and take breaks in the shade. Those brakes also give power equipment time to cool off and help prevent overheating. Keeping the equipment clean, especially air intakes and air filters, also helps keep equipment running well during hot weather.
Richardson Saw & Lawnmower has a long history of working with lawn and landscaping professionals. We provide quality commercial equipment, one of the largest parts inventories in North Texas, and service you can trust. Stop by our location in Richardson for all your lawn and landscaping equipment needs.
