Keeping A Green Lawn With California's Drought Restrictions Takes Common Sense
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Fran Quinzon is looking for plants that won't be parched, knowing she's cutting back on watering this summer.
"I think the ones I have on there are two gallons an hour. I'm gonna change that to one half or one.," she said.
So what are the best drought-resistant options as California faces a mandatory 25 percent cut in water usage?
Greg Gayton has gardening down to a science. He says about two-thirds of the plants at the Sacramento nursery Green Acres are water-wise and growing more popular by the day.
He put together a cart of drought-busters, plants that don't need much water, from grevilleas to the California lilac.
"It thrives on low summer watering," he said.
Greg shows a few essentials to save water and money. He swears by organic fertilizers over synthetics.
"You're gonna get the root system established, they're gonna need a lot less water and they're gonna thrive a lot better," he said.
He also showed off a tool that probes the soil to see whether it needs to be watered.
Greg also says retrofitting your sprinkler system with MP rotator sprinkler heads can save 30 percent of water on their one.
"If you have one of old fashioned fan sprays where you see rainbows, you're losing all the water to evaporation and you're getting runoff," he said.
The heads are much more efficient, he says, which means your grass gets more water in fewer minutes. They cost about $6 apiece.
"It's the new California landscape, and it's something where where you can have a really nice lush yard just by using common-sense practices," he said.
