Local nurseries say they’re seeing an increase in business as spring sends gardeners out looking to replace trees and other plants that died in the drought.
At Gold Leaf Nursery in Anderson, Diane Biggie was on the hunt for a replacement for a maple tree that died in her yard.
The drought took its toll on her yard like it did with many other gardens across the state.
“Not good for them, because without that deep soil water they do not produce much.” (Photo: Nathan Solis/ Record Searchlight) Doug Campbell, owner of Gold Leaf Nursery, says a lot of people like Biggie are looking for replacement plants and trees now that there is available water.
“Then people say, ‘Oh, you know what?
I let my trees die.’ We’re getting a lot of people getting those crucial shade trees again.” Shasta College horticulture instructor Leimone Waite said a number of people stopped watering their lawns altogether during the drought.
He said he hopes people do not abandon the idea of drought-tolerant yards when the drought is officially declared over.
Hale’s landscape company, Garden Authority, has been busy in the past year as more people move toward drought-tolerant gardens.
The state’s turf rebate program paid homeowners to ditch their traditional lawns for drought-tolerant gardens.
That program totaled $20.8 million and is expected to end this December.