As a landscape professional for the past 32 years, I have seen everything from huge, rapid growth to deep recession. In the 80’s, mass amounts of money were spent on poor quality construction using large visual impacts such as grottos, water falls, large swimming pools, Koi ponds, and formal rose gardens. Then, in the early 2000’s, homeowners experienced inflated property values and many chose to refinance and use their equity to invest in landscape projects. Again, low quality, big impact. Now with the current water restrictions and a four year drought, along with the repairs and upgrades to the poor construction and design quality that was previously developed, it’s evident that smarter choices are necessary to improve property values and to look forward to sustainable solutions.
