I’ve had several folks ask me how business has been affected by the “end of the drought” brought about by this past rainy season. While the landscapes we’ve developed benefitted greatly from true rainfall and new gardens are looking better than ever our approach hasn’t changed a bit.

I don’t think sensible, sensitively designed, regionally appropriate, drought tolerant landscaping will go out of style, washed off in one winter’s rain.

The rain hasn’t changed our approach except perhaps to inspire us to do a better job of making use of it. Just because we’ve had some decent rains doesn’t mean we should throw our conservation approaches out the window and start behaving foolishly. Similarly, I don’t think that just because the stock market has recovered we should be clamoring for complex financial instruments  related to sub prime mortgages that we don’t understand.

Speaking of sub prime mortgages… the real estate market has changed. With home prices recovering and low borrowing costs people would do well to invest in modernizing their landscaping to keep up with the other improvements around the house. Investing in new landscaping can yield real benefits in terms of increased home value, improved privacy, comfort and beauty, and potentially reduced maintenance and water costs.

We don’t know what the future years will bring in terms of rain, but I’m pretty sure that we don’t want to be wasting resources by not capitalizing on the benefits of an enlightened approach to landscaping.

-Nathan