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A hose waters grass. (Getty Images)<\/p>\nQ. I\u2019ve been hearing about a new law that prohibits watering of \u201cnon-functional\u201d turfgrass. What does this mean for the average homeowner in California?<\/p>\n
AB 1572 bans the use of potable (drinking) water for irrigation of non-functional turfgrass in certain areas. This law applies to commercial and municipal landscapes rather than private homeowners. \u201cNon-functional\u201d refers to grass in median strips, islands, parking lots, and landscaped areas around commercial buildings. This also includes HOA common areas. It specifically excludes sports parks, cemeteries, and single-family homes.<\/p>\n
Most public landscapes are already irrigated with non-potable water. Purple irrigation pipes carry non-potable water (you\u2019ve probably seen them in parks and other public areas).<\/p>\n
Since the law specifically excludes single-family homes, the average homeowner will not be affected by this law.<\/p>\n
A hose waters grass. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Q. I am interested in growing some native California wildflowers on my property. What can I do to make sure that the seeds actually produce wildflowers?<\/p>\n
California wildflower seeds are easy to come by in Southern California. Most garden centers sell large packets of these seeds for reasonable prices. Look for packets labeled \u201cCalifornia native wildflowers\u201d since some of these seed mixes can contain flowers that are invasive to our area.<\/p>\n
Sow wildflower seeds in mid or late November when the intense heat has subsided, but the winter rains have not yet started. First, clear the target area to bare soil because wildflowers are unlikely to out-compete established native grasses and weeds. Loosen the soil to allow water to permeate and stay on the surface. Mix the seed with sand, compost, potting soil, or fine vermiculite so that when you scatter them, you can see what areas have been covered. Try to scatter the seed thinly to give individual plants room to grow. Keep in mind that some of the individual plants can be quite large. For instance, in favorable conditions lupine can grow to over 3 feet across. Once the seeds are down, lightly tamp the soil but do not cover the seeds since they need sunlight to germinate. Water gently and regularly to keep them moist. Once the flowers appear, they will readily re-seed themselves and you should have a beautiful display every spring.<\/p>\n
For more information on California native wildflowers, go to Calflora.org<\/a>, CNPS.org<\/a>, or Calscape.org<\/a>. For plant identification, go to iNaturalist.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q. I\u2019ve been hearing about a new law that prohibits watering of \u201cnon-functional\u201d turfgrass. What does this mean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,7726,142644,420],"class_list":["post-465803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-home-garden","tag-master-gardener","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}