Fresno lawn company: You don't need to kill your lawn to do your part

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Anderson landscaping team was hard at work on Tuesday, working on two projects on the same street in Clovis.

"We're eight to 10 weeks booked up right now," said Owner Bill Anderson.

One home is getting the upgraded Tuscan look, which he says will cut watering up to 60 percent. The grass comes out and and a variety of rocks go in. The homeowners moved from Palm Springs and it wasn't long before they cancelled their lawn service in favor of a more drought-friendly front yard.

They're not the only ones. Jeff Kollenkark says his company, Weed Man, has been losing a handful of customers every day for the past couple months. By phone or on their return invoice, they'll say they want their lawn service to stop -- at least for the time being.

"They're hearing mixed messages," said Kollenkark. "But the fact is their mind is made up at that point, and we're finding we can't turn it around."

Brown may be the new beautiful, but Kollenkark wants people with lawns to know that they can keep some green and save water.

"So the whole landscape may not be as lush as it was in the past, but it will be alive, it will survive this drought, and we can still achieve 40, 50-percent reduction in the landscape water use," he said.

That's why in addition to Weed Man, they also offer Aquaman, designed to upgrade customers' irrigation systems, from drip irrigation to smart clocks.

"I think just about everyone in town should be reviewing their sprinkler system," Kollenkark said.

They've also bought a company that installs artificial turf, called Grass Creations. They're trying to offer a variety of services, in hopes of conserving water and preserving green space.

"It doesn't have to be brown or lush green, there's maybe something in the middle that meets the demands that the state has to reduce water, keep your landscape alive, and not lose the investment you have," Kollenkark said.