Artifical lawn business grows during drought

The artificial lawn business is growing on the South Coast of Santa Barbara County where the area is now into its sixth year of drought.

Ecolawn SB is combining synthetic lawn installations with a water wise plan that can save property owners thousands of dollars. In some cases they can also get rebates of up to $1000. from the city for changing their landscaping.

Owner Jessica Girard says they have installed lawns at over 300 locations in the last two years. She says the current product has a long lifespan. “The beauty about synthetic grass is, once you put it in, it has a 15 year warranty and if you keep it clean, once every couple of months rake it or blow it, it will look exactly the same,” said Girard.

The latest lawn to go in is at DAWG (Dog Adoption Welfare Group) in Goleta.

This morning a new arrival awaiting for an adoption, Jesse, was chasing a ball on the artificial lawn and rolling around on the surface.

Veterinarian Carl Zaboly says dogs have not shown any sign that they know its fake grass and in some cases, like the texture when they are rolling around to scratch their backs. “They really don’t know any difference whatsoever with the texture,” he said. Zaboly also said he believes the surface is healthier for the pets and humans.

Co-owner Beau Schmidt says there are 15 types of grass ranging from the traditional lawn look to the short style for a home putting green. He also says for homeowners who have abandoned parts of their properties because of the water crisis, they can now bring them back with the Ecolawn and a new landscaping plan that includes low water use plants.

The lawn at DAWG was a donation from Ecolawn .

Information about the company can be found at: http://ecolawnsb.com/

For rebate information go to : http://www.waterwisesb.org/

To adopt a dog from DAWG go to : http://www.sbdawg.org/