Paint your dying lawn green!

[Magical Realist]

"For Jay Torres, the hardest part of California's devastating drought wasn't the shorter showers or the fact that he couldn't wash his car. It was looking at his lawn, which withered and died when he cut back on watering. So he got creative. The San Bernardino resident hired someone to paint his grass green.

"It became a real eyesore, and we live in an area where everyone keeps their yard really nice," Torres said. "I heard about a service where people paint your lawn so it looks like the real thing and thought, why not? "

A Long Beach landscaper armed with a canister of paint showed up at Torres's front door a few days later. Now the lawn sports a glittering shade of emerald green that should last anywhere from three to six months.

"We've had lots of people stop over and say it looks good," Torres said. "It's this really bright, popping green." Some of the neighbors have even said they're thinking of dyeing their grass green to match.

The story is far from unique. Companies that promise to paint lawns are cropping up all over California. The service lets homeowners cut back on water use without sacrificing curb appeal.

But the cosmetic cover-up masks an ugly reality: The Golden State is three years into what has now become its worst drought on record. And it's only getting worse.

The U.S. Drought Monitor upgraded the intensity last week with a warning that more than half the state is now experiencing "exceptional" drought—the most severe category, according to federal researchers.

Mandatory statewide water restrictions took effect at the start of the month, as state officials work to save what little water remains. Hosing down driveways is off-limits, and lawn water runoff is strictly forbidden under the new rules. Anyone found in violation can be fined up to $500.

"We don't know how long it's going to last, so we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario," said Felicia Marcus, the chairwoman of the California State Water Resources Control Board.

The Golden State has seen its fair share of drought. And, in the past, water shortages have lasted as long as six years. But scientists are starting to predict that this drought could last much longer. Lynn Ingram, a paleoclimatologist at the University of California (Berkeley), says the state might be in the midst of a "megadrought," that could continue for more than a century.

The drought has not been kind to California. Massive wildfires have devastated state parks, forced people to leave their homes, and stretched the state's budget. Water shortages have created havoc for farmers and ranchers. And ski resorts have had to shut down due to lack of snow.

But there's at least one economic bright spot: Lawn painters have been quick to capitalize on the state's extreme weather—and they're making a killing."===http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/ca...n-20140805

[C C]

If it is a mega-long drought, they'll just have to switch to desert lawns. Replace that fescue, bermuda, or St. Augustine with buffalograss, ornamental grass, gravel & cactus, creeping groundcover plants, shrubs, etc.

[Yazata]

People around here in Silicon Valley are busily replacing their lawns with rock gardens and desert plants. A guy down the street has put in a very cool Japanese garden and several houses in my block have gone Southwestern. Most of them are having professional gardeners come in and do the work for them and aren't doing it themselves.

Most lawns around here are dying, all yellow. Mine is history, I've stopped watering it entirely and it's turning into bare dirt. There's a large pine tree in my front yard that I still water occasionally since I don't want it to die.

The changes are a striking thing to see and increasingly visible to the naked eye, since many people had put a lot of money and effort into gardening and landscaping. My neighbor two doors down just had a crew come in and tear out his entire front yard yesterday. A few lawns are still all nice and green though, and are obviously still being watered.

I haven't seen anyone painting their dead lawns green. I'm not sure how well that would work, since the dead grass gets all dry and scraggly. A person a few blocks away has put in a very fake-looking astro-turf plastic lawn. That's kind of ugly, I wouldn't do that.

[Magical Realist]

Rain's a com'n to Cally!...Hurricane Blanca is due in the Baja by Sunday. After that, residual rain bands drifting north! Fingers crossed X.,....

[Yazata]

Rain's a com'n to Cally!...Hurricane Blanca is due in the Baja by Sunday.

Rain? What's that? (I seem to remember something about rain from when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago and I can't remember now...)

The whole idea of water falling out of the sky is a little outlandish. Like frogs or fish.

After that, residual rain bands drifting north! Fingers crossed X.,....

Hurricanes aren't unusual down at the southern tip of Baja, around Cabo San Lucas. If they head further north than that, they tend to weaken and veer eastwards, across the northern tip of the Gulf of California and into Arizona, where they can cause major flash-flooding.

If the edges of them hit California, it would probably be flash-flooding in Southern California and not up here in Northern California.

Our problem up here is that the Oregon rainstorms lack enough punch to get through to us.

[stryder]

It would be intriguing to work out if there are other solutions possible.

For instance it's possible that direct sunlight is drying out the grass too quick causing it to die, so perhaps reducing the visible light to it's surface might reduce the damage that would otherwise be caused. This would mean having some sort of auto canopy (similar to ones you get on swimming pools) pull across the lawn when it's too hot (A sensor could be rigged to either the optimised temperature where the grass is being damaged or down to the moisture if the the grass exerts too much.)

This could either capture moisture that would otherwise evaporate or at the very least could generate some shadow from direct sunlight. (Even a fine mesh might do the job, even the grass might grow through the gaps)

Obviously though all plants need water, and clear open expanses of grass are always going to have problems. It might be possible to have trees root down for ground water, then capture moisture from the branches (bag over a branch) and use that water to wet the grass.

I couldn't tell you how effective any of these ideas would be, it's one of those "It needs to be tried to get a result" problems.

[C C]

If Kally-phorn-eye-ay is turning into sandworm country, then maybe they could garner inspiration from some of the Dune series inventions / approaches for capturing moisture on Arrakis.