The industry of professional gardening is evolving
But it’s likely to get more difficult, experts say. The industry of professional gardening is evolving, demanding new skills of workers for water conservation. Gardeners who choose not to adapt, or don’t know how, will be left behind, experts say.
Gardeners are faced with statewide drought conditions this year and staggering statistics showing thousands of California homeowners converting plush green landscapes to drought-resistant yards that need less maintenance from gardeners. Workers say they don’t feel threatened or see their jobs evaporating like the state’s water supplies. They simply plan to do what is instinctual — adapt.
That malleability is what experts say will save the gardening industry over the next decade, and prevent it from slipping into extinction.
“It’s not giving up, and I think Latinos, that’s what we have. We try to do everything,” said Jaime Aleman, a veteran gardener originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, with about 30 years of experience and with clients across the San Fernando Valley. “That’s our culture. We’re hard workers and we try to do a lot of things.”
A malleable attitude is the only thing that’s going to keep residential and commercial gardeners from capsizing in the long run, said water efficiency expert Bill McDonnell of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He points to statistics indicating that standard “mow, blow, and go” gardeners who don’t jump on the water conservation bandwagon to become stewards of water management will likely be left behind.