Events Calendar

March 14, Thursday
Suppliers & Members Night

Time: 4-8pm
Location: Seascape Golf Resort in Aptos

Come to our mini-trade show, meet your local vendor reps & check out what the CLCA is all about (if you don’t know already). One free dinner per each C-27 licensed contractor. One trade show display table and dinner for Central Coast Partners at the Oak and Redwood levels. It’s a great night, full of valuable connections and new products, and a raffle! Don’t miss the fun. Learn more!

Contact Regan Barry ‭(831) 212-0344‬ or rbarry@coastalevergreen.com

April 3, Wednesday
Central Coast Chapter Board Meeting

Time: noon
Location: Seascape Golf Resort in Aptos
Contact Regan Barry ‭(831) 212-0344‬ or rbarry@coastalevergreen.com

Board of Directors Report

News updates from the Board—MARCh 2024

Central Coast Chapter Members and Friends,

We would like to welcome some of our new members for 2024: B&B Small Engine Repair, Big Creek Lumber & Building Supplies, Fall Creek Landscapes, GraniteCrete, and MS International Inc.!

Happy March and pre-spring greetings to all our Central Coast Chapter members and anyone else interested in hearing what we do for the green industry. Each month we will focus on our upcoming events that our Chapter has planned for our local membership. In our monthly newsletter we will always catch you up on State-sponsored events and programs aimed at educating and training our members. 

Our next Central Coast Chapter sponsored event is our Suppliers/Membership Night on March 14th from 4 to 8 pm at the Seascape Golf Club Monarch Room. This is a yearly event our Chapter sponsors, a local trade show Central Coast style. The purpose of our event is to attract C-27 landscape contractors in our area who are not members of the California Contractors Association and hopefully expose them to who we are and what we are all about. The night features 20 plus suppliers/vendors of varied materials that we all use as landscape contractors. Area representatives that display their goods are there to educate and make connections with contractors that will make their jobs more profitable and efficient. A free dinner is offered to all C-27 contractors—who doesn’t like a free meal?—and there will be cool  raffle prizes supplied by our vendors that have always been a hit. Please register soon, so we know how many people are coming!

On a personal note as long as I have been part of the Central Coast Chapter this casual gathering of landscape professionals is one of my favorites. It gives us an opportunity to connect with each other outside of work and hopefully make some new connections otherwise unavailable during our busy work lives. You might even make some new friends. I know it is a cliche but being part of a community of professionals like ourselves can be very rewarding and empowering.

We hope to see you on March 14. 

If you haven’t already done so please take a moment to renew your membership to the Central Coast Partners for Success and sign up for Advertising in the Seascape Newsletter (this newsletter!) We’d love to have you with us in 2024. Here’s a little incentive for you, remember that at the Oak and Redwood levels of Partnership you recieve one free trade show table and one free dinner at Suppliers/Membership Night!

That’s all for now folks and I hope to see you around the garden.

—Regan Barry
Coastal Evergreen Company
rbarry@coastalevergreen.com

Central Coast Chapter Board of Directors

Immediate Past President: Phil Dundas—The Landscape Company
Membership Director: Terri Baker—Graniterock
Secretary/Treasurer: Katrina Christensen—K&D Landscaping
Director of Events: Scott Long—Central Coast Landscape
Director of Education: Michael Johnson—California H2orticulture Services 
Associate Member Director: Julia Zuckerman—Delta Bluegrass
Legislation Director: Regan Barry—Coastal Evergreen

Please come and learn more about our board by coming to a meeting, or volunteer to help in any capacity. Please contact Regan Barry at rbarry@coastalevergreen.com if you are interested in becoming involved with this dynamic group.

Central Coast Chapter Partners for Success Program

It’s that time of year to renew your partnership. Central Coast’s Partners for Success Program provides an opportunity to increase your visibility in the community, to be seen as a leader in the green industry by helping sustain the many educational and enrichment offerings of our association.

For more information, contact Regan Barry at rbarry@coastalevergreen.com

register NOW for 2024!

WE love our partners

PaRTNER’S CORNER

Julia Zuckerman of Delta Bluegrass Company

CLCA Central Coast Chapter Associate Member Director

Read more about Julia and her family story, and their long history on the Central Coast. Julie has some very notable hobbies...read more! www.clca-cc.org/partners

The Partner’s Corner! What a great benefit. Here’s an easy way to let people in your industry know what you’re up to, what’s new, and why you’re the success that you are. We want to see pictures of you, your family, your company’s staff, we want to know what you do in your spare time and what makes you unique. We’re interested. Please contact Elise Huffman, the Central Coast editor, if you are interested in being featured on our website in a future “Partner’s Corner.” Partner’s don’t miss this chance for some FREE advertising.

Advertise in the Central Coast Seascape Newsletter!

Advertise in this newsletter in 2024!

The Seascape Newsletter is published 10 times per year and is posted each month on the chapter web site, clca-cc.org. Email notifications with links to the current issue are sent to over 400 targeted green industry professionals. Ads are billed annually and are sold in two levels, all with click-through access to your company’s website.

The CLCA Central Coast Chapter offers several different ways to reach your customers and other industry professionals. They are win-win opportunities that reinforce your sales program and give prominence to your company by its alignment with a professional organization. In addition to brand recognition and increased web exposure, you can gain insight to market trends and have face-to-face interactions with the people you are marketing to.

Reach your target audience monthly. Sign up for one of two levels of monthly ads: Basic or boosted, or single ads. For specs and pricing contact: clcaccc.editor@gmail.com. OR sign up online HERE and now!

upcoming CENTRAL COAST EVENT

Suppliers and Membership Night—Our Mini Tradeshow

thursday, March 14, 2024, 4-8 pm

Seascape Golf Club Monarch Room

Excitement is building for our Annual Suppliers/ Members Night, Central Coast Chapter’s popular mini-trade show! You're invited. Come meet your local vendor reps and (if you don't know already) check out what the CLCA is all about. There is one free dinner for all C-27 licensed contractors. Partner display table, entry, and one free meal are included in Central Coast Partners Program membership at Oak or Maple levels. Bring a friend. It's a great night, full of valuable connections, and new products. 

Vendors this is a great chance to get your product out in front of the Central Coast membership, contractors, designers, and landscape businesses. 

4-6pm no host bar, 6pm tri-tip or chicken dinner.

There will be a RAFFLE with wonderful prizes! Proceeds from the will benefit advocacy for the Green Industry. 

Note: If you're a current Central Coast Partners Program member at Oak or Redwood level your table fees and dinner for one are covered.  

We're looking forward to seeing you!  Please note that this event is coming up fast. Many of you have already registered, but if you haven’t please do now.

If you want to be there, and we know that you do, please follow the links and register. It’s not to late to participate.

Suppliers/Membership Event Information and Registration Here.

Recent activity

NorCal 2024

February 28, 2024

Written by Katrina Christensen, Central Coast’s Secretary and Treasurer

As an attendee at the NorCal Landscape & Nursery Show I can tell you that it was a jam-packed event, filled with vendors from near and far showcasing their latest in green-thumb technology and gardening trends. There were over 132 exhibits from plant material, irrigation, landscape equipment, soil amendments, fertilizers, and tree care. It was great to see one of our own Central Coast Board members, Julia Zuckerman, representing the latest trends from Delta Bluegrass. I got to meet up with some old friends and make some new ones as Regan and I strolled through the aisles collecting all of the cool chochies (aka “tchotchkes”) and giveaways from the vendors. The show hosted some excellent presentations and classes from professional members of the landscape and nursery industries. I heard attendees came away with some really great takeaways. If you didn’t get to make it out there this year, mark your calendars they will be hosting the event again at the San Mateo Event Center on Thursday, February 6, 2025. 

We love NorCal, long-time advertisers in The Seascape.––Elise the Editor

educational corner

What is AB-1572 and How Will it Affect the Local Green Industry?

Maybe you’ve seen the recent headlines about an impending ban on irrigating nonfunctional turf grass in California. If so, you might be wondering what does that really mean and how will it affect your business and your clients. In this article, I’ll try to explain the important aspects of this new law that will shape the way we design, install, and maintain landscapes and irrigation systems now and in the future.

Assembly Bill -1572 “Potable Water: Nonfuctional Turf” was adopted by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor in late 2023. AB-1572 states that, “the use of potable water for the irrigation of nonfunctional turf…is prohibited.” Unfortunately, turf grass has an undeserved bad reputation in California. This is mostly due to poor sprinkler irrigation design and maintenance. For too long, landscape architects, designers, and contractors have been designing irrigation systems in lawn areas that are extremely wasteful and grass has become the scapegoat. To address the ongoing problems with overspray, runoff, and water waste the state legislature decided to implement a permanent ban on irrigating nonfunctional turf grass with potable water.

So, what is nonfunctional turf grass? Nonfunctional turf grass is grass in landscapes that is solely ornamental or decorative and serves no other functions, such as recreation (Figure 1). This includes streetscape turf that is located

• along private or public streets,

• along streetscape sidewalks,

• along driveways and parking lots,

• within business frontage areas, and

• within medians, islands, and roundabouts.

Single-family residential properties are not affected by AB-1572. However, all properties must comply with local and state water use regulations that prohibit water waste including overspray and runoff.

The ban takes effect in stages over the next few years for Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional (CII) landscapes. Those stages are:

• 2027 - Properties owned by local governments

• 2028 - Commercial and industrial properties

• 2029 - Common areas of homeowners’ associations

• 2031 – Properties owned by local governments in disadvantaged communities or when state funding for turf replacement is available

The phased approach provides landscapers and property owners with time to come up with creative solutions. Primarily this will mean re-landscaping turf grass areas that are considered to be nonfunctional with low-water use plants and drip irrigation systems (Figure 2). This can be a great opportunity for landscapers to work with new or current clients to design beautiful landscapes that use little or no water once established. Remember to contact your local water agencies to see if they can offset the costs of landscape retrofits with rebate funds. Let’s turn this legislative mandate into an opportunity to beautify our communities!

I’m planning an educational event for CLCA Central Coast and will be sending out information soon via eblast, social media, and newsletter.

—Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson is CLCA Central Coast’s Educational Director for 2024 and co-owner of California H2orticulture Services, the Central Coast’s leading water management consultant since 2008.