Once Bruce and I settled into our new life at Rossmoor I started thinking about what I could do to for our community. Joining the Second Mutual Landscape Committee was a natural fit. I have enjoyed working with our Chair, India Cox, along with all of the dedicated members. Our goal is to maintain and enhance Second Mutual landscaping. We work directly with Jesus Moralas from RWC on identifying areas that can be converted to drought tolerant landscaping.
The committee members also report irrigation issues to the service order desk and landscape maintenance issues to Juan Chavez from Terra.
Three years ago Second Mutual stopped using Round-up in favor of a organic weed control product. Terra Landscape uses a green dye when spot spraying weeds so residents will know the area has recently been treated.
The State of California has passed a law that all nonfunctional lawns must be converted to drought tolerant landscaping by 2029. The irrigation will be turned off for lawns that are deemed nonfunctional causing unsightly dead grass.
The Landscape Committee has a yearly budget to convert as many lawns as possible before the law takes effect. Each member identifies likely areas each month and sends the information to Jesus. Second Mutual has a RWC team who do the smaller conversions. Larger areas are put out to bid. The board requests 2-3 proposals. Because Terra Landscape maintains our landscape they are able to provide a 12 month plant warranty. Landscape Companies usually only provide a 30-90 day warranty for sites that they don’t maintain.
I was the Landscape Committee Chair for a little over a year. I am now the board liaison. We are a wonderful, dedicated group. It’s a pleasure to to work with our members and the residents of Second Mutual.
Charter:
The SWCM Landscape Committee identifies landscaping issues and opportunities within the SWCM common areas. As part of its work, the committee also aggregates, analyzes and transmits Members' landscape-related requests and concerns.
These issues may include but are not limited to plant replacement, planting and gardening, lawn and grass replacement, drought considerations, water usage, irrigation, design and use of native plants, erosion, trees, and maintenance as performed by MOD landscaping and contractors.
Committee Membership:
The Landscape Committee is a standing committee, which will be made up of no more than ten members. The Committee will be governed by a Chairperson or Chairs to be appointed by the SWCM Board of Directors. The Board of Directors liaison is Tieka Romanoff. Meetings are by a quorum of its members. The committee may meet as it determines, but shall not meet less than quarterly. The committee shall report to the SWCM Board in writing and in person, if requested at an open meeting of the SWCM board, but not less than one time prior to the SWCM annual meeting.
Current Projects:
The Landscape Committee focuses on those landscaping issues which are of immediate and long term concern to Mutual 2 residents. We work closely with both our MOD crew and Terra Landscape to achieve our goals. Working within our budget, we strive to maintain and improve Mutual 2 for years to come by converting lawns to sustainable, low water usage landscaping. California has mandated that a large percentage of lawns in communities such as Rossmoor, be converted to low water landscaping by 2029. Much of this work is done by our amazing MOD crew led by Jesus Morales. Larger projects are put out to bid by MOD and are voted on by the board.
Plant Replacements:
If a plant near your manor has died and needs to be replaced, please email plantreplacement@rossmoor.com. To qualify, the vacant area must be at least 4-feet by 4-feet, currently irrigated, and have no pots in the area.
Requests are accepted until August 15th every year and replacements only take place between October and March when supplemental irrigation needs are minimal and survival is more likely. Appropriate replacements will be chosen by management.