Water guzzling yards get makeover

They bought the house of their dreams in Winter Park, Florida. There was just one problem. “Our yard is lifeless,” said homeowner Brian Lewis, nudging a toe across the stony landscape. “So much gravel.”

Lewis and his family are standing in their yard while a landscaping crew looks on with shovels. The crew is about to give the place a complete overhaul, replacing the gravel and the dry, depleted soil beneath with nutritious black compost into which they’ll plant a variety of attractive greenery that will provide a haven for bees and butterflies.

There is also a film crew present.

The Lewis’ lawn makeover is being documented on “Flip My Florida Yard,” a reality TV series that features households having their yards “flipped” by professional landscapers, transforming bare, haggard lawns into environmentally friendly oases.

The show visits homes across Florida, from small urban developments and coastal, waterfront residences to multiacre rural properties.

The series, though, also aims to show Florida homeowners how to conserve water — an issue that’s becoming increasingly important as the state’s population swells.

Over the next four years, Florida is expected to gain an average of almost 310,000 people annually. That growth is straining the state’s water supply, with water demands anticipated to rise at least 100% by 2070.

Sprawling development patterns and traditional landscaping, which is often dominated by water-guzzling varieties of turfgrass, contribute to much of that demand.

That’s where “Flip My Florida Yard” comes in.

The landscaping methods used on the show were developed by the University of Florida’s Florida-friendly Landscaping Program, in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

They emphasize planting mostly native shrubs and grasses, which tend to require less water and less fertilizer, replacing portions of turfgrass with shrubbery beds, and installing water-efficient irrigation systems.

Ultimately, the point of “Flip My Florida Yard” is to show homeowners how simple it can be to create and maintain a Florida-friendly lawn.

The show also wants to show people how to be responsible stewards of the piece of land that’s right in front of them, whether it’s 5 acres or 5 square feet, said Chad Crawford, an Emmy Award-winning director and the brainchild of the show.

“When you connect with your yard, you connect with nature,” he said. “There’s something that happens there from a quality of life [perspective], from a mental perspective, that’s hard to quantify. And that’s the big change we’re seeing.

“We’re seeing the environmental impact of that yard, less water, fewer chemicals,” Crawford said, “but there’s also a life impact that it’s having on a family. To me, that’s really, really cool.”