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| THE COLONY NEWS | AUGUST 2022 | 21 Landscape Maintenance: Did you know The Colony has a plan for your landscape maintenance? There is a schedule for everything, all 97.56 acres of front yards, common areas and wild areas. At this time of year, lawn mowing is weekly, shrub trimming/pruning (and leaf raking of debris) is on a five-week rotation. Weeding is every four to six weeks, depending on area. Fertilization, drain cleaning, cattail control, mulch-spreading, and turf repair also have their own schedules. We don't post a calendar with these items on it because the dates are slightly fluid, dependent on crew availability and need for the work to be done. Whenever possible, work types and areas are grouped for efficiency. If you need to know when to expect these teams in your area, please call the Landscape Department. I would like to point out the different landscape crews of Environmental Concepts. In your private yards, you may have one landscape person who does most everything from mowing to pruning to planting to irrigation. In The Colony, one COMPANY does it all, but within it there are different teams with different tasks. For instance, the Mow Team does the weekly mowing of front yards in the summer and every other week in the winter. What do they do on the off weeks? They help with debris removal around The Colony and in the wild belts, clean out V-ditches, and spread mulch when we have a delivery of it. Then there is the Trim Team — totally different guys than the Mow Team and with a different skill set. Like the Mow Team, they are onsite all the time, trimming shrubs and trees under 15 feet tall on a rotating basis. There is also the "Trim-trees-over-15-feet-tall" Team. Different guys again, different skill set and equipment needed. They are not onsite all the time and are scheduled for only once or twice a year. When we have renovated large areas, e.g., removing turf and adding trees/shrubs/shade structures and plants--that's right, another team totally, Large Project Team. If they are doing another large installation/renovation elsewhere for Environmental Concepts, we may have to wait in line a little while. However, they try to make The Colony their priority and do their best to accommodate our timelines. So far so good. There are three EC Irrigation Technicians who work here, splitting The Colony into thirds, and an Irrigation Tech patrols for inspections, breaks and adjustments. The Spray Technician (herbicides, insecticides) takes care of our weeds and insect problems on a scheduled basis. Sometimes EC has several more specialists here at once, such as the "weed spray TEAM" in the spring. EC also provides an on-call Arborist. All this is why you are requested to direct any landscape questions/complaints to Anthony Reynoso, our Landscape Superintendent at 951-667-4341, ext. 211, so he can notify the proper team. Please don't ask the landscape teams to do something for you. They may only take orders from their supervisor, and he only takes orders from Anthony or his assistant, Avel Walker, in our Landscape Department. Annual Tree Review: On June 17, the Tree Committee of the LAC, along with our Landscape Department, representatives of EC, and EC's Arborist, conducted an inspection of all our front yard trees. Of special notice were those trees flagged by the Landscape Department as having questionable characteristics or diseases. The list of all suspect trees is being updated, along with recommendations to watch/remove/replace. If you see an ailing tree with an orange paint dot at the base, that tree is marked for removal. Pruning of tall trees: Tall trees in your front yard (over 15 feet) are pruned every other year. The Colony is divided into halves, with Avenida Florita being the dividing street. Those front yard trees on the east side of Florita will be pruned this year beginning in August. However, tall palms are pruned every year. LANDSCAPE ADVISORY By Jan Foster, 951-698-0170

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