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| THE COLONY NEWS | DECEMBER 2024 | 9 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 every other week, shrub trimming/pruning (and leaf raking of debris) is on a seven-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 f luid, 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. There are different landscape crews within 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 Teams do the weekly mowing of front yards in the summer and bi-weekly 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 — a totally different group than the Mow Teams and with a different set of skills. Like the Mow Teams, the Trim team is on site all the time, raking planters, and trimming shrubs and trees under 15 feet tall on a rotating basis throughout The Colony. The "Trim-trees-over-15-feet-tall" Team is yet another group, with different workers and skills and equipment. They are scheduled to work only once or twice a year. When we renovated large areas, removing turf and adding trees/shrubs/shade structures and plants, you're right if you said EC used another team, the Large Project Team. When they are working elsewhere on another large installation/renovation for Environmental Concepts, sometimes 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, splitting The Colony into thirds, and an Irrigation Tech patrolling for inspections, breaks, and adjustments. The Spray Tech (herbicides, insecticides) takes care of our weeds and insect problems on a scheduled basis. Sometimes EC has several more specialists here at once (like the "weed spray TEAM" in the Spring). EC also provides an on-call Arborist. This explains why you are requested to direct any landscape questions/complaints to Anthony Reynoso, our Landscape Superintendent so he can notify the proper team. Please don't ask the landscape teams to do something for you. They can only take orders from their supervisor, and he only takes orders from Anthony or his assistant, Avel Walker (our Landscape Department). PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM! Whenever you have a landscape issue which needs to be addressed, you are asked to "fill out the form," describing the issue and WHAT YOU WANT DONE ABOUT IT. Without the form, requests can be misunderstood or forgotten. But WITH the form, your request is entered into the tracking system, acted upon, and resolved. Please be aware that resolution of your issue may need to wait for the tall-tree crew's visit, or for cooler weather for planting, or for a mulch delivery, etc. But the form keeps the issue on the table until it is resolved. The two forms I refer to, and which you can get at Clubhouse Reception or the Landscape Department office: 1. Property Service Request: This form is for landscape or pest issues. Even though the Landscape Department is not responsible for pest issues (gophers, rats, squirrels), the form is the same as for landscape ones. 2. Landscape Change Request: This form is used when you want approval to change your existing front/side yards. Happy holidays from all of us on the Landscape Advisory Committee to you and your families! LANDSCAPE ADVISORY By Jan Foster, Chair, 951-698-0170

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