Water-wise landscape · Turf conversion and the rebate

Designed conversion

A conversion built to a drawn plan, so the yard works in five years rather than looking finished on the day.

One flat fee to find out what is wrong. You are told it on the phone before anyone is dispatched, and it comes off the job if you hire us. Read our Plain Terms

What the work is

A plant that is right for this climate is not automatically right for that corner of your yard. Aspect, reflected heat off a wall, how the drip is zoned and what the mature size actually is all decide whether a planting looks better or worse in three years.

A designed conversion starts with a drawing, which means the argument happens on paper instead of in the ground.

It also makes both approvals easier: your city's requirements and, where you have one, your association's design review both want to see a plan.

What is included

A site visit and a measured plan
A planting plan with mature sizes, not planting sizes
Irrigation zoning designed to the plant groups
The plan in a form you can submit to your association
Construction to the approved plan

What is not

Unlimited revisions. Two rounds are included and more are priced
Approval by your association or your city. We prepare it; they decide
Maintenance

What actually grows here, and where you are

Elevation and exposure vary enough across this county that a plant list from a Phoenix nursery and one from a Cedar City nursery are both partly wrong for St. George. The guide below sets out what the evidence supports for the conditions here.

Every town here sets its own landscape rules and they are not the same. St. George, Washington City and Ivins each cap residential lawn differently, and Washington City's ceiling applies to every lot regardless of its size. Ivins bans lawn watering year-round and limits slope. Your town page has the figures with the section numbers next to them.

If you have an association

A plan is what a design review committee wants. The guides below cover what Utah law says an association can and cannot require about lawn, and what a denial letter has to contain if you get one.

What to ask anyone quoting this, us included

Are the plants drawn at mature size?
How is the irrigation zoned?
Will this plan satisfy my city and my association?

What we can show you in writing

Every line traces to a document we read in full. The number after a sentence points to the research below.

WCWCD's Water Efficient Landscape rebate pays $3 per square foot on the first 1,000 square feet of lawn removed and $2 per square foot after that, for projects completed before June 1, 2027.1
The Washington County Water Conservancy District caps the landscape rebate at $100,000 per property per calendar year. There is no five-year waiting rule on the district side; that limit belongs to the separate state program, which Washington County applicants are routed away from.2
WCWCD issues the rebate in less than 60 days after project completion and paperwork, and says rebates commonly cover 30 to 50 percent of a conversion that costs $4 to $6 per square foot with a contractor.1
WCWCD requires 50% living plant cover at maturity in the converted area, counting each tree as 350 sq ft and each shrub or perennial as 35 sq ft, and existing trees inside the conversion area count.1
There is no approved plant list for the rebate; the program does not dictate species, only mature coverage.1
Every rebated conversion attaches a perpetual conservation easement, recorded with the Washington County Recorder, that restricts only the converted area and prohibits irrigated grass, spray irrigation, pools, ponds and water features there forever.1

1 more fact, with sources

WCWCD enforces the easement by aerial imagery; a violation brings written notice, 45 days to cure, then repayment of the full rebate plus administrative costs and 5 percent annual interest.1

Where this comes from

Every line above traces to a document we read in full. The number after a sentence points to the research below; hover it for the section. If you find a line wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say so.

Landscape and hardscape research, August 2026 Compiled from Washington County Water Conservancy District program documents, its sample conservation easement and FAQ, Utah Water Savers, the 2023 USDA hardiness map, USU Extension, and St. George City Code, Title 10. 6 sections cited. Hover a number above for the section.
WCWCD Water Efficient Landscape Program agreement, wcwcd.gov, retrieved 2 Sept 2026

Read before you decide

What actually grows here, and where you are
Santa Clara is half a zone colder than St. George and it is ten minutes away. Cold air pools in the river bottoms. And there is no approved plant list for the rebate, whatever anyone told you.
Can my HOA make me keep my grass?
Utah Code § 57-8a-231 and St. George City Code § 10-7-7 both limit how much lawn anyone can require. Here is what the documents say, section by section.
Your HOA denied your project. Here is what the letter has to say.
Utah Code § 57-8a-109(4) requires a written denial to name the provision relied on and the specific part of your plan that fails it. Most letters do not.
The turf rebate, and the easement you sign for it
WCWCD pays $2 per square foot to remove lawn, with no published end date, plus $1 more on the first 1,000 square feet for projects finished between June 9, 2026 and June 1, 2027. The payment buys a perpetual, recorded easement on that ground. Both halves, explained.

The rest of turf conversion and the rebate

Turf removal
Cut, remove and haul the sod, then rough grade.
Water-wise conversion
Turf out, soil prep, drip conversion and desert planting.
Rebate application management
Pre-inspection, measurement, photographs and the paperwork. Nobody else here does this for you.
Landscape design and plan
A measured plan, plant schedule and drip layout.

The quote is the number. There is no second number.

Call (801) 680-6859

7 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays. Emergency calls answered any hour, every day.