What's the local response to our severe drought?

The short answer is: it's too early to tell.  I walked the neighborhood this week for the first time in almost 6 months but there are few obvious signs of response to California's new water restrictions.  In addition, the restrictions in my area are less onerous than those imposed on other SoCal communities, at least thus far.  Whether that remains the case may depend on how responsive local residents are to the restrictions imposed by the Rancho Dominquez Water District and our administrative utility, the most important of which is the limit of two days of outside irrigation each week within certain hours.  

Still, as drought issues have been front page news for months now, I thought I might find fewer lawns and more succulents.  I can't say that there are fewer lawns at present, at least based on what I can see from the street.  It'll be interesting to see what the existing front lawns look like in late summer - I'm only aware of one homeowner, who's always taken great pride in his lawn, that's sacrificed half his sod in the interest of water savings.  And while succulents seem to be making a slow yet steady advance, there's little evidence of any large-scale conversions.

This garden has by far the lushest lawn in the neighborhood

This homeowner replaced a thicket of juniper with Agaves and other succulents.  While many junipers are also drought tolerant, I think the succulents make a more attractive statement.

 

The garden two doors down from the home shown in the prior photo has always done a masterful job with its succulent display.

There's a broad mix of succulents here, backed by a mass of Bougainvillea

I have a small Aloe like this that I hope will someday look this good

One of the 'Blue Glow' Agaves has a bloom spike.  And I noticed the bloom on the columnar cactus to the left of the Agave yesterday morning.

The display of succulents in the background atop the stacked stone wall is part of the same garden

 

Next door, following a change in ownership and a long period of renovation, the garden is getting a complete overhaul.

A team of professional landscapers took days to clear a scraggly mass of junipers from the site while I kept my fingers crossed that the new owners weren't going to simply lay down sod

They started planting the front garden this week

So far, they've planted a very large mass of what I think is Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima), as well as a small number of plants that appear to be Lantana.  They've laid drip irrigation covering a larger area than they've planted so I'm assuming they're not done.

I planted Mexican feather grass in my own garden and, while it can be beautiful, it's also invasive.  I hope the landscapers made the homeowners aware of that.

 

As I continued around the circle that makes up our immediate neighborhood, I noticed that another house, renovated in 2017 (not shown), still has almost nothing but several self-seeded Echium in the front garden.  Even in a drought, I can't understand spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate a house only to leave bare dirt in front of it.  However, two doors further along the street, I noticed that the narrow strip of soil in front of a fence, formerly devoid of interest, is now planted in a mix of succulents.

Across the street, there's a lumpy rug of faux grass.

This home was a rental until recently.  Acknowledging that the fake grass rug covers a fairly steep slope, I'm hoping the owners will eventually replace it with something more interesting.

Due to long driveways, hedges, fences and other obstructions, many gardens in my neighborhood aren't readily visible.  Others just weren't worth a photo.

This house sits on a one acre lot and, along with ours, I think it's one of the oldest in the neighborhood.  Behind that tall fence, I've never gotten a good look at it and I've never met the current owners.

This Ficus hedge must be a bear to keep trimmed.  I counted 20 Ficus trunks along the street side.

 

My favorite neighborhood garden is looking a little overgrown in spots but there's still lots to love.

I knew the gardener responsible for installing this elaborately terraced garden but I haven't toured it in person since she and her husband moved several years ago.  It's had 2 owners since then.

There are citrus, succulents and a range of drought-tolerant plants in this garden.  Some along the street have reached an overwhelming size.  On the upper level, there's a huge Leucospermum, the largest I've ever seen.

A few closeups taken at street level

 

Just a little further down the street, there's a  double lot that's been empty for at least a dozen years.

I've been told that the original residence burned down years before we moved here.  A neighbor told me that the owner wants a large amount for the land but it perplexes me why he'd hold onto it this long, especially as, in addition to property taxes, he has to pay to clear the brush annually and deal with people who dump junk there on a regular basis.

The small front garden a few doors down hasn't changed much.

The tree on the left is an Arbutus 'Marina' like mine but trimmed very differently.  The vivid red and purple Cuphea shown on the right caught my eye.

 

There are two spur streets leading off the main road that runs through our neighborhood containing multiple households.  These side streets are both very steep and I avoid walking down either one of them.  Our next door neighbors on the south side live just beyond the second spur road. 

The driveway in the foreground belongs to our neighbors. The properties on both sides of ours were once part of our parcel but were sold off decades ago.  Both are "flag lots," or homes sited at the end of long driveways behind other properties facing the street.  Our house (and my lath house) are behind the mass of foliage shown in the background.

My own garden is partially shielded from the street by hedges just like others in our neighborhood.  There was a large amount of turf grass behind those hedges when we purchased the property ten years ago but we removed all of it in stages, completing that effort in 2015.

View from the edge of our driveway looking south toward the driveway shown in the prior photo

View looking north from approximately the same position at the edge of our driveway.  Our north neighbor's driveway isn't visible from this angle.  Last year, she installed the best-looking faux lawn I've seen yet in a shady area of her garden.  I'm sorry I don't have a photo of it to share.

I hope it doesn't require more severe restrictions to get Californians moving in the right direction to responsibly manage our water crisis.  If it goes down that road, you can bet you'll hear me rant about it.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party