Friday, June 17, 2022

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


28 comments:

  1. Wow, that Bouganvillea is relishing the heat. What a wonderful display. I like your favourite garden too, especially the way it has been terraced to allow for plenty of plantings. Can’t understand anyone putting down faux grass though. Still, there’s no accounting for taste. Our next door neighbour has a very large and ugly black fountain, and lots of ‘cute’ statuettes. The house is on the market and we’re hoping the new neighbours will be more interested in gardening and at least plant a tree or two!

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    1. Faux grass on a slope seems to be a bad choice - I suspect the obvious wrinkles are inevitable in that situation. I favor natural groundcovers as an alternative to sod myself, although I have to say my next door neighbor's faux lawn in the shade is the first time I haven't outright dismissed its use. I hope you're lucky with your new neighbor!

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  2. È un discorso che qui aleggia nell'aria ma nessuno ne vuole parlare chiaramente. Un cambiamento sarà sicuramente d'obbligo, soprattutto in questi inverni dove non è quasi caduta neve e le riserve d'acqua scarseggiano. A risentirci durante l'estate :D

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    1. I am sorry you are dealing with drought in your part of the world too, Gabriel. In my opinion, California was foolish to lift its earlier water restrictions after a single year of decent rain but I expect there was a lot of public pressures to do that. People all over seem to be having trouble coming to terms with the effects of climate change. I fully expect that we will be in a near perpetual state of drought in my region, even if we periodically get flooding rains, which are generally accompanied by mudslides here :(

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  3. I just can't get behind the faux grass thing, though I know the people who have it installed mean well. I have two in my neighborhood and the most recent one looks like old school astro-turf. The good news is there are plenty of homeowners who have opted for removing all or most of their lawn and planting shrubs and groundcovers.

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    1. I can't imagine putting in faux grass myself, even if the maker declares it's permeable, as there are always better planting options, but it may be a reasonable choice for someone who wants a flat walkable surface. I think my neighbor's patch of faux lawn in the shade hides many of the flaws more evident when it's in a sunny setting.

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  4. Your flag lot is our panhandle. Which is what we had in our previous Porterville garden. MUCH prefer not having to garden the handle any more. Lots of work and area, which you only see when coming or going.

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    1. What's more, at least in our case, the boundary lines along the panhandle area, aren't entirely clear...

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  5. I would think there would be a lot of 'lawn-shaming' going on there. Not good civic manners!
    It was fun touring your neighborhood, Kris. Some outstanding plantings to be seen. That massive bougainvillea is stunning. Eliza

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    1. Some people, like the elderly lawn-proud neighbors a couple of doors down, have surprised me with the steps they've taken in response to the water crisis, while others have astounded me with the degree to which they've sloughed it off but I've seen no general leaning toward lawn-shaming thus far. If the community as a whole gets hit with more restrictive covenants, that may change. The fact that our water district is emphasizing the carrot rather than the stick at present is probably as factor. But an area to the north of us in a different water district, known for properties owned by some of the "rich and famous", has begun installing water restrictors when homeowners fail to conserve, which I would think would serve as a warning for scofflaws in our area. The publicity hasn't affected the irrigation practices of some folks here yet, though.

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  6. That Bougainvillea-backed mass of succulents is a marvel. Truly jaw dropping (my jaw at list). I noticed 'sticks on fire' is being used quite often, like in the case of the homeowner who replaced a juniper hedge. I'd be curious to see how long before the 'sticks' he planted turn into a hedge. It would be eye popping.
    Chavli

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    1. It's almost scary how fast 'Sticks on Fire' grows. Even the plant I kept in a strawberry pot got out of control despite regular trimming. I've seen it in photos reaching roof height and beyond.

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  7. Succulents are such a gift to dry, frost-free gardens and really help ease the sting of water deprivation, for garden and gardener. Appealing to people's better angels is always a gamble but probably the right direction initially. Our Long Beach water utility gave us a rebate -- not sure what's up with that.

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    1. I agree that starting with a carrot is smart but I think they should have pushed the carrots harder a year ago and be moving into stick territory. Significant increases in the cost of water have probably led a lot of people to conserve but there are plenty in this area that apparently don't blink at bills that are eye-popping to others.

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  8. I'm not seeing much change here in Davis. Down the street, they removed the lawn from a front yard, only to replace it with NEW TURF. I just about had a fit. So discouraging to see people not taking the drought seriously.

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    1. I watched the same thing happen at a house across the canyon last year, Gerhard. I was flabbergasted. They have solar panels on the roof but I guess they love their turf.

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  9. An interesting neighborhood survey!

    The owner of the empty lot(s) with the burned-down home may have bought the property so long ago s/he's paying just a few hundred a year in taxes. Land near the ocean in SoCal has appreciated so much--so it is a good alternative investment to the stock market.

    I wonder how many homes have succulents that were your giveaways. Maybe a lot. You may have had an impact on the neighborhood that will eventually be significant. :)


    Here a couple of homes have gone plastic--one in particular got a terrible job--their "lawn" is all wrinkled. Another appears to have reseeded their mostly dead lawn just as the local water company sent out the watering restrictions letter. Some have replaced a narrow strip of street side lawn with random succulents. The neighbor in the back simply turned off their irrigation. Everything there is now dying.

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    1. Ha! I never thought about the balance between property taxes on an empty lot and property appreciation rates. I've wondered about where all my succulent giveaways have gone - and I hope all those people who grabbed up the 'Sticks on Fire' don't curse me in a couple of years.

      The neighbor that "gave up" his lawn up the street just turned off the irrigation. He wants to plant succulents but I gather his wife's not on board. I'm tempted to introduce her to Leucadendrons and Leucospermums ;)

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  10. I read recently that Las Vegas has banned all 'non-functional' lawns. Functional lawns are parks and sporting fields only. Home-owners have a limited time to change over to drought tolerant plantings. This might be what has to done to convince people to eliminate their lawns. Some beautiful gardens in your neighbourhood.

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    1. Nevada is ahead of California in its response to the drought, although it's been struggling with the problem across the entire state for longer. I can only imagine the hue and cry if residential lawns were outlawed here but it could come to that. Although I understand that a lot of golf courses use recycled water, some of them in the areas most affected by water restrictions are also being required to cut back on watering. I suspect there will be a range of increased restrictions if we get another poor rain and snow year.

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  11. Thanks for taking us on a tour of your neighbourhood, Kris. Love the garden with all the succulents and the bougainvillea backdrop - stunning.

    Here unfortunately, the trend is subdivision; properties that once had beautiful gardens are being split into 2- or 3 - or unbelievebly more I(!) So this means people might only have a tiny little garden out the front (often unimaginatively, a small buxus-edged lawn with maybe a small feature tree). Of course there are exceptions. Our neighbour across the road pulled up her lawn and planted a mix of natives and low water exotics. It looks great.

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    1. Denser housing has become typical here too, Horticat, especially near large cities. The beach city my husband and I previously lived in had relatively few single family homes, most having given way to condos and townhomes. We had a townhome with only a tiny backyard and no frontyard, sharing a driveway with the detached unit at the front of the lot. I removed the lawn almost immediately after we moved in just to give myself some area to garden. I have friends that still live in that area with even smaller gardens than I had. We were lucky to take advantage of a downturn in the market during the last recession to buy into this semi-rural area. However, even here, I'm noticing that more lots are being divided and houses are being packed in.

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  12. I suppose it's hard to let go of lush green lawns when they got used to it for years, but persistent water restrictions makes it a non viable long term option. Succulent displays are so much more attractive and has more presence. I may be biased but water wise it just makes better sense.

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    1. Good sense isn't necessarily something Americans are known for ;) The US "grew up" on visions of the green lawns prevalent in the UK. Many US gardeners and landscapers have argued for years that Americans need to design gardens appropriate to our climate (which varies dramatically from one area to another) rather than fixating on the UK model.

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  13. It is so interesting to see the lawns and gardens in your neighborhood. Exactly how fast do the succulents grow and make a display like the one in the photo near the top?

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    1. The succulents in that bed vary dramatically in terms of how fast they grow, Phillip. For example, I'd argue that you can almost see Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' growing before your eyes while my experience with the variegated Aloe arborescens is that it's very slow. (However, I should note that my Aloe started as a tiny cutting - starting with a more mature plant from a 1-gallon pot would be faster.) I looked back at earlier photos I've taken of that garden and, while my record is patchy, I'd say it's filled in dramatically since the owners retired a couple of years ago and began focusing on filling in the blanks. As the succulents are planted at the bottom of a slope, I suspect they get a good amount of moisture too, which can speed growth.

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  14. Well two day a week water is not going to sustain a lawn. It will be interesting to see what happens. I have a lawn freak neighbor who wastes so much water and uses so many chemicals it offends me. I will be ranting with you.

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    1. Yes, it's the people who water their lawns 4 times a week (even when it's raining or recently rained) that drive me crazy.

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