Living in the Desert

I’ve come to the conclusion that most people living in southern California have forgotten that our area, prior to “borrowing” vast quantities of water from the Owen’s Valley and the Colorado River, is a semi-desert environment. I was stuck in LA traffic for four hours today so I had plenty of time to contemplate this puzzling regional misconception. Every single house on our block has miles of fresh green lawn. Most of our neighbors also choose to water their lawns around 2 pm in the afternoon when it’s a sweltering 90 degrees outside. It wouldn’t be so bad if we lived in the Pacific Northwest and weren’t required to expend vast amounts of water to keep the lawns looking so perfect. Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of grass. Visually, it’s rather boring. Think of all the fantastic flowers, trees and shrubs that you could plant in those areas instead. When I visited Arizona I saw some amazing desert gardens that were water friendly in addition to looking beautiful. I’ll be the first to admit that we use our back lawn everyday for playing with Bailey, setting up the pool and playing softball. But, this summer Chris chose to save water and let the lawn revert back to it’s natural summer state. Plus it saves on mowing. Yay for being earth-friendly!


J