Dry gardening column begins in LA Times
Posted on | June 9, 2009 | 5 Comments
No, it wasn’t Saturday’s chorus of boos over the interview with the landscapers of the new Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters. It is the beginning of a weekly column, The Dry Garden, dedicated to ways to conserve water in the garden, whether that garden has lawn or a saintly collection of Mediterranean and native plants.
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5 Responses to “Dry gardening column begins in LA Times”
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North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
June 9th, 2009 @ 10:43 pm
RE: dry gardening > Emily Green > LA Times
Emily, this is such great news to hear. We are in such desperate need of a knowledgeable and consistent (as in a column in a well-read newspaper) voice on water and all its complexities and in its wider contexts.
I think your writing will have a huge impact on the changes people make in their personal and community values and actions regarding water.
I’m really glad.
L
June 10th, 2009 @ 8:01 am
Thank you!
June 10th, 2009 @ 8:47 am
Dear Emily,
Congratulations on your new Dry Gardening column in the LAT! Angelenos need to be educated about the water-garden relationship because so few people understand how much water is ENOUGH for lawns, plants, etc.
I invite you to use my blog, “Eden Makers” as a resource for dry garden design ideas, plant information and new drought tolerant lawn varieties developed specifically for desert climates and more.
I am currently running a post series on my trial of UC Verde grass- a buffalo grass developed specifically for dry, desert climates. The developers of UC Verde claim that this grass can be maintained lush and green, using 70-80% less water than tall fescues and bermuda grass. This is a huge claim, so I am trialing it in my own yard.
UC Verde is supposed to be low maintenance as well, requiring no mowing (for a nutural look) or minimal mowing (once every 6 weeks or so).
I would love to share information with you. All of my garden design projects are in Los Angeles and integrate creative dry design ideas.
Shirley Bovshow
June 15th, 2009 @ 11:54 am
OK. I can’t figure out if I’m in the right place. Emily, please set me straight. I couldn’t find a place on the LAT’s website to comment.
In the 6-13 column on the DWP offering bribes for grass, the author writes:
“The agency won’t be buying dead lawn, warns DWP spokeswoman Jane Galbraith. If the lawn is already dead, the water company takes the view that nature has already done the right thing for you…”
So, let me get this straight: you have to waste water by putting it on the grass in order to get the DWP to have you stop wasting water and pull out the grass?
June 15th, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
The author refers to the roll out of LADWP’s cash-for-grass program, subject of last week’s Dry Garden column in the LA Times. And yes, in only paying for live grass, the message to home-owners is keep watering during a drought until we pay you to stop watering. When it comes to paying people to do the right thing, the underlying irony and shame is that it penalizes people who do the right thing for free. For those who could use the $1/square foot to remove turf, which will come in handy in paying for a replacement, there are a few other problems with the roll out. The program is managed by the same company that manages Metropolitan Water District’s BeWaterWise rebate program. However, last week, the MWD board voted to suspend all rebates. So LADWP customers who ring the cash for grass line will be told that the program is broke. They have to stay on the line past the point any reasonable person would to discover that rebates are still available to LADWP customers for grass.