The Dry Garden: Autumn leaves
Posted on | September 26, 2009 | No Comments
WHILE the urban forests of Southern California lack the autumnal glory of Eastern woodlands, fall happens here. We do have trees that shed. Moreover, the annual drop of their canopies by hackberries, sycamores and pecans (to name only a few) is still a bonanza. From these leaves, and just about any leaf that flutters to the ground, comes leaf mold.
To keep reading this week’s Dry Garden column in the Los Angeles Times, click here. Photo: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
UPDATE: To go on cyber-hikes finding fall with California Native Plant Society tour guide Jane Strong, click here. Or to sign up for an actual hike with the San Gabriel Mountains chapter of the CNPS, click here.
Gardening as art
Posted on | September 25, 2009 | 1 Comment
“AT a time when more people are getting serious about responsible landscaping, James Duell’s garden is a reminder that you don’t need a lot of space — or water — to create something inspiring. His exquisite design, a strip along the path to the guest house he rents in Culver City, is evidence of a love affair with plants and an eye for color.”
To keep reading about the visit of Los Angeles Times garden writer Lisa Boone to the home of landscape designer James Duell, click here. For the photo gallery, here.
This post has been updated.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
Posted on | September 24, 2009 | No Comments
Death Valley National Park. Source: National Park Service
The first of Ken Burns’ six part series, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, premieres on PBS Sunday at 8pm Eastern and Pacific time.
Bill Maher remarked not long ago on his HBO show Real Time something to the effect that most of the people seen in National Parks were foreigners. He may have said Europeans. Either way, there’s some truth to that and it attests to the good taste of those foreigners. If you haven’t been to your nearest national park, go. Foreigners will tell you what a great country you have.
Brackpool in the horse race
Posted on | September 24, 2009 | No Comments
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES reports today that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed British-born water speculator Keith Brackpool to the state horse-racing board.
Brackpool, a horse-racing aficionado and country club owner, is better known for pursuit of a controversial groundwater project in the Mojave, which was rejected by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in 2002 as economically and environmentally unfeasible.
Since then, Brackpool has been pursuing other backers for his groundwater pumping operation in the Cadiz basin in San Bernardino County. On June 5th, 2009, Brackpool’s company, Cadiz Inc, released an endorsement by Governor Schwarzenegger for the project.
Months later, a spokesman for the governor confirmed that the endorsement was genuine, although its release by Brackpool’s company direct to the business wires with no trace of it from the governor’s office raised questions in this website, the Los Angeles Times and Aguanomics, the blog of UC Berkeley water economist David Zetland. Zetland estimated that soaring stock prices after the governor’s endorsement had positioned Brackpool, who had taken stock options only weeks earlier, for a $350,000 gain.
Click here to keep reading
Define jerk
Posted on | September 24, 2009 | 6 Comments
“ADD City Councilman Greig Smith to the list of scofflaws violating Los Angeles’ water conservation restrictions,” reports the LA Daily News. “In a direct challenge to the Department of Water and Power, Smith announced Wednesday he is violating the twice-weekly watering limitations …” to keep reading, click here. Via LA Observed.
Note: it has been politely pointed out to me that Councilman Smith is probably not a jerk. The headline was a not-so-subtle editorial on a subject that deserves more civil and serious treatment. The councilman may be right that his lawn looks better when watered on days of his choosing. If he believes so strongly in that lawn regimen, he owes it to his conscience and perhaps even this City to say so, and even to flout the law. But he also owes it to this City to quit his job before taking action that mocks the lawmaking ability of the Council on which he is a lawmaker.
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