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Column: A growing admiration for California’s drought-resistant native plants

Posted by: Maven on March 11, 2010 at 5:25 am

From the Daily Breeze:

“Like so many transplants, I arrived here packing bad habits. Used to places where rainfall exceeds 20 inches a year, places where a month without rain brings out the cloud-seeders, places where a sprinkler system was something oscillating at the end of a garden hose, it seemed reasonable enough to waste vast amounts of water coaxing English tea roses and St. Augustine grass out of soil that was trying to tell its own story.

I was here a year before I realized where that water came from and at what cost to the lakes, rivers and delta from which it was drawn.

What’s more, that water came with a back story, with the nefarious land deals committed by the Chandlers and other city fathers, men who promised water to a thirsty Los Angeles but channeled it instead to the San Fernando Valley, then a place of fruit crops and ranches. Most of which they bought up at bargain prices before attaching it to a taxpayer-financed aqueduct and the city they controlled. All that high-level larceny spawned a fantastic movie, “Chinatown,” written by a San Pedro native and directed by a Polish child molester who was allowed to complete this instant classic after his arrest. Seriously, how could I not fall in love with the place?

What took me awhile was coming to grips with the nature and needs of a land long covered over with imported plants. … “

Read more from the Daily Breeze by clicking here.

March 11, 2010 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

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