Water, Guilt and Rage (Part 1)

I got the water bills for my garden in Altadena and my garden in Palm Springs (I know, I know - you want to buy it? We can't seem to sell it, although we're trying.) The garden in PS uses twice the water at almost half the cost. We're in a drought here, but it's a desert there - literally. But I have kept a thriving lush garden, oasis-style, in a section of the yard and I am below the water threshold for my plot. Yeah!

Up here I'm watering my garden a lot; Most of the plants are new and trying to establish themselves. I water as little as possible but I still have to water a lot more than I will ever again. With the exception of the lawns (see last post), my plants are drought tolerant, or at least, water wise.

With three old, neglected gardens in my past, I learned a lot about what actually needs lots of water and what doesn't. It's amazing what will grow here without much water at all. These old gardens all had to survive on little more than rain water for years at a time. Agapanthus, bamboo, camellias, gardenias, geraniums, citrus and more all survived or thrived with what nature offered. Some roses seemed okay too, but none thrived and that's okay by me.

So I'm water-wise, water-conscious and conserving as much as possible. Next year I will be able to reduce my water use dramatically. And my reward? I'll save about $14 on my monthly water bill. I'll be spending less on water for two houses and a total of almost an acre of gardens - one garden in the desert and one garden in the middle of a drought - than on my cable TV bill.
Wow.

Nature may be responsible for the drought here but the water crisis is man made and still in the making. Every day I watch my neighbors' automatic sprinkler systems waste water and think about how, for years, the systems were recommended as a way of saving water. Experts poo-pooed hand watering, saying that it was inefficient and it is, compared to expert water analysis and application. But most people don't have experts on staff, many people don't even know how to adjust their sprinkler systems and lots of people just set them for maximum summer use and forget about it all rainy winter long. I roll my eyes every time I see sprinklers running in the rain. Now the experts are back to turning off the systems and watering only as needed day by day or week by week. Even hand watering is back.

I wanted to rant here that the people and the experts responsible for the water crisis are idiots and should know better - or at least know something about water. I wanted to point a finger at the local officials and state government that have let politics business overrule over reason. But isn't that just frosting a dead lily? After all, even the Terminator himself can't run California.