Going Native

Monday’s U-T prominently featured an article about San Diego homeowners replacing their lawns with native plant gardens. I think this is a great thing to do, particularly with the water shortage facing us. Whenever I bike up Dale Street and see all the nice lawns I think, if we’re gonna use all that water to farm something I wish we’d grow food. Or at least keep some cattle to eat the grass.

But anyway, if you become one of the lucky people with a native garden, I will share what I learned, which is: hire an expert. I did my first native garden myself, and it just didn’t take, and it looked horrible. A few years later, I tried again by hiring our friend Wes — who is professionally in the native gardens business — to do it, and it came out wonderfully. The garden is well over a year old now, and my yard is full of plants, frangrance, and pollinators.

garden3.jpg

I regularly check Google Street hoping they will soon replace the old photo of my mangy house with a new photo that shows my nice garden

Also, of course, the big benefit of hiring a local expert is that we keep those increasingly-precious George Washingtons circulating in the ‘hood.