July 28, 2015

Quote for the day / Que te vaya bien, Emily

Runner-up: Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I use GIMP.

Here's the quote in context:

My friend Scott Calhoun, who designs gardens in Tucson and knows about drought, once said to me (quoting someone else, and I’m sorry I’ve forgotten who), “How do you know it’s drought-tolerant if you water it?” 

And here's the source: The No-Water California Garden by Amy Stewart, over on Garden Rant. Amy lives and gardens in Eureka, California, which apparently does not share SoCal's monsoon season. (Hope she waters her trees.)

That last link reminds me that Emily Green, who needs no introduction to SoCal gardeners, is moving to the East Coast. We're not taking the news well.


See some photos of Emily's Altadena garden here. Her blog is here. Her influence is everywhere, though I think she'd protest that most of us (cough*I own a leaf blower*cough) don't seem to have learned a thing. California will miss her.



5 comments:

  1. I've been watering my drought tolerant front garden more this year - due to it being drier and hotter, as well as my garden being on a tour next month. I really have mixed emotions about it though. I hope they don't get hooked because next year it's back to the minimalism!

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    1. Crazy hot here - was 99F less than an hour ago, dropped to 93 just now with cloud cover. (We're waiting for thunderstorms.) I keep telling myself that spiky plants and natives are frequently tougher and more adaptable than we might think [crosses fingers].

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  2. Oh no! I hadn't heard that Emily Green was leaving.

    "Drought" means different things to different people and different plants. Maybe one day there will be drought ratings akin to frost ratings to help gardeners determine just how much dryness a plant can take.

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    1. Kris, thanks for visiting! Your idea of drought ratings is genius. Paging Sunset Magazine...

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  3. I think that's the same Chris Clarke into Encelia; we e-mailed years ago.

    Thanks for the links, and the idea of experimenting on what can take average rainfall or drought without irrigation is a good one, esp. when followed up on what did what. Better yet, designing and implementing (water harvesting, mulching, timing of install, etc) iseven better.

    This is part of why I kept on as an LA, and relates to taking "Permaculture" a few steps further.

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