Member-only story
Water Scarcity and Human Selfishness
How our decisions hurt the environment and other people
I love gardens. My mother grew roses in New York. I loved to water them in the morning and enjoy their fragrance. When I lived in South Carolina, I loved the floral fireworks of the azaleas.
Then I moved to Colorado.
Denver has a high-desert climate. It’s semi-arid. Water scarcity is real.
When we bought a house, I wanted to xeriscape. Because it makes no sense to try to duplicate lush Irish turf in a land with less than a third of the rainfall.
The HOA insisted we had lawns. When watering restrictions went into effect due to water shortages, the grass turned to straw.
At least I was able to have climate-appropriate landscaping out back. I used native plants as well as heat tolerant imports to create a yard that was attractive, elegant, and provided food for birds and butterflies.
Now I live in Texas.
Before modernization, pioneer ladies might plant something akin to a Japanese garden, with a couple of islands of fragrant beauty such as a rose or lilac bush that would be watered. Or so an older lady told me when we talked about life in Texas before air conditioning and municipal water.
