Deirdre's Garden Diary: 2007 August September

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:: 08.14.07 ::

Temperature Tantrums

I guess this is going to be the month of garden activism here on the blog. For sure it is the month when people are having temperature tantrums from the opressive summer heat. As I found out today, Orem (see post below) isn't the only city with grumpy homowners who tjhink they can dictate to others how thier yards should look. Locally we have our own dispute going on over the aesthetic pleasantness and necessity of a xeriscaped yard.

A lady in Hurst has departed from the emperial tradition of keeping a lawn of grass bordered by a militant stand of red tip photenias...gasp! She has taken an alternative rout by xeriscaping her yard., a superbly intelligent decision in my opinion. But of course, a few neighbors don't feel it fits into thier personal aesthetic, so they want to complain and harass and stomp thier little feet until they get thier way.

Neighbor Liz Cozad declares the yard a junk yard! Which makes me wonder if she has actually ever been to a junk yard? Because I didn't notice any rusted old cars, tires, broken furniture or trash anywhere in the landscape...just rocks, succulents and a variety of textured foliage with the occasional color from a clump of wildflowers and salvias is all that I see (and a very nice arrangement at that).

So Lizzy...here's what a "junk yard" looks like. Just thought you might like to know so you don't go around making absurd statments in public that could cause everyone to suspect that you're some kind of loon who went off her medication.

Neighbor George McMeen also seems to have a twisted grasp on reality with his observation that, "they throw towels on their cars in the rain!" Well now, we should start by thanking George for providing us with some insane hilarity. It's not often you get to have such a good laugh at something so ridiculous. But serirously, it is embarrasing for George that I have to point out that this doesn't have anything to do with the garden or the plants. Despite what some raving lunatics may declare, the last I heard, our "American freedoms" leave some wiggle room for peole to occasionally leave a towel drapped on their car in the rain.

So where do these people get off thinking they can dictate what kind of plants other people put in their graden? Why is it they think their opinions should take precident over another person's freedom to do what they want on thier property? These nosy opinionated neighbors can grump around all they want, huff and puff and have a coronary, but stop bothering the rest of us with your personal ideology about how things should look. Because I have news for you, xeriscaping is here to stay.

We have a shortage of water and the future isn't looking too bright for the growth of the metroplex in terms of water conservation. Xeriscaping solves a lot of environmental problems and before you know it, it's going to be the standard. So you better get used to it whether you like it or not.

Kudos to Camperlingo for having the common sense to know the importance of making better choices and for the bravery to put up with such annoyances from her neighbors ill tempered complaints.

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:: 08.09.07 ::

Return To Sanity

I know, I know. I'm bad. I haven't posted anything for too long.
But garden peeps, I'm back now. Back because a woman in Utah didn't water her grass. That's right. You read it correctly.

See, I was checking on all my daily news and favorite political internet blogs this morning and I came across this story.

Frankly, it pissed me off. No you don't understand, it REALLY depressed me and made me mad...as in, "I am just going to go ahead and put this Jack Daniels in my coke right now even though it's only 11am" kind of sad.

See, this lady in Utah, well, she's poor. She doesn't have a lot of money. I can relate to this. Sometimes you just have to cut corners on things that are less important. I've been there.

Also, she's an older lady. Hello! She's 70! So when I read that she was ARRESTED (sorry I have to use all caps because I'm pissed)...yes that's right, ARRESTED for not watering her lawn and for refusing to cooperate with a brute police officer who decided to write her a ticket. Usually the police are arresting people for HAVING "grass"...but not this officer, he decided to handcuff her and push her around. Yep. That was smart. That was "American". That was really going to solve the problem. I don't know, some people might say...hmmm....maybe that's why the average person thinks "the police" are a bunch of immature asshole thugs that too often use their authority to bully people unnecessarily? Maybe? You think?

So you might be saying, but Deirdre, look at that yard!
It's so, so...ugly!

Yes. Yes it is. It's dreadful. It's painful to look at it. It's very sad and makes my garden heart weep into my bourbon and coke. But it certainly isn't worth harassing a 70 year old woman, handcuffing her, and throwing her into jail!

What's that? I'm being fined and ordered by the city to water grass despite the fact I can barely afford food, medicine or electricity? Right. I can see the self serving grins of the almighty community leaders as they pat themselves on the back for upholding beauty and aesthetics over water conservation.

Usually an issue like this gets raised after someone files a complaint. Like a neighbor for instance, or maybe a bank or real estate company trying to sell a house in the area...you know, someone worried about the property values of the neighborhood. A deeply concerned citizen embarrassed by the blatant poverty staring them in the face. Why it's an eyesore for the community! A fire hazard! A breeding ground for camels and windy dust devils! It's... it's... it's...possibly a terrorist threat!

So people complain and whine and get indignant.

Do they offer to come to her aid...find a community group or social service that can help her? NO.

Do the neighbors think, hey maybe I could go plant her a tree and keep it watered until it gets big enough and can start shading her yard, cool it down and give the appearance of some greenery? NO.

Does the wealthy owner of some garden chain store or landscaping business there in Orem use this as an opportunity to give back to the community while also getting some good free publicity out of the deal? NO.

Does the moralist demagogy down on the corner say, "Hey, let's practice some spiritual philanthropy this weekend" and sheep herd our brethren out to landscape her yard with some donations of drought tolerant plants? Maybe throw in a rain barrel from Jesus?
Sadly NO.

Outrage doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of idiocracy involved here.

Americans need to wake the hell up.

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