STRICKLAND: Breaking the grass addiction

By Phil Strickland | Monday, September 15, 2008 7:49 PM PDT ∞

"The game," as Sir Arthur famously penned for his sleuth to whisper, "is afoot."

In this case, after a year of enticing grass to grow here rather than follow God's direction and letting it grow where it wants to, the battle ---- it's no longer a game, what with neighbors casting odd looks and the HOA reminding again that the stuff on the dirt is supposed to be green and growing ---- is fully engaged.

As if by divine intervention, it rarely rains and, in order to protect the delta smelt, a 2-inch fish that smells like a cucumber, from going the way of the dodo, a federal judge has turned off the pumps that move most of the state's water to its increasingly parched residents and farmland.

Given the drought, killing the water supply and increasingly stringent water regulations, you're in luck if you can't get the hang of growing grass in the desert.

With politicians, water districts, conservationists and the water bill all advising there is a better way to grow your lawn and homeowner association officials looking increasingly concerned at the mention of "xeriscape," we've set out to feel nature's pain and loosen the restraints binding nature as much as possible.

That's not as easy as letting the dead grass return to the earth from whence it came and scattering some cactuses about. Nope, not that easy.

First, if you're in an HOA, you've got to maintain the proper percentage of yard under cultivation. In this case, it's 70 percent. That is to say, no more than 30 percent bare dirt.

Second, there are the microclimates. If you've been to the Temecula Farmers Market, you've seen those really neat exotic blooming cut plants for sale.

They grow' em in Fallbrook. Going to put in some of those, right? Yeah, brighten up and soften all that cactus. Fuhgeddaboutit.

But they grow in Fallbrook. Right. Not Temecula, not Murrieta, Fallbrook.

Trying to grow them here, not 15 miles from their home earth, would be like trying to catch a delta smelt in Murrieta Creek. It's the microclimate thing.

So, not only must you remember to ask whether a plant is drought-tolerant, you also need to know whether it is frost-resistant. Hills count.

Then, there's watering. If you are pushing headlong into xeriscape ---- no putting-green yard commingled with desert flora ---- you're pretty much home free on watering and a good part of the maintenance and associated expenses.

But, if you must retain some grass, be aware that some plants like it dry and suffer if set where they'll be watered along with the thirsty turf you're trying to persuade to minimize. That reveals a whole cosmos of drip and soaker hoses, bubblers, spraying devices of various sorts and weather-controlled timers.

And this is easier than growing grass?

So they say for the long run, but perhaps it's time to re-examine landscape restrictions, not to diminish turf, but to allow well-presented alternative treatments.

Temecula's neighborhoods are as well-kept as most you'll see, and that's thanks in large part to HOAs, but there's a point where reality sets in ---- and the reality is, we live, essentially, in a desert.

There are neat plants that thrive naturally in our clime. Grass isn't one of them.

Phil Strickland is a resident of Temecula and a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: philipestrickland@yahoo.com.