Orange, California is locked in a legal battle with a homeowner. The issue? The couple pulled out their traditional front yard and replaced it with wood chips and drought-resistant foliage instead.
Personally, I think it looks nice in the photo accompanying the article. And I’m impressed that they cut their water consumption by 75%. The neighbors aren’t complaining. But the law says that 40% of the yard be landscaped predominantly with live plants, and so they’re headed to court.
Complete lunacy.
This is where HOAs lead us down. The Path Called Idiocy. One of the things they try to instill in landscape design is to work with the natural surroundings. Planting an acre of lawn that needs constant water in a desert, now _that’s_ lunacy. I might as well plant cactii in my yard here in South Carolina, where we live is borderline North American Rainforest. And then install hair dryers all over the place to keep the soil arid.
@Pitt
I wouldn’t have thought of that on my own, but now that you’re suggesting it….
@BrianN
Just use hair dryers powered by the kitten farts that your Prius emits, and everything will be cool.
@Pitt
I’m amazed at the number of golf courses in places like Phoenix and Las Vegas. It seems like the most obvious waste of resources in the world to me, but what do I know? The whole idea of building a city that reliant on air conditioning and piped in water seems pretty stupid too.