We are in the 5th year of our drought. Water restrictions have been in effect for several years and we've been mandated to reduce our water use by another 20%. I am allocated a certain amount of water for each billing period (every two months) and am billed at Tier 1 rates for that amount and at Tier 2 rates if I go above that amount up to a certain level and Tier 3 rates if I go above that. I have tried to stay well under my allocated amounts, to keep my water bill as low as I can. Therefore, I only water the garden once a week, for 10 minutes at a time. As a result, the garden is simply limping along and we are all eagerly anticipating the rains the weather forecasters are saying we will receive this winter.
Today, I took some random pictures of the garden:
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| The Front Garden |
Taken from the corner near the sidewalk and driveway, looking diagonally across the practically non-existent front "lawn". The eucalyptus tree provides a bit of shade. The lantana bushes along the lower right corner of the picture are drought tolerant and will grow into a hedge, eventually.
Another view of the front garden:
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| Flower Bed |
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| Drought Tolerant African Daisies Plants |
The pomegranate tree; one of the few trees that change leaf color in the fall:
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| Pomegranate Tree |
A view of the back garden taken from my back steps:
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| Back Garden |
One of the three lemon trees, which grow along the left side of the above picture, against the side of the garage wall:
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| Lemon Tree (lemons the size of limes due to lack of water) |
At one time, I had close to 100 rose bushes (98 to be precise). Today, only a dozen or so plants are still alive.
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| Rose Bush Bravely Trying |
The orange tree, with ripening fruit:
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| Orange Tree with Ripening Oranges |
Some of the drought-tolerant plants still thrive:
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| Rosemary Bush, Drought-Tolerant and Thriving |
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| Euphorbia tirucalli "Pencil Tree" Taking Over! |
Proof positive that I really do take the photographs with my lap top! LOL. I was trying to take a picture of the dead lawn, but didn't realize my shadow showed! I am reminded of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, "My Shadow".
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| Shadowy Gardener/Photographer and Dead Lawn |
Yes, a nice, sunny day, today. High of 85F. Next week, we'll dip down to a high of 63F on Thanksgiving Day, according to the forecast.
I live in Nevada and every year they tell us it's a drought year but we are restricted to watering the lawn only two times a week and on your set days and also by times so we don't water when it's too hot and lose the precious water. We have had lovely warm winters the last two years with maybe a bit of snow here and there that melts off by noon and usually not until Jan. or after. This year we've already had several snowstorms - we're classified as living in the desert - go figure. And it's been so cold. Down to the 20's at night and during the day lucky if it gets above 40 degrees. Wondering what the rest of the winter will do if winter is already starting out like this.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a lemon and orange tree. Can you see I'm green with envy. lol Our neighbors peach tree hangs over in our yard and in 2014 we got so many lovely peaches this year not even one peach on the tree. Lucky for me I froze sliced peaches and still have about 7-8 bags left.
I enjoy your blog. Thanks for sharing with us.
Crystal, we have similar watering restrictions - 3 times a week in our case, based on our house number (odd numbered houses - Monday, Wednesday, Friday; even numbered houses - Tuesday, Thursday, Sundays), and said times (before 9:00 a.m. and after 4:00 p.m.), etc. I try to collect shower water, etc., to water the non-food plants, but, lately, with the health issues, etc., I've kind of slacked off on that.
DeleteGood of you to have frozen those peaches! You'll be able to enjoy them this winter and spring. Let's hope there will be more peaches on the tree next year. Could you possibly have a lemon tree grown in a planter, indoors? I've read that they and oranges can be grown as indoor plants. You might have to put it outside for pollination, though, in the spring.
Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Stay warm!
Lucky gal to have the fruit trees. Sorry for your draught. Hopefully it will turn around and recover over the next couple of years. So sad to see, when other states are flooding. Dianaro
ReplyDeleteDiana, it's too bad we can't ship the excess water from flooded states to the drought stricken areas. They do it with gas; they should be able to do so with water! :)
DeleteI agree! dianaro
Delete:)
DeleteSo sorry for your draught.. Praying for rain for you.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to have lemons/oranges growing in your back yard. I can only imagine,, how wonderful it smells and taste..
Have a blessed day.
Judy, it does smell lovely when the lemon and orange trees are in flower. And the fruit is all organic, of course. Last year, I made lemon marmalade from the lemons to give as Christmas gifts. I still have some lemons I cut up and froze and frozen lemon juice, too. I should make more lemon marmalade.
DeleteIt always seems so frustrating that some areas have such drought while others have flooding. If only we could send the rain where it is needed. We had a lot of rain in summer and everything grew into a jungle, but we didn't complain because it meant that we had no fire risk and we are surrounded by pines and spruce trees. Some summers have been so hot that even the native plants were wilting.
ReplyDeleteSnow is forecast tonight. We shall see. Maybe they got it wrong. One hopes!
Bushlady
Bushlady, we need to pipe the water like we do gas! Snow! I'm sending you more of our warm temperatures to ward off the snow! :)
DeleteIt worked. We only got 2 inches, LOL!
DeleteBushlady
Yay! It worked! :D
DeleteI hope you all get your rains this winter and glad you had a nice sunny day. The day here started decent, but then the wind started going and it started raining and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Tomorrow (we'll technically today already, I am up way too late!) it's only supposed to be in the 30sF during the day and the low down to 17.
ReplyDeleteBrrr! That sounds cold! Keep warm, Jess!
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ReplyDeleteI recall you mentioning years ago about your many rose bushes. Can just envision how lovely they must have been. Your gardener was a busy guy back then!!
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, it used to be so lovely! Gardener was definitely kept busy!
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