Xeriscape

In a neighborhood of manicured lawns and well-groomed flower beds, it's easy to spot Bart and Rosalie Palisi's Anaheim Hills home. Their yard features several varieties of the cacti and succulents they have nurtured from seedlings. "We've always loved cactus and succulents," Rosalie explained. "When we moved to Southern California, it made sense to try to plant something in keeping with the desert environment. We wanted a yard that was low maintenance, yet attractive.

Southern California was sold to the world with the promise of perpetual spring. Roses bloomed in January. There was an annual parade to prove it. That was more than a century ago. To make good on the promise, engineers piped and plundered lakes and rivers hundreds of miles east and north. And so Southern California became the "gardenesque" capital of America, the eternally balmy region where anything grew. It had Chinese gardens, English gardens, palm gardens, lotus gardens.

Like a mirage lurking in a dip in the highway, Palm Springs shimmers enticingly atop the Sonoran Desert, an impossibly green splotch on a canvas of tawny brown. Outside the city, the flat, sandy landscape is broken only rarely by scraggly tamarisk trees, yucca plants and pathetic shrubs twisted by relentless desert winds.

The city-owned parking strip in front of Josh Blumental's home has become one of the front lines in Utah's growing battle over water conservation. "One-hundred-ninety-two square feet of trouble," he said. When morning glory choked out his grass last summer, Blumental recalled a flurry of water-conservation messages from City Hall and began installing a rock garden in his frontyard.

THE PICTURE being painted for the future is not a pleasant one: dry, sand-colored lawns, prickly underfoot, dead from lack of water. Is this, as some experts believe, the inevitable fate of lawns in Southern California? During this fourth year of drought, with reservoirs drying up throughout the state, it is crucial to cut back on the use of water. Lawns, considered by many to be the thirstiest element in a garden, certainly seem the logical place to start.

Your editorial "Just a Flick of the Wrist," concerning water conservation, was right on target. This has obviously been a very dry year statewide. However, with holdover reservoir and groundwater storage, our supplies will be good through this year. Next year, however, is a question mark. In years like this, water conservation programs become increasingly important, and the fact that roughly 40% to 50% of our residential water use is dedicated outdoors illustrates the need for a comprehensive program of conservation in landscape.

At first glance, the baroque bronze and marble Esplanade Fountain, with its abundant flow of crystal-clear water cascading amid the lush, bluegrass lawns of Denver's City Park, looks like any public fountain in any public park. But there's a striking difference. The water in that fountain--and, indeed, much of the water pouring from fountains and faucets here on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains--is water that has defied the laws of gravity.

The July 16 piece on xeriscape, "Beauty, Ease, Economy of Flower-Filled Dry Garden" by Robert Smaus, was an excellent description of what is possible in Southern California when one considers the oxymoron less is more. Garden Editor Smaus correctly predicts water shortages in the not-too-distant future. Those readers taking his advice now will have a mature, beautiful garden in place when water supplies become tighter. Few people realize that the average family in California uses about 163,000 gallons of water a year--half of that outdoors where real savings can be achieved.

While in more aquatically abundant times you would find me appreciating and admiring Times Garden Editor Bob Smaus' article "How His Garden Grows" (May 26) it is with disbelief and disappointment that I review his expose. I too love to garden and chose my home in El Toro largely because of its small but lovely front and back yard habitat. However, due to my sense of concern and responsibility as a Southern Californian (and moreover user of planetary resources) I have been conserving water long before the recent 30% cutback was mandated in my area.

In response to Jeane Kirkpatrick's column "Why Bush Needs Clearer Vision for Middle East Peace Plan," Commentary, May 23: Kirkpatrick's comments raise an important question: What is obstructing the way to achieve this vision? Shamir refused to implement his proposal to hold an election in the West Bank and Gaza, in spite of all the U.S.

Sonja Fogle strolls through the oak-shaded landscape of her suburban cul-de-sac home, easily naming its trees, shrubs and grasses: wild azalea, sedum, tree-form wisteria, day lilies, blue fescue, maiden grass, yucca, hosta--all growing without chemical help. "The only plants I like," she said, "are the ones that thrive on benign neglect." In her small way in Bethesda, Md.

The California Xeriscape Foundation has given Times Garden Editor Robert Smaus an "Award of Recognition in the area of Public Education" for his "exemplary effort in promotion and implementation of the xeriscape principles of water conservation in the urban landscape." The Times' Real Estate section published a multipart series by Smaus called "New Ways With Water" that began on Aug. 19, 1990.

Santa Monica resident Suzanne Jett hopes the popularity of xeriscape gardens continues to grow despite the recent rainfall. Jett is a docent for the city of Santa Monica and has conducted xeriscape/water-wise garden tours for two years. The tours, held every other Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. through June, highlight some of Santa Monica's most innovative private gardens. The tours are free to residents of Santa Monica. Non-residents can take the tours for $10.

While in more aquatically abundant times you would find me appreciating and admiring Times Garden Editor Bob Smaus' article "How His Garden Grows" (May 26) it is with disbelief and disappointment that I review his expose. I too love to garden and chose my home in El Toro largely because of its small but lovely front and back yard habitat. However, due to my sense of concern and responsibility as a Southern Californian (and moreover user of planetary resources) I have been conserving water long before the recent 30% cutback was mandated in my area.

Like a mirage lurking in a dip in the highway, Palm Springs shimmers enticingly atop the Sonoran Desert, an impossibly green splotch on a canvas of tawny brown. Outside the city, the flat, sandy landscape is broken only rarely by scraggly tamarisk trees, yucca plants and pathetic shrubs twisted by relentless desert winds.

In a neighborhood of manicured lawns and well-groomed flower beds, it's easy to spot Bart and Rosalie Palisi's Anaheim Hills home. Their yard features several varieties of the cacti and succulents they have nurtured from seedlings. "We've always loved cactus and succulents," Rosalie explained. "When we moved to Southern California, it made sense to try to plant something in keeping with the desert environment. We wanted a yard that was low maintenance, yet attractive.

In front of a house on a Montecito hill, the undulating landscape of perennial grasses, as pretty as any lawn, is designed to survive whatever tough watering laws come along. All the plants here are drought-resistant and irrigated by a maze of drip tubing that puts water precisely at their bases instead of throwing most of it to the wind. Created by Santa Barbara landscape architect Joan F.

Experts in horticulture, landscape architecture and water conservation will be featured at the sixth annual Xeriscape Conference beginning Wednesday at the Irvine Marriott Hotel. The featured speaker for the two-day conference will be KABC-TV meteorologist George Fishbeck, who will discuss weather and the need to conserve water.

In front of a house on a Montecito hill, the undulating landscape of perennial grasses, as pretty as any lawn, is designed to survive whatever tough watering laws come along. All the plants here are drought-resistant and irrigated by a maze of drip tubing that puts water precisely at their bases instead of throwing most of it to the wind. Created by Santa Barbara landscape architect Joan F.

THE PICTURE being painted for the future is not a pleasant one: dry, sand-colored lawns, prickly underfoot, dead from lack of water. Is this, as some experts believe, the inevitable fate of lawns in Southern California? During this fourth year of drought, with reservoirs drying up throughout the state, it is crucial to cut back on the use of water. Lawns, considered by many to be the thirstiest element in a garden, certainly seem the logical place to start.