Zeroscape or water-smart? I break for palm trees…

I suppose you could consider them garden art…or a kind of denial. You find them here and there across the Metro area (I have assembled quite a collection of pictures!): ersatz, metallic palm trees. There are at least a half dozen “plantings” around the Denver area, and that’s probably quite enough I would think. Like astroturf, this is one more nihilistic  response to the high plains climate. Denial? Whimsy? As a lover of chlorophyll, I can’t get too excited about a plastic or metallic tree.

In a recent Denver Post article, water rates are expected to skyrocket next year. Why not pave Denver in astroturf and plant fake palms up and down our streets?
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A west Metro botanic garden: Kendrick Lake

Water-Smart Gardening: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

If a yard or garden looks like it has been transplanted from the desert, does that make it a “water-smart garden?”  One might make the assumption that the plants do not need much supplemental water and, therefore, the homeowner is being frugal with his or her water application.  This may actually be an incorrect notion.
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Season of Inspiration

This is the season of inspiration.  I know everyone talks about gardening in the spring, but this is the time of year that motivates me.  Every garden has come into its own.  Yards, parks, estates, landscapes: by now you know what they are going to be.  Thick slabs of watermelon, backlogs of zuchini, fulsome fruit and fields of flowers: even the weeds seem mastered by an all-encompassing abundance.  The failures (we’ve all got them) are totally hidden underneath successes–or in my case, underneath other failures!  There is no guilt left: we’re off to enjoy Labor Day with clear consciences.

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