Going drought-tolerant to save money (and the planet)
Frank McDonough, a botanist with the Los Angeles County Arboretum, readily admits that estimating what families might save on water bills by putting in a drought tolerant garden is almost impossible. To be sure, drought-tolerant plants can thrive on a fraction of the water required by a traditional lawn.
When I asked Tony Kienitz, author of The Year I Ate My Yard, how I could keep birds from boldly poaching my blueberries, he calmly opined: “You need a snake.” I started to stammer something about liking my family more than my blueberries when he clarified: “A plastic snake.”