Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Lady Who Will Grow Anything Except Grass

The neighbors in the cul-de-sac know me as "The Lady Who Will Grow Anything Except Grass In The Front Yard". They are not snide about it, just the opposite. One neighbor is tired of paying so much for water. He is constantly trying to get his grass to grow by moving around a sprinkler, so that he can spend his free time mowing. (Just kidding, he hates mowing.) Needless to say, he liked my installation of drought-resistant plants in the main part of the yard. Also, I believe the nice flowers and textures gives the neighbors something to look at besides a sea of green grass. I mean we are all facing into a circle, right? You hope that there's something nice to see outside your front window. Sometimes when I see the neighbors out in the cul-de-sac, they'll ask me questions about the garden. "Is that an artichoke?" "Did you eat any of them?" "Is that corn behind it?"

One neighbor told me that "The Crazy-Looking Lady Who Lives One Street Over and Walks Her Dog" had a plan/plot to take my artichokes. Oh, no, I thought. I also found out that she's the one who lets her dog take a dump in my yard and doesn't pick it up. I don't want to have to confront this lady. I tend to avoid confrontation as much as possible. But I WILL stand up for my ceanothus plant!
The only bright side of this story is that the color of the dried poo blends in with the wood chip mulch. Hey, I'm trying, here!

My ceanothus doesn't deserve to be covered in dog crap. An utter disregard for plant life might be why "The Crazy-Looking Lady Who Lives One Street Over and Walks Her Dog" grows a wide array of unchanging plastic and also metal plants in her front yard. Nice.

6 comments:

Chloe m said...

Jackie,
HA! Love the captioning, very clever. Dogs, what can I say? And plastic plants? I have to confess to owning a silk plant or two.
Rosey

Michelle said...

Some people... I would be tempted to bag the poop and deliver it back to her.

I'm so happy to not have any lawn. Not only is it a pain to take care of but it's boring. Not to mention it uses too much water and most people over fertilize which runs off and pollutes the water. So many reasons not to have lawn.

Anonymous said...

Ugh! I have people in our neighborhood who let their dogs pee and poop in my garden. Makes me really frustrated. Sorry to hear you've got the same going on. That's great about your xeriscaped yard!

Stefaneener said...

Argh. When I move a raised bed into the front it will partially be to keep dogs from peeing on my greens!

I love my immediate neighbors, but some folks find our kind of yard not to their taste. I don't like their manicured lawns and foundation shrubs, either.

Jackie said...

Thanks for letting me rant on the dog poo. And I appreciate your kind comments on my drought-tolerant front garden.

Joanna said...

this made me laugh out loud- not about the dog but about the lady who will grow anything except grass in the front yard. we are those neighbors too.