Stop And Smell The Roses!

This time of year we have lots of roses beginning to bloom in our front garden.  They are mostly old, scented roses and are beautiful.  In the back garden the vegetables are growing fast.  The citrus trees are in flower and smell incredible but make me sneeze.  Everything is very green.  Sadly, here in California that won't last much longer.  Our drought is serious and worrying for gardeners and farmers alike.  Every year we have a few weeks of vibrant green before everything is covered in dust.  In the summer I occasionally hose down all our citrus trees to get the dust off them but I won't be able to that this year.  Our neighborhood has a Home Owners Association which has strict rules about how your front garden can look.  I heard on the radio this week that our State Governor has said that Home Owners Associations will no longer be able to fine homeowners who let their lawns go brown.  Finally some common sense!  It has always annoyed me that, firstly, we have to have a lawn and secondly, even in a dry State like California, we have to use precious water to keep that lawn green through our hot summers.