Is it ever going to rain again? (Austin, Round Rock: new home, neighborhoods)

[twange]

Originally Posted by Driftwood1

That I find more disturbing than the lack of rain...
When will america give up on lawns in places where they were never meant to be? When the water is gone I suppose..

Yea, it's almost perverse. I say this as someone who has a great affection for lawns, born of early exposure to the craft - started cutting neighborhood lawns at 12, watered and mowed my high school football field during the summer and spent two full summers during college maintaining over a hundred corporate grounds, some that took as long as 12 hours to service. As a former homeowner, I've grown and labored over plenty of grass. But it's just not very sustainable, especially in the Southwest and other hot, arid regions. There's a reason why certain plants thrive in certain areas.

Pretty good essay here by Robert Fulford(Toronto author)Ten years old but still very relevant:
Robert Fulford's article "The Lawn: North America's magnificent obsession"

It's a bit long but interesting and informative. Yes, it's critical but also full of thoughtful analysis, historical references and a bit of humor. Here's a few quotes:

"In North America today, a lawn is the quickest, surest indicator that the deadliest of the seven deadly sins has attacked from within. As the death of a canary announces the presence of gas in a mine, so a dandelion's appearance on a lawn indicates that Sloth has taken up residence in paradise and is about to spread evil in every direction. And when a whole lawn comes alive with dandelions--it can happen overnight, as many know to our sorrow--then that property instantly becomes an affront to the street and to the middle-class world of which the street is a part. Pretty as they might look to some, dandelions demonstrate a weakness of the soul. They announce that the owner of the house refuses to respect the neighbourhood's right to peace, order, good government, and the absence of airborne dandelion seeds."

"In a sense, and it is the worst possible sense, the suburban lawn expresses the persistence among us of English culture. It is, I regret to say, a triumph of the Anglo-Saxons, my people, whose dream of order finds its ultimate expression in the well-rolled lawn. Even those who imagine our families reach back to ancient English kingdoms must acknowledge that the British influence is mixed. Put it this way: at one end of the cultural spectrum, write "Shakespeare," and at the other end write, "lawn."

"Lawn-making is the art that conceals art: it is, in fact, the only aspect of gardening that hides both the work done and the nature of the plant life itself. A lawn that achieves perfection ceases to look like plant matter and resembles a fake version of itself. It has no bumps, no weeds, and no variations in colour: from a distance, the perfect close-mown lawn is indistinguishable from Astroturf."

"Consider the ad that Vigoro fertilizer published in House Beautiful in April, 1944: "Probably you, too, have a loved one in the service....Wherever he is, he dreams of velvety lawns....he wants to come home to them. Keep them growing their best awaiting that day! They will contribute immeasurably toward a winning home front."

"A lawn expresses the imperialist personality; more than any other form of growth, it satisfies that part of the human soul that longs for control."

"Whoever spends the early hours of one summer, while the dew spangles the grass, in pushing these grass-cutters over a velvety lawn, breathing the fresh sweetness of the morning air and the perfume of new mown hay, will never rest content again in the city."

[Driftwood1]

Now you are talking. There are plenty of ranches and ranchettes out where we are and most never water lawns. Most have native grass (which round here is very good) and just keep it mowed, then let it go dormant and brown in the summer, we love it. The green of the live oaks againts the brown grass is really nice methinks.
Now in the developemnts and HOA communities moving closer every day, they of course keep the grass green, and those who have been round here for a while, watch the creeks get lower and drier, every year.. I dont think in the long haul the hill country can take the high density, manicured lawns of suburbia, there just wont be enough water..

Originally Posted by mandib

The biggest problem is the HOA's. They're the ones with the rules. Part of what we were tired of was the HOA in Steiner. If your grass looks "bad" they'll let you know. I never looked into it, but I'd be surprised if they allowed xeriscaping.

Where we are now isn't as restrictive and once our house in Steiner sells we're going to put some of the money into building a large bed in the front yard with drought tolerant plants to replace that wide expanse of water wasting grass. And I'll do as much hardscaping in the backyard to also reduce the grass. It's so tiresome, and it is so wasteful. I'd rather have plants i can keep nice with drip irrigation than grass that comes and goes with the seasons and costs so much to maintain.

[mimimomx3]

Last year we had floods and rain, rain, rain. I prefer this summer...with the breeze it's just awesome. Your lawn doesn't really need to be watered more than 2x a week anyway. And who in their right mind runs sprinklers during 10-5 during the day???

[DennyCrane]

If you want rain, come up here to Chicago. We had a long winter and now it feels like spring is here with the thunderstorms.

[another_hot-day]

Just send those storms this way STAT!

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

And who in their right mind runs sprinklers during 10-5 during the day???

The city of Phoenix. Went there a week ago and was amazed at the amount of watering going on at 2pm and 110 degrees.

[twange]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

The city of Phoenix. Went there a week ago and was amazed at the amount of watering going on at 2pm and 110 degrees.

Yea, they'll be begging for water from the Great Lakes soon enough. I mean, how will they golf? It's just old fashion stupid and excessive.

There's a reason why desert life demands space.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

Thanks for the obvious! I knew Austin couldn't mandate what RR does, my question was -were those restrictions posted strictly for Austin city limits, or Travis county (which the line for that is within walking distance to my house) as a whole.

City of Austin does not mandate for the county..only the city.
If you live outside of the city limits..any city then your water company makes the rules if you are on private water. If you have a well then you have no one giving you rules.

[jread]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

Many of us live in HOA's though - and yes, I know everyone has an HOA opinion and that's a totally other subject and thread, but my point is that the advice you are giving is just not applicable to many of us. Even if we wanted to, we cannot just let our grass grow dormant

It is that mentality of the HOAs (and many people who live in the suburbs) that the lawn MUST BE GREEN that is absolutely ridiculous and wasteful. Central Texas is not a place where Bermuda or St. Augustine (especially) would ever survive naturally. Besides, I am much more worried about how much water we have than how my "grass farm" is doing.

[TexasHorseLady]

I'm wondering if the time will ever come when the municipalities such as the City of Austin will pass laws that override such absurd restrictions as those against Xeriscaping (which can be quite beautiful) while at the same time demanding that lawns be kept "green" during the dry times of the year, thus using water that should be being conserved.