Do you think the drought will continue?

[pinkytoe]

I am outside today on Nov 2 trying to do some fall landscaping and it is a crazy 94 degrees; it has not rained in almost a month and once again everything is bone dry. Seems like a lot of my neighbors are putting in rock lawns as if they have accepted our fate. I am beginning to think I am wasting my time planting anything at all and then I read today that scientists believe the droughts of the past few years may seem mild compared to the future. What do you think?

[ApatheticNoMore]

I think rock lawns are ridiculous :). But I spent time this year observing, observing in hot dry summer, what's alive, what's still green. Not much! All the allegedly drought tolerant bushes and stuff, though more alive now after a few very minor rains were dry as a bone in summer, not dead but they sure looked it, summer dormancy. What was still green? Horehound. But mostly trees and large bushes (basically just bushy trees), that's what's still green in a hot dry summer with no artificial watering. So those landscaping with oaks and stuff - yea.

The whole rock lawn thing just seems so dichotomous to me though. I'm either gonna have a green lawn or (in a huff) gonna put nothing but rocks outside, not a single living thing! Well ... there are things in the middle that might require some but not that much watering ... but then this climate was never meant to have green lawns, it would be a harder transition somewhere where it's not naturally supposed to be so dry.

[Rogar]

It's been unseasonably warm and dry here. I keep thinking that it is a weather pattern that is bound to change. Although I know we can expect generally warmer temperatures, I'm hoping they will be less extreme.

I've been looking into buffalo grass and will be replacing more areas of my bluegrass lawn in the springtime with low water alternatives. Rock lawns seem pretty cold and sterile to me and there are other ways to go.

[RosieTR]

We got a little snow/rain this month but not much. None this past week and none forecast until at least a week from tomorrow. The high mountains have less snow than parts of Tennessee right about now. I'm pretty worried we're going to have a dry warm winter again, which might make this past fire season look like a sing along beside a campfire. I think our county has had a wildfire burning in it every single month starting in May, and continuing on now.

We xeriscaped after the 2002 drought in CO. Never regretted it. I tried to plan so that half the yard had "some water" plants, esp edibles, and half had native, "no supplemental water needed except in extreme drought" plants. The drier side of the yard fared less well from 3 yrs of renters but the wetter side is fine. I learned a few things about dealing with low water while in Phoenix that I am applying here. While they didn't have any water restrictions and no one had heard of painting one's lawn green in a drought, I was unwilling to water endlessly in that sort of climate.

[iris lily]

Our fall has been wet. We got a lot of rain although I don't know if it's enough to make up for the awful summer drought.

[Gregg]

We've had a few rounds of rain in the past month. Not a lot and no where near enough to get back to where we should be, but every little bit helps. Mandatory watering restrictions are back to voluntary status now that the growing season is over. The long range forecasts don't show much variation in the pattern.

[RosieTR]

Drove by one "lake" today that I hadn't seen in awhile. It's pretty much a field with a tiny, shallow puddle. This was after being in the burn area, which was a collection of black sticks on black ground. Man, I hope it snows. A lot. Even if it makes my commute suck frequently.

[artist]

Hard to say. We have had no lack of rain in my part of the country this fall Summer was dry but not as bad as past years. It's in the 30's right now at 8 am.